This Man Built His Own ISP. Now He’s Getting $2.6M to Expand It

The Michigan man who built a fiber-to-the- home internet service because he couldn't get good broadband service from AT&T or Comcast is expanding with the help of government money.

He was providing service to about 30 rural homes when we wrote about him. The American Rescue Plan's Coronaviruses State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds will allow him to expand his network to nearly 600 additional properties, he told Ars in a phone interview in July.

The US government allocated 71 million dollars for various infrastructure projects in Washtenaw County. The county conducted a study to find unserved areas. He said the county issued a request for proposals for contractors to wire up addresses that were known to be unserved or underserved.

He said that he bid on the entire project in his area and won through the competitive bidding process. The Washtenaw County decided to wire up different parts of the county.

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.

$50 a month for unlimited data.

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 is available for $55 a month and 1Gbps with unlimited data is available for $79 a month. The installation fee is usually $199. Unlike larger internet service providers, Mauch provides simple bills that contain a single line item for internet service.

The Federal Communications Commission offers subsidies of $30 a month for households that meet income eligibility requirements.

All project expenses must be incurred by the end of 2024 and the project must be finished by the end of 2026. "My goal is to build about half of it by the end of this year and the other half by the end of next year," he said. There is a funding amount.

AT&T offers just 1.5 Mbps.

He is still a network architect at Akamai and not operating an internet service provider. After being unable to get modern service from any of the major internet service providers, he decided to build his own network.

AT&T only offers DSL with download speeds up to 1.5Mbps at his house. He said that if they only wanted $10,000, he would go with them. The up-front fees for line extensions for customers outside of the network area are demanded by the cable company.