Illinois Counties Wait for iFiber Network to Expand Beyond Anchor Institutions

Competition for high-speed internet is so close that Adam Wykes can literally stand atop a fiber optic cable running through the village near the Butler Park water tower. It's getting it out of the ground that's the problem. The issue: Money. Three years after the $68.5 million iFiber broadband network was completed, Wykes is among the impatient. The nearly 900-mile fiber optic pipeline through nine northwest Illinois counties brought the promise of high speed connections to rural towns and more competition among providers in larger markets like Cherry Valley, where Comcast and AT&T are major players. But so far, the main users of iFiber are 500 schools, governments, police and fire departments, libraries, community colleges, health care providers and other community anchor institutions. Wykes wants iFiber for the people. He’s lobbied Cherry Valley Village Hall, started a petition to garner public support and reached out to service providers to see what it would take to tap into iFiber.