Building a fiber infrastructure that is both fast and reliable was discussed by city council last week.

City Manager Ben White pre­sented a possible city-owned and operated wireless fiber ser­vice that could provide up to 200-plus megabits per second and 4G/5G capability through a data dome.

White included background on the project which began as a study in 2016. He included in­formation on a similar setup in Mont Belvieu, east of Houston, which included a fiber option to homes.

According to White’s presen­tation, the Mont Belvieu fiber project was established in 2017 at a cost of $10 million. The project was expected to have a positive cash flow in four years but reached that mark in two years.

In 2019, the city of Farmer­sville conducted a 2019 fiber survey that provided responses from 199 individuals. That sur­vey reported about 26% of the respondents were satisfied with their existing fiber service.

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By Chad Engbrock • [email protected]