An entrepreneur has been awarded £2.1million to extend the broadband ISP he set up from his own back garden. Jared Mauch, from the US, built his own fibre broadband provider after Comcast tried to charge him £40,000 to expand their Internet access to his home.
Tired of rip-off rates and snail-pace internet speeds of 1.5Mbps, the network architect started building the ISP (Internet Service Provider) on his property roughly five years ago. Since connecting around 70 of his rural neighbours to his provider last year, he has now been awarded millions of dollars in grant money to hook up a further 600 homes.
His company started small with just one customer - himself - but soon took off as his eager neighbours signed up. Mauch is now planning to extend his network with an extra 38 miles of fibre broadband, the Daily Star reports.
Instead of paying tons of money for dreadfully slow Internet, his customers can sign up to 100Mbps and unlimited data for £44 ($55) per month. Mauch said he "had to start a telephone company to get [high-speed] Internet" at his house after the main American broadband companies never extended their fast networks to his area.
He even asked the Internet giant Comcast to extend their network to him but they quoted him $50,000 (£40,000) to do so. "If they had priced it at $10,000, I would have written them a cheque," he told ArsTechnica.
"It was so high at $50,000 that it made me consider if this is worthwhile. Why would I pay them to expand their network if I get nothing back out of it."
If you're thinking of building your own ISP or energy provider to avoid the skyrocketing bills this winter though, you might want to think again. Mauch was able to build his company, Washtenaw Fiber Properties, because he works as a network engineer in his day job.
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