KRONENWETTER, Wis. (WJFW) — Many people can take common luxuries, like internet for granted like it’s just normal to have. But for many people in rural areas, reliable internet can be a rarity.
Kronenwetter Village Hall held a celebration today to mark the accessibility to city-level internet. Scott Feldt, the Executive Director for Bug Tussel, said that they “Successfully brought fiber to the home service to over 600 underserved locations, businesses, institutions, and residences. These aren’t just numbers, these are families, these are businesses, these are entrepreneurs, these are students.”
Marathon County is geographically the largest county in Wisconsin. It has a population of around 912,000.
Lance Leonhard, the County administrator, said that “According to 2023 numbers, about 43% of our residences, living in rural areas, approximately 15,000 addresses in our county had no internet service or very slow service that did not meet modern needs.”
In United States history, towns grew because of railroads, roads, ports and now because of the internet. John Robsinson, the Broadband Taskforce Chair, compared this internet expansion effort to other major projects in history.
““This is an enormous undertaking, and has been compared to the 20th century efforts to bring electricity to all residents and addresses in America,” Robinson said.
For people in Kronenwetter, they could call Thursday to set up their access to Fiber Optic Internet. Expansions are still ongoing in various towns around Marathon County.