News release from the City of Bluffton:
Bluffton becomes Indiana’s first Gigabit City
BLUFFTON, INDIANA (September 9, 2015) – Bluffton has become Indiana’s first “Gigabit City,” with universally available internet speeds up to one hundred times faster than a typical residential broadband connection.
The term “Gigabit City” had its genesis in Google’s effort in Kansas City to ensure universal access to ultra-high speed broadband.
“Not many of us will have need for such speed today,” stated Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis. “However, those who do have such needs are often the drivers of economic growth.”
Wells County Economic Development CEO Tim Ehlerding agreed. “High speed data is now a required utility by business and industry, in the same category as electric and water. Sites without high speed data no longer are viable industrial sites. Having a Gigabit City is one more arrow in our quiver of economic development tools!”
The system upgrade is the result of a public-private partnership with locally-based Adams-Wells Internet Telecom TV to offer gigabit capacity to throughout the entire city.