Carl Junction Officials Consider New Technology for City
By: Shayla Patrick
Updated: November 21, 2012
CARL JUNCTION, MO - For fiber optics engineer Bill Mueller months of hard work has all come down to this.
"We were commissioned four months ago to provide a feasibility study for Carl Junction to install their own fiber optic network," said Mueller.
It's something city leaders hope will enhance internet service options for residents.
"Not only will it provide them with a better, more reliable system, they will be able to pick what they want," says Steve Lawver, Carl Junction city administrator. "They won't have to go through multiple providers to get it, they should be able to get everything from one provider," Lawver explains.
With new innovations popping up everyday, switching to fiber would keep Carl Junction's current technology system ahead of the curve.
"Those are old technologies, old delivery mechanisms that do two things, one they don't allow for the same reliability as what fiber does, nor do they have the same bandwidth or capacity," Mueller explains.
Lawver adds, "the current service providers are not willing to put money into Carl Junction to update the system, they just maintain it is all they do, they don't put anything in that's going to handle the next technologies that come up."
But adding this new system comes with a price tag of around five million dollars.
"They were concerned just about the overall cost that the financial models we put together based on the assumptions indicated that the city would have a very positive cash flow towards the end of the project," said Mueller.
Council members are most worried about how the cost would affect residents.
"It is an important thing to know that if you are not a subscriber, you will not be charged for it," explains Lawver. "So a person that is on a fixed income that doesn't require any of these systems, it's not going to be like a tax or anything like that."
City leaders are looking at different funding options for the fiber optics system ... Including a USDA grant, and financing through private institutions. If they decide to move forward with this project, the next step would be to open it up for bids.
"We were commissioned four months ago to provide a feasibility study for Carl Junction to install their own fiber optic network," said Mueller.
It's something city leaders hope will enhance internet service options for residents.
"Not only will it provide them with a better, more reliable system, they will be able to pick what they want," says Steve Lawver, Carl Junction city administrator. "They won't have to go through multiple providers to get it, they should be able to get everything from one provider," Lawver explains.
With new innovations popping up everyday, switching to fiber would keep Carl Junction's current technology system ahead of the curve.
"Those are old technologies, old delivery mechanisms that do two things, one they don't allow for the same reliability as what fiber does, nor do they have the same bandwidth or capacity," Mueller explains.
Lawver adds, "the current service providers are not willing to put money into Carl Junction to update the system, they just maintain it is all they do, they don't put anything in that's going to handle the next technologies that come up."
But adding this new system comes with a price tag of around five million dollars.
"They were concerned just about the overall cost that the financial models we put together based on the assumptions indicated that the city would have a very positive cash flow towards the end of the project," said Mueller.
Council members are most worried about how the cost would affect residents.
"It is an important thing to know that if you are not a subscriber, you will not be charged for it," explains Lawver. "So a person that is on a fixed income that doesn't require any of these systems, it's not going to be like a tax or anything like that."
City leaders are looking at different funding options for the fiber optics system ... Including a USDA grant, and financing through private institutions. If they decide to move forward with this project, the next step would be to open it up for bids.
