Smithville Boosting Bedford Services

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Ellettsville-based Smithville Fiber is boosting its high-speed Internet services in downtown Bedford. Smithville President John Patten says the broadband network upgrade will initially be for businesses in the center of the Lawrence County city.

Smithville says business customers will be able to receive the service by the end of the month. Todd May, director of sales at Smithville, said the company will not initially be seeking residential customers outside of the downtown area but is exploring options to bring gigabit service to residential areas.

"We’ve had the privilege of serving a few business enterprise customers in the city of Bedford for some time, so we’re pleased to be able to expand these services," said Patten. "Smithville Business Advantage, our basic small business package, offers reliable fiber speeds up to 300 Mbps, but our new fiber capability will be scalable up to a gigabit of capacity and beyond."

In April, Smithville launched its "GigaCity" network in Jasper. All residential and business customers are expected to have access to the service by 2018. "GigaCity" is also available in parts of Bloomington.