TVIfiber Shares Timeline For Buildout
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TVEPA Director of Telecom Daniel Watson provided a timeline for the fiber buildout in Water Valley. Watson was among TVEPA representatives providing information at a community meeting on Feb. 18.
WATER VALLEY – Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association (TVEPA) has launched the planning and design phase for the build-out of 35 miles of main line fiber that will serve the City of Water Valley and areas outside the city limits that receive electricity from the Water Valley Electric Department. The build-out will bring fiber-based, high speed internet to 1,969 locations and is anticipated to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2025, but some customers could have access to service within weeks.
The information about the timeline and services was shared during a community meeting in Water Valley last Tuesday night as TVEPA and TVIfiber CEO Brad Robison, Director of Member Services Earl Gibson and Director of Telecom Daniel Watson spoke to dozens of attendees in the community room at BankFirst on Main Street.
Watson reported that the buildout will be done in five phases, and the first phase will start on the west side of the Hwy. 7 bypass and includes 207 locations that currently have little or no access to high speed internet.
“There are a lot of homes in this area that have no service,” Watson explained.
This area joins TVEPA’s service area and Watson said the fiber will connect to an existing tie-in for fiber on County Road 106, expediting the buildout in this area.
“We can tie in pretty quickly and start serving customers,” Watson reported during the community meeting. “Then we will go to Camp Ground and finish up on Airways. We anticipate to start doing installs during the first quarter of 2025,” he added, a reference to hooking up customers.
The remaining buildout areas will connect to a fiber hub located in TVEPA’s substation located west of Water Valley, requiring the work will start on the south end of the city and work in a northerly direction. All five phases are expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2025.
Watson also explained that the buildout will require replacing or moving some city utility poles with TVEPA crews doing the pole work and fiber buildout.
“Our lineman that you know and see around here will do the pole change-outs and rearrangements,” Watson said. “Once the pole work is done, TVEPA’s linemen and servicemen are going to do the construction. They are going to be the ones coming through town in the red trucks hanging the fiber.”
Robison also stressed the importance of not creating a burden for the city’s electric department with the buildout.
“We want to improve it,” Robison said. “As we come through and see issues, we will help change out those poles. We will be helping create a better electric system and that is very important to the mayor and aldermen as we work through this process.
Gibson noted that TVEPA’s Board of Directors approved the buildout for all customer served by the Water Valley Electric Department.
“That is important because there are some customers that our competitors may not reach. We are not leaving anybody behind and that is very important. We have heard stories in the community when we visited with people – stories like it cost $5,000 to get a line run across the road to their house to get internet service. That is a hard pill to swallow,” Gibson said.
Gibson also said customer service and providing a quality product are important to TVEPA.
“We are an 85-year old company and we operate some things using a very simple process – keep it simple” Gibson said.
He also noted that TVIfiber has not changed the rate structure since launching the service over four years ago and offers internet speeds up to a gig for residential services, up to 10 gig for business services, along with telephone service and security solutions.
Watson also shared information about services included with TVIfiber’s internet packages at no additional charge. TVIfiber My Net is an app that allows a customer to check the health of their network, establish time limits for youth to be on the internet and other features.
“If you want the internet to turn off at 10 p.m., you can do that,” Watson said about the app.
Protect IQ is another free service that blocks threats to the user’s network and protects devices. Experience IQ provides content filtering.
“You can turn Amazon off, you can turn online shopping off. My wife loves that,” Watson joked about Experience IQ. “Or turn off Facebook or something you don’t want your kids on. It really focuses on how to protect your family.”
To sign up, Gibson explained that to pre-register, go to their website, TVIfiber.com, and click on the red button at the bottom, “Water Valley Pre-registration.” When the area has fiber available, the installation can be scheduled a service drop will be done to bring the fiber from the utility pole to the residence or business.
“If it is aerial we will go aerial. If it is underground, we will go underground. Or if you want us to go underground, we will,” Watson explained.
Robison stressed that pre-registering for the service is not a commitment, and allows TVIfiber to have your information to provide updates on the buildout.
“This has been a long time coming and we are very excited to be able to offer this service to citizens and businesses,” Robison said. “Thank you for letting us be a partner in the community. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and that is what we intend to do.”
