An American freaked out in a village without Internet and created a provider himself (!!!). Now there is a line of customers waiting for him, and monopolistic companies are biting their elbows

In 2002, Akamai senior network architect Jared Mauch moved to the village of Sio, Michigan. There he bought a house with Internet speed of 1.5 Mbit/s.

This was enough for 2002, but after 20 years the speed naturally became insufficient. At this time, the Internet in the village was not limited in any way, so Mouch decided to correct the situation himself.

In 2020, he created Washtenaw Fiber Properties to provide fiber optic cable to Sayo and the neighboring village. It received a $2.6 million grant in mid-August 2023 to expand coverage.

Short description

• Why companies abandoned the Internet
  How did the protocol come about?
  How does village internet work?
  How much does your own Internet bring?

Refused to use high-speed Internet in the village

When Mauch bought a house in Sayo, he connected the Internet via twisted pair cable, so the speed was low, only 1.5 Mbit/s. The man hoped that in the future providers would lay a fiber optic cable to his village, but this has not happened in 20 years.

As a result, he had to use his smartphone as a hotspot, but the Internet speed was limited to 50 Mbps.

About six years ago, AT&T offered Mouch a 1.5 Mbps DSL service. The man later contacted Comcast and stated that It costs $50 thousand to run a cable with high-speed Internet to his house.

If they appreciated it [кабель] for $10 thousand I would write them a check. It was so expensive – $50 thousand – that I wondered if it was worth it. Why should I pay them to expand their network if I get nothing in return?

Jared Mauch

In 2016, Mouch began thinking about creating his own provider to bring fiber optic cable to the village. He estimated that about 35% of customers would switch to his Internet, but the real figure was twice as high.

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The pandemic has helped the construction network

The fiber optic cable that Mouch used.

Washtenaw Fiber Properties is registered as a telephone company but only provides Internet service.

Mouch design I assumed that the project would cost $60 thousand, but the final amount was much higher – $145 thousand. Of this, $95 thousand was awarded to the contract that laid the bulk of the fiber optics. The cable is usually pulled underground at a distance of up to two meters, and in some cases buried at 3-6 meters so as not to touch gas pipes.

Some clients paid $5 thousand in advance to offset the cost of laying the cable. Instead, Mouch use free internet access to ensure accessibility.

Later in 2021, one family wrote Mouch a nearly six-figure check to build the network.

The most difficult stage of implementation in March 2020. The man had a contractor install two sets of ducts. The cost of the work is practically unclear, so in the future Mouch will be able to rent out one channel of the second channel to the provider or use it to expand coverage.

Mouch laid the fiber into the channel himself. The equipment for this can cost more than $26 thousand, but the man found a way to save money. He rented an air compressor and bought the parts he needed at a hardware store for $50. He also had to pay $8,000 to rent a drilling rig that makes connections under roads without digging giant holes.

Drilling rig for laying cables.

Air compressor rented by Mouch.

He later bought an industrial air compressor at a government auction for less than $4,000. A new one costs $20 thousand.

Construction was accompanied by bureaucratic problems. One time Mauch received a work ban because he installed insufficient fencing along the roads. This also comes with 48 hours notice to work, but the application procedure was very confusing.

Mouch’s construction crew.

A work ban issued by the state administration.

One day, unknown people stole a work car. Later, Mouch saw an advertisement for its sale on the Internet. Together with the police, he was able to recover the stolen car.

Also, Maucha has not avoided the price increase. Previously, he bought fiber optic pipes for 32 cents (19 rubles) per 30 cm. Now they cost twice as much.

The pandemic helped Mouch a lot because there were few cars on the roads and people tended to break into their homes, which made it easier to get fiber to their homes. Moreover, the pandemic has also made people realize that it is important to have good internet.

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Mouch offers customers Internet speeds up to 1 Gbit/s

Switchboard in Mouch’s house. Each cable connects directly to the connected home.

Mouch purchases an Internet connection and dedicated bandwidth from a large leading provider, ACD.net. The architect laid just over 3 km of fiber from the nearest ACD.net distribution panel to his home. He also purchased a backup connection from another provider, 123Net.

Washtenaw Fiber Properties equipment is located at Mouch’s home and includes the following:

▪️ Ost: router for communication with ACD.net
▪️ Ubiquity: optical terminal network
▪️ Intel NUK: servers for networks, plotting and measuring client speeds
▪️ Mac minicomputer: for backup
▪️ Raspberry Pi 4: backup DHCP server
▪️ Electric generator

If Mouch ever sells his home, he plans to move the equipment onto the property and negotiate with the new owners for free access to telecommunications.

Equipment that Mouch installs in clients’ homes.

Mouch installs a Mikrotik RBFTC11 media converter with a Ubiquiti PON-to-Ethernet module at clients’ homes. Customers can use their own Wi-Fi router or purchase one from Mouch at cost.

Prices on the Internet

▪️ 100 Mbit/s: $65/month.
▪️ 250 Mbit/s: $75/month.
▪️ 500 Mbit/s: $99/month
▪️ 1 Gbit/s: $139/month.

Connection costs $599, if the house is located in the service area. In case of problems with the pandemic, pay an additional $199.

Mouch does not receive any complaints from customers related to the Internet.

In March last year, the power went out in the architect’s house due to a power plant shutdown. As a result, customers did not lose access to the Internet for long. But after a few minutes the network started working as his house was powered by a generator. There was no electricity for 24 hours, and the generator was running all this time so that people could maintain internet.

Mouch’s total network capacity is 10 Gbps, but his clients rarely use more than 200 Mbps in total unless they measure their Internet speed.

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Mauch is not going to quit his day job because of a new business

Official pickup truck of Washtenaw Fiber Properties.

In January 2021, Mouch brought internet to 30 homes. After a year and a half, he had 70 clients.

In May, Washtenaw Fiber Properties announced it plans to connect 600 more sites using a $2.6 million grant it received from the U.S. government.

Before the pandemic, the state of Michigan conducted a study to identify areas with poor internet service. After the state received money from the government, the Michigan administration published an advertisement looking for a bride who is ready to undertake the implementation of global Internet in specified places.

They had this request for proposals to fill in the gaps, and out of stupidity or genius, I don’t know exactly yet, I put in a bid for the entire project [в своем районе] and achieved victory in the competitive bidding process.

Jared Mauch

Washtenaw Fiber Properties’ network currently spans 22.5 km. To implement the state project, Mouch needs to lay another 61 km of cable underground.

Control panel of a welding machine used for growing fiber optic wires.

Since we are talking about rural areas, then in some cases, you have to lay 1 km of optical fiber to provide Internet at home.. It costs more than $30 thousand.

The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026, but Mouch will do everything possible to ensure this happens as quickly as possible.

Previously, it used one connector for cable routing. He now works with several companies, but still does some work on his own.

Despite a fairly successful business, Mouch did not quit his day job. He still works as a network architect at Akamai. According to him, he devotes 8-10 hours a month to his business, so he does not plan to change his job.

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