Totally Fiber Optic

In my opinion, broadband connectivity is as important to a town as water, sewer and electrical service. In the early 1900s, I’m sure that there were towns that didn’t see the importance of utilities like water, sewer and electricity for industrial development. “We’ll get it someday,” might have been their attitude. My guess is that they were passed by and eventually whittled away to practically nothing. That same attitude is prevalent in some of the towns that I visit when they talk about broadband connectivity. I see it differently. Today it is as important as other city services and is becoming even more important with each passing day.

Columbus, KS (population 3,396) is fortunate to have Columbus Telephone, a member owned cooperative, headquartered in the town. Jim Dahmen of Columbus Telephone told me, “With the fiber optic network, we are now able to offer every member broadband connectivity for voice, video and data. By burying the entire plant, we have also increased our network reliability by not being exposed to all types of weather situations.”

Columbus hit my radar screen last year when we used a Columbus based company to do a construction project for us. I found it to be a very entrepreneurial town. Jim told me, “We presently have a number of downtown properties available. In addition, we have 187,178 sf and a 20,000 sf plants available.” If you are an entrepreneur, you might want to check them out.