Fiber Construction Updates

We’re expanding our ultra-fast Internet network to Rural Adel, Rural Dallas Center, Rural Perry, and parts of Rural Waukee. We’ll continue to update this website as we gather more information regarding specific timing for your neighborhood.

March 5, 2025 - Update

We are still thrilled to be bringing you the fiber Internet you deserve. Fiber is the best, most reliable and cost-effective product and only about 40% of Iowans have access to it…and you will be in the select group soon!

This update is for those who have signed up or have submitted interest.
We wanted to provide you with as many specifics as possible including timelines for signing up and installations.

Quick note: below we spell out the project area names, so it is easier for you to view the maps and understand the projects. I’ll use the project area names in sections below related to timelines, etc.

There are 4 main project areas:

Adel South (zones east & west). Shown in green on map linked below.
Adel North & Dallas Center North. Shown in green on map linked below.
Rural Perry (zones north and south). Shown in orange on map linked below.
‘NOFA 8’ has different rules than previous 3. More details below.

Please refer to our maps – for reference, here are build area maps.

Dates to sign-up to get a *free drop

Adel South – by March 15, 2025
Adel North & Dallas Center North – April 30, 2025
NOFA 8 areas – April 30, 2025
Perry Rural – Tentative date of July 21, 2025

*Drops cost us approximately $9.00 per foot. If your home is within 500 feet of the mainline, we WAIVE the cost entirely. For homes beyond 500 feet, we charge only $100 for each additional 100 feet. For example, if your home is 600 feet away, the drop would cost us $5,400, but you’ll only pay $100. If your home is 500 feet away, it would cost us $4,500, but you will pay nothing. Find out how long your drop will be by giving us a call!

Note: Our construction partner Precision Underground, and their sub-contractors may have as many as 9 teams/crews working in different regions of each project area, so several aspects of each project are likely to be happening at the same time.

For all areas except rural Perry, mainline construction started in the spring of 2024. Rural Perry construction will begin in spring of 2025.

Adel South (one project area with east & west zones)

East of Raccoon River:

100% of the mainline Fiber has been blown into the mainline conduit and splicing and testing are underway. It will take splicers about 3 weeks to finish all the mainline splicing.
36% of the drops to customers who signed up by November of last year are in the ground. Once mainline splicing/testing is complete in an area, we will direct splicing crews to work on the drops that are ready so we can turn those customers up. We expect installs to start in late March and continue into summer as the remaining drops are plowed in and spliced.

West of Raccoon River:

Fiber is just starting to be blown into the mainline conduit, and splicing will start as the different ‘legs’ of the network are blown into place.
20% of drops are in the ground and will be spliced as the mainline they are connected to is completed.

All remaining drops on both east and west sides of the river start when the ground thaws and is dry enough to allow the drop machines to do their work.

Splicing and customer turn-up for the remaining drops will be completed as they are ready, which is expected to be this summer.

Adel North & Dallas Center North (one project area split into 2 build zones)

Adel North – 70% of the mainline conduit construction is done. As mainline sections are ready, Fiber will be blown in. Mainline splicing/testing will start as sections are ready.
Dallas Center North – 45% of the mainline conduit is done, and as the sections are ready, fiber is being blown in. Mainline splicing/testing will start when sections are ready.
All drops will be scheduled, installed, and then spliced/tested as mainline sections are completed.
Installations are expected to start in June, if the weather this spring is favorable, and are expected to be completed in August or September.

NOFA 8 gap areas (awarded to bring to specific addresses in ‘gap’ areas)

NOFA stands for Notice of Funding Availability, and the 8 signifies it is the 8^th grant round. The reason this project is not named like the others is because it has different rules than our other grant awards.
NOFA 8 aims to make fiber available to *specific addresses* rather than to entire census blocks, as the other awards did. This is significant because one address might be eligible while a neighboring address might not be eligible.
The eligible addresses are adjacent to the Adel and Dallas Center projects, so they are being built at the same time.
The challenge with this project is properly communicating with eligible customers and their non-eligible neighbors, as we are going right by them.
- In short, we DO want to serve NOFA 8 non-eligible customers, but we can’t do it right now since we must follow the grant award rules.
The mainline construction is the same as Dallas Center North.
Drops will be scheduled, installed, and then spliced/tested as the mainline is completed.
Installations will start in approximately the same time as Dallas Center North.

The steps to build a Fiber network:

After reviewing our communications from last year, I don’t think we did a good job of explaining the stages of fiber construction and the appropriate timelines for each stage. Therefore, I thought there is some benefit to you to understand the steps in the process, so all of it makes more sense.

Fiber construction steps in the process:

Mainline construction (using plows, directional-boring equipment, small excavators)
Blow or pull Fiber into conduit
Splice mainline Fiber
Install Fiber drops to homes (using small yard plows and maybe a directional-boring machine)
Splice and test the drops
Install Internet and other services at customer’s home

I have the benefit of knowing that timelines for Fiber projects are challenging to predict accurately, even in the best of circumstances. And there are many variables in a project of this size that can impact timelines: weather and the contractor availability are the largest ones. In previous projects, we have seen material availability as an issue, but that is not the case now.

The pandemic made everyone realize how many customers needed Fiber Internet because they were dramatically underserved. That need led to grant funding being made available. In Iowa’s case, it was made available through the Iowa Broadband Grant Program.

Collectively, these projects will cost $19.6 million to complete. We received grant funding to cover about 40% of those costs from the Iowa Broadband Grant program, which made these projects financially feasible. (The grant was supposed to be a higher percentage of the cost, but the project costs rose significantly post pandemic.)

We are enamored to be doing these projects, providing the opportunity to serve so many who deserve great Internet but don’t yet have it.

Yet, 60% of the $19.6 million project is still a large investment to make, and it takes time to do it well. A challenge has been that with so many companies like us building Fiber networks (in Iowa and the US), it is difficult to find qualified contractors (mostly for drops to homes), especially at the standards we expect for construction.

February 17, 2025 - Update

Rural Adel, Dallas Center and parts of Rural Waukee

Mainline fiber construction is happening now.
Connections to your home (called ‘Drops’) will resume this spring.
Installations will start this spring and continue throughout summer.
Customers in the Adel South build area have until March 15, 2025, to sign a Drop Permit.
Customers in all other areas above have until April 30, 2025, to sign a Drop Permit.

Rural Perry

Fiber construction will begin late spring into early summer and will continue until the ground is frozen.
The connection to your home (called ‘Drops’) will begin in early spring of 2026 with installations to follow.
Communication continues to all customers about this project.

Watch the video above for a full update.