High-speed internet access coming to hundreds of homes in rural Jefferson County

FISHERVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nearly 2,000 homes in east Jefferson County are getting access to high-speed internet for the first time.

On Monday, city leaders announced that local and federal dollars will pay for a $7.5 million construction project to get gigabit broadband service to rural parts of Jefferson County.

Spectrum Internet will be available in more than 1,800 homes within the next year. According to Charter Communications, the company operates under the Spectrum brand of connectivity services.

"We all take electricity and water for granted," Mayor Craig Greenberg said. "Broadband access is equally as important."

David Weihe and his family moved to Fisherville 15 years ago and built a home next to his in-laws. Even back then, the biggest drawback was access to high speed internet.

"Having broadband, or the lack thereof, was extremely difficult," Weihe said.

From the family's hill, you can only get AT&T cell service. Until Starlink expanded access, he said it took days to download one movie.

"Using the previous provider, if I downloaded a standard definition movie from iTunes, it would take 247 hours," Weihe said.

The pandemic increased the importance of getting online quickly, and now, new grants are helping to pay for this rural area to finally enter the digital age.

Councilman Stuart Benson (R-20) represents the district containing Fisherville, and, along with his legislative aide, has worked for a decade to bring access to the area.

"We've been pushing this forever," Benson said.

Metro Councilman Stuart Benson used district funds to secure more money, and in the next year, more than 1,800 homes and businesses will get Spectrum high-speed internet for the first time.

"I don't even know if I'm able to understand how quick this is," Karen Gaddy from Fisherville said.

"And so we're not going to be putting up any new poles. If the utilities are on poles, they're on poles, if they're underground, we'll go underground," Ellen Call with Charter said.

Spectrum leaders said that the service will be delivered directly to homes, even if they are several hundred feet away from utility poles.

They say the permitting process will take another couple of months. Once that is complete, Spectrum estimates it will take nine months to complete the project.