If you drove from Kansas City to Denver, it would take you almost 9 hours and a little over 600 miles to get there. Now what does this distance have to do with GBT? That’s the approximate amount of fiber optic cabling, 600 miles, that GBT is installing to homes and businesses in our Rural Part of Kansas, just in 2023!  Fiber optics is hard to visualize because it’s just a small piece of glass the size of a human hair, but if we stay on the roads theme, GBT is essentially laying 600 miles of a 1,000-lane highway to 100s of rural residents so they have the same access to broadband and the world that many of us take for granted.  As one resident who was recently connected to fiber Internet services conveyed to GBT, “For the first time since we have lived in the country, we now know what it’s like to have Internet that we can do anything we want with. We can watch streaming shows on our tv, my kids can do homework on their tablets, and my husband and I can browse or search the Internet all at the same time. It is amazing!”

“For the first time since we have lived in the country, we now know what it’s like to have Internet that we can do anything we want with. We can watch streaming shows on our TV, my kids can do homework on their tablets, and my husband and I can browse or search the Internet all at the same time. It is amazing!”

With 600 miles of fiber being buried in the ground, and hundreds of homes that need to be connected, planning, timing, and implementation is key. GBT understands everyone is excited and wants to be first to get fiber, and it is our goal to get fiber deployed as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of quality, safety, or reliability. When deploying fiber, many just see the final part of the process when GBT technicians install the fiber service inside the home, but few realize that staking, right-of-way permits, ordering and receiving of materials, main-line and drop-to-the-home construction, installation of central office electronics, and splicing and testing of the fiber all must be completed as part of the process. Along with the rest of the areas GBT already has fiber to, Rural Burdett, Rural Otis, Rural Utica, Rural Beeler, and the entire Eastern half of Rural Pawnee County and a part of Northwest Stafford County are all set to get fiber service. Although all these areas have a similar characteristic, an average of 1 household per square mile, GBT is investing in the future of our area by ensuring broadband and connectivity will not be lacking in these areas. From Smart Ag to families being able to move to our rural areas and create and operate businesses on a global scale, and everything in between, GBT is happy to ensure broadband does not inhibit our area’s ability to live, work, and have the same opportunities as one that lives in Kansas City or Denver.