Orange County Fiber beginning fiber optic buildout; opens new office in Jasper

ByFree Press Staff Reading Time: 2 minutes

Invigorated through federal and state grants, Orange County Fiber is expanding fiber optic through portions of Dubois County.

The company is a division of the Orange County Rural Electric Membership Cooperative

To support residents wishing to use the services offered through Orange County Fiber, the company opened an office in Jasper on March 28, 2022. Carla Buechler, a Dubois County resident, has been hired as the Jasper Office Manager.

Orange County Fiber’s focus is to provide high-speed internet to unserved and underserved residences. Installation of the new network in Dubois County is set to begin this month with residents in the green area beginning to receive fiber service in July.

“We know high-speed internet is a big need for students to do their schoolwork from home and parents who work from home,” General Manager/CEO, Matt Deaton, explained,

The arrows indicate the direction of the buildout from the start point.

In December, the county approved using $2.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for a study of about 20,000 utility poles serviced by Dubois County REC. The approved grant will help fund the engineering and pole replacements/updates to allow fiber service to be strung through a major portion of the county. This make-ready portion of the buildout is estimated to cost about $4.35 million according to Dubois REC, the owner of the poles.

According to Orange County REMC, the ARPA grant will allow much of rural Dubois County to receive service in the next 24 months.

For more information, contact Orange County Fiber is either by phone or website. The phone number is 812-865-2229 and website is www.myremc.coop. You can use the “Contact Us” form on our website to send a message. They also post information and updates on our Orange County Fiber Facebook page.

More information on the installation.

Green and Orange Route

  • April 2022 – Mainline fiber construction to begin.
  • July 2022 – Drop construction to begin. People along the Northern route will begin to receive service.
  • July 2023 – Mainline fiber construction completed
  • December 2023 – Drop construction completed.

Dates are subject to change. The green and orange route will have our wireless internet available during fiber construction.

Blue Route

Wireless internet initially offered during the first phase. Fiber will be fed in a subsequent phase.

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27 Comments

  1. can a clarification be made about drop construction.
    The article states people who live along the main route. Does this include those who do and do not live on the street the main fiber is on? Example, someone lives along jasper-dubois county road, but would be in the light orange. Will a drop consteuction line be run down that road?

    1. So, does this mean once again St. Henry will be left out in the cold again?

        1. The husband wants to know: “are the lines buried or in the air”. We prefer buried as we have ALL lines to our house buried!

    2. From Orange County Fiber: “yes, any area that is colored will have a drop made available to them at no charge.”

      1. Jason we do not have plans to deploy into the city limits of Jasper. Our mission is to serve those that do not or can not get the same super fast internet you have.

  4. I live on Purdue farm rd, I know you already went to Purdue ag center past my house but went through the woods to get there skipping approx 15 rural residents. Do you plan on installing Purdue farm rd, since the grant was for rural residents, or will we just not have the option since it was installed through the woods?

  5. Already checked our house in St Henry but no good signal from Bretzville….. so we wait some more for another option to come along.

    1. Unfortunately the wireless service we offer doesn’t hit everyone. Our fiber service will. We will offer you fiber service within the next 24 months.

  8. Will this be coming to the St Henry area along 1100 South Road? I believe St Henry is in the orange area but just wanting it confirmed.

  9. I compared Orange County Fiber’s rates to PSC’s. PSC fiber costs less and is already known to be extremely reliable. I won’t make the switch.

    1. Our primary mission is to serve those that do not already have a high speed fiber connection. You are lucky if you already have such a connection.

  10. Will this service include the sermershiem addition south of the Bretzville junction

  11. Will this service include 1746 east walnut drive huntingburg. This is sermershiem addition at Bretzville

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