June 15, 2023
Trucks on the curb. Roadside digging. Traffic detours. Workers invading your quiet neighborhood. Although we do our best to minimize disruptions, we understand that the fiber construction process can be a noisy inconvenience.
Improving any infrastructure—from internet networks to public roads—can be a hassle at the time, but the outcome is (hopefully) always worth the temporary disruptions. As we work hard to bring future-proof fiber internet to our community, we wanted to take a few minutes to look ahead and consider all the value fiber can bring to our town.
We believe fiber is worth the trouble because we believe Iowa is worth it—and we hope you’ll agree!
Fostering Remote Work Opportunities
For starters, fiber facilitates remote working. This provides more options to the people who live in our town while also enabling more people to move here and contribute to our local economy.
Remote working has expanded exponentially over the past several years, with some estimates indicating that up to a quarter of all professional jobs will be remote for at least a majority of their time. And having a reliable internet connection is simply essential for those remote workers to be productive and stay competitive with their colleagues!
Remote work involves much more than just web browsing and checking emails. Quality, interruption-free online videoconference calling is critical for remote workers to stay connected to their fellow staff members. Fiber internet has both the speed and the bandwidth necessary to make video calling clear and dependable, dramatically reducing the frustration so many individuals have felt in the past.
Of course, the presence of a trusted internet connection also makes employers much more willing to let their employees work remotely from home in the first place! We’re excited to see local residents take advantage of more remote work opportunities in the months and years to come.
Energizing Economic Growth
Of course, the economic value of fiber internet extends well beyond remote workers! Indeed, our community’s entire economy is improved by having access to future-proof internet.
Existing businesses are more efficient and can compete with companies in any major metropolitan area in America—or even around the world. That’s because Alpine Communication’s fiber internet is as fast as that of any large city.
Having fiber internet helps attract new business investment to our area, too—and with it, more jobs. Fiber has a “multiplier” effect on our local economy, as each new business and job attracted to our area because of fiber spreads economic growth across our region, helping it grow and flourish.
Improving the Value—and Security—of Your Home
As fiber internet is the most sought-after form of high-speed internet in America today, having internet through Alpine can also increase the value of your home.
Indeed, one study indicates that having fiber internet can increase the value of a home by 3.1%! For the average-priced home in America, that could be a difference worth many thousands of dollars.
High-speed internet also helps protect your investment by keeping your home safer, too. Smart home technology has advanced considerably over the past several years. Smart cameras and doorbells can prevent “porch pirates,” smart lighting adds visibility at night and deters trespassers, and security systems can alert you and emergency services if disaster strikes while you’re away.
Facilitating Home Health Care
The technology enabled by fiber internet doesn’t just protect your home but the people inside it, too. The innovations in telehealth in recent years make getting health care, including urgent care, faster and easier than ever before.
A reliable internet service with fiber lets you speak one-on-one with your physician and other health care providers from home, making many health consultations much quicker and more efficient. These at-home telehealth sessions can even save you from unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office in the first place!
Telehealth isn’t just for conveniently treating the common cold, either. With a sufficiently strong internet connection, home health video conferences can provide better ongoing care and monitoring for those with chronic health conditions.
Improving Our Community and Providing Educational Resources
Beyond the walls of your home, the pillars of our community benefit from fiber’s incredible speeds and generous bandwidth, too. Public schools can provide extra learning resources for all our students and teachers. Public libraries can offer increased research capacity, media, and programs. Community centers for seniors and youth can extend their outreach through skills-building and hobby workshops. Emergency services are able to respond more quickly and accurately when needed.
In this way, Alpine’s fiber internet does far more than just help an individual family enjoy their home or a small business get the job done. At its core, fiber is as important a part of our community’s infrastructure and future as our roads and electrical grid.
Competitive Gaming and Esports
Finally, fiber’s many advantages extend to the vast world of online gaming. Whether enjoyed solo or with friends or other competitors, online gaming has become a hugely popular pastime in America. And Alpine’s sophisticated fiber technology has all the bandwidth and extraordinary speeds to prevent lag, crashes, and other delays that plague online gaming, ensuring the best possible gaming experience.
While this may seem frivolous compared to other examples above, gaming isn’t only about having fun or passing the time. Esports (competitive video gaming in leagues and tournaments) has become a booming enterprise, taking ordinary online gaming and turning it into a serious sport.
Esports can open up exciting opportunities for the next generation in our community. To date, more than 30 colleges and universities offer esports scholarships to talented gamers, some of which reach into the tens of thousands of dollars per year! From there, graduates can even find a career in many gaming-related fields. (Selfishly, we hope some of them will come back and join our own team to help us continue improving technology in our town!)
Get Connected!
As we continue to build out fiber in our area, we’re excited about the future this technology can make possible here in Iowa and we hope you agree! To find out when you can get connected, visit alpinecom.net or call (563) 245-4000 today.
