Jared Mauch, the Michigan man who built a fiber-to-the-home Internet provider because he couldn't get good broadband service from AT&T or Comcast, is expanding with the help of $2.6 million in government money. From a report:
When we wrote about Mauch in January 2021, he was providing service to about 30 rural homes including his own with his ISP, Washtenaw Fiber Properties. Mauch now has about 70 customers and will extend his network to nearly 600 more properties with money from the American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, he told Ars in a phone interview in mid-July. The US government allocated Washtenaw County $71 million for a variety of infrastructure projects, and the county devoted a portion to broadband. The county conducted a broadband study before the pandemic to identify unserved locations, Mauch said. When the federal government money became available, the county issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking contractors to wire up addresses "that were known to be unserved or underserved based on the existing survey," he said. "They had this gap-filling RFP, and in my own wild stupidity or brilliance, I'm not sure which yet, I bid on the whole project [in my area] and managed to win through that competitive bidding process," he said. Mauch's ISP is one of four selected by Washtenaw County to wire up different areas. He said that he will build 38 miles of fiber to complete the project. It will cost over $30,000 for each of the two homes that I have to build a half-mile to get to one house in this area. The contract between the county and the man required him to extend his network to an estimated 417 addresses in five townships. There is a house inScio that is next to Ann arbor. The contract only requires service to 417 locations, but Mauch explained that his new fiber routes would go to 596 potential customers. I'm building past some addresses that are covered by other grant programs, but I'll be the first to build in those areas. 100Mbps symmetrical internet with unlimited data for $55 a month and 1Gbps with unlimited data for $79 a month will be provided by Mauch.
