Hidden beneath the ground in Dowagiac is a vein of electronic gold — one that may soon provide a wealth of information to local residents.

Area telecommunications firm ACD is currently developing plans for upgrades to the city’s fiber optic cable network that, when completed, would provide gigabit Internet services to select residential homes and small businesses within the city limits. Representatives with the firm hope to begin construction on these improvements starting in late 2016, with people possibly receiving service as soon as spring of 2017.

If this project comes into fruition, Dowagiac will become a part of the growing list of communities across Michigan and the entire U.S. to have access to gigabit Internet services. In comparison to the standard cable or DSL broadband service that many homes use to connect to the Internet, gigabit offers speeds capping out around 1,000 megabits per second — which is 15 to 100 times faster than those of most modern connections.

As a result, data heavy tasks such as downloading music, watching streaming videos or uploading high resolution photos is accomplished in mere seconds.

We are encouraged to see these developments occur in our small city, improvements which are sure to benefit both our residents and business owners.

These days, access to the Internet isn’t just a luxury or a privilege — it’s a basic necessity. Be it to look up information for school projects, to uploading governmental forms to just staying touch with friends and loved ones, the world wide web has become the glue that allows our society to work, learn, talk and play with people across the globe.

And keeping pace with advances in Internet technology will only help our city’s standing with other communities in the area.

We want to thank ACD for their willingness to invest in our community, and the City of Dowagiac and Dowagiac Union Schools for their foresight in installing the fiber network more than a decade ago.

We look forward to joining the future of connectivity.

 

Opinins expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.