If you have been in downtown Vandalia this week, you have seen the work to drop lines underground. The work is being completed by Clearwave Communications. Clearwave is a fiber optic-based telecommunications company in Southern Illinois with locations in Marion and Harrisburg. VandaliaRadio.com had a few questions answered on their project by Clearwave Communications General Manager Frank Maydak.
I see you guys are working in downtown Vandalia at this time—what is the project?
With over 2,100 miles of fiber across Southern Illinois our mission is to continue to provide Southern Illinois with a reliable, highly efficient fiber network for businesses across the communities we serve. Our expansion into Vandalia is part of our plan to grow our network.
How long with the work take?
We anticipate our core network/route to be completed by the end of the year. Additional fiber routes will be constructed as business customers sign up for our services.
After completion of the project, what are the next steps for you guys in this area?
We will continue to expand our fiber routes in Vandalia as the need arises. Building into and serving Vandalia allows us to enhance our network by not only adding routes, but also allowing us the ability to provide additional redundancy throughout our existing network. As we grow and invest in local communities, we design our network to remove as many uncontrollable variables as possible such as having our routes 100% buried to eliminate the effects of lightning strikes, power poles getting knocked down or trees falling onto lines. While potential disruptions cannot be completely prevented, redundancy allows us to keep customers up and running in the event of a fiber cut.
We encourage community leaders and business owners to reach out to us to help us better understand the communities’ needs and how we can best serve them. As an example, we can engage with Economic Development groups as they work to court new businesses looking to relocate to their communities.
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