This summer, after five years of planning, the city of Superior launched a new city-owned fiber optic network called ConnectSuperior.
ConnectSuperior works kind of like a highway, where the city supplies the infrastructure, and businesses can use that network to provide high-speed internet service to residents.
Stephanie Becken, the city’s broadband manager, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the new network has been a game-changer for Superior. Before, residents were limited to a handful of existing internet service providers in the area, and connectivity could be spotty because those companies hadn’t invested in updated infrastructure.
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“Now, with this system, we’re able to really (welcome) as many internet service providers as the market can bear,” Becken said.
For some households, this means parents can work, kids can do schoolwork and other family members can play games or stream movies together, all at the same time — something that was inconceivable with the older internet speeds.
“What we’re already seeing is people who are on the network almost forgetting what it used to be like,” Becken said. “I’ve already had people say, ‘Oh, my gosh. It always works! I just don’t think about it anymore. I don’t have a spinning wheel.’”
ConnectSuperior is not yet available in all neighborhoods, but Becken said the rollout has been successful so far.
“We’ve hit 10 percent of our potential customer base, which is huge,” she said. “That was a (goal) number for an entire year, and we’ve done that in two months. And it just keeps growing.”
Roadblocks to high-speed internet in rural areas
The launch of ConnectSuperior comes in the wake of federal disinvestment in broadband projects. Earlier this year, the Trump administration canceled the Digital Equity Act, which provided resources for seniors, veterans and low-income households to access devices, build digital skills and afford monthly internet bills. Additionally, new rules for the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Program have stalled efforts to bring high-speed internet to rural areas.
“We thought we were going to be much further ahead in 2026-27 than I think we will be now, unfortunately,” said Christopher Mitchell, director of Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
About 10 percent of people in Wisconsin don’t have home internet access, and many communities around the state struggle with low speeds and a lack of reliable connection. Now that so many day-to-day tasks are carried out online, that can create barriers to accessing vital services like online banking or even medical appointments.
Mitchell told “Wisconsin Today” that bringing high-speed internet to a community can look different depending on where you are. While Superior has city-owned infrastructure with private internet service providers, the city of Reedsburg provides internet service directly to residents as an electric utility.
The Reedsburg model might not be feasible in all places, though. Wisconsin is one of 17 states with laws limiting municipal broadband networks.
“Some cities would like to pursue that without the state putting its thumb on the scale to try to limit competition,” Mitchell said.
Attendees hold cables during the Tribal Broadband Bootcamp in Aguanga, Calif., Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
Tribal investment in broadband
Last month, tribes from Wisconsin participated in a Tribal Broadband Bootcamp in the Upper Peninsula. The event was put on by Minnesota-based Waskawiwin, a tribal broadband advocacy group that Mitchell co-founded.
Several Wisconsin tribes, including the Bad River, Lac du Flambeau and Red Cliff Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa, have made investments in broadband infrastructure so that people on the reservations have internet access. Mitchell said this investment can fan out to benefit residents in the surrounding area as well.
“There (are) parts of Wisconsin where you can have amazing internet service from a local company or some company that’s made the investment, and then you could go 10 miles down the road and find that people have really poor service,” he said. “Well, that 10 miles down the road is where we often see the tribal nations, where there has not been a lot of investment. And that’s why many of them are starting to build their own networks to make sure that they can decide how to engage with the technology of today and tomorrow.”