A New York-based internet provider is making its latest push into Pennsylvania in the Williamsport area, wiring streets passing more than 5,000 customers with high-speed broadband.
Empire Access, a broadband company founded in 1896, specializes in installing fiber optic internet in New York and northeastern and north-central Pennsylvania. More than 2,000 homes in the city and South Williamsport already have access.
“We're probably about halfway through building in the community at this point. There are also areas that we have just recently committed to that aren't even reflected on the map, so we are excited about this area and are going to continue to expand our commitment,” Empire Access Chief Executive Officer Kevin Dickens said Thursday at a presentation in South Williamsport.
Empire joins Xfinity, Frontier, Verizon and others in providing internet locally.
The presentation marked the official launch of the local network.
“Fiber provides the fastest internet available today, it's the gold standard,” vice president of sales Bob VanDelinder said. “Over a very small piece of glass, smaller than a human hair, you can provide the fastest internet that you can obtain today.”
Fiber-optic broadband internet uses micro-glass fibers to deliver internet to customers. VanDelinder called it “future proofing” homes, offices and more. Fiber allows faster and higher quality streaming for homes, schools and businesses.
“It really allows us to scale it for the customer, along with additional services such as phone service, TV services and security services,” VanDelinder said.
Empire is currently installing fiber-optic internet in Bloomsburg in Columbia County and Scranton and Dunmore in Lackawanna County.
Residents and businesses can sign up online and the 24/7 customer service line, 800-338-3300. Empire Access employees also visit possible customers door-to-door. They can sign up residents, explain services and fiber network benefits.
“They work closely with residents to make sure they're getting the speeds they need, along with the TV and the phone services,” VanDelinder said.
Local Empire Access representatives can customize plans to meet business needs, VanDelinder said.
“Our plan in the upcoming months is to finish building out Williamsport as well as South Williamsport Borough. When complete, we'll have pretty much the entire area, the borough and the city built out with fiber optic internet,” he said.
The company has offices in the city and borough with five full-time technicians and sales representatives. More customer support staff could be hired after expansion is completed, Dickens said.
Dickens said the company rents buildings to house networking equipment, then ties into its larger network infrastructure. Employees from the Mansfield or Prattsburgh headquarters are temporarily working in Williamsport as well, said Dickens.
“We have people in trucks who are running fiber optic cables on telephone poles or putting them underground,” Dickens said. “Those people will be here for a period of time during construction and then once operational, it largely falls back to the people we have here in sales and repair technicians who are living in the community.”
Empire Access has provided services for more than a century out of their Prattsburgh, New York headquarters. They began as a local phone and evolved into a fiber optic broadband company.
Fiber optic internet could move into areas outside of Williamsport, dependent on population density and accessibility, VanDelinder said.
“It's really driven by population densities and access from a network perspective to areas. But anywhere within this community that we can find the right combination of people who can use these services and an availability of network options to get there, you can count on us being in that market,” he said.
The company surveyed Williamsport’s internet needs early last year and began installation in the fall.
“Our roots are in small to medium cities and villages. When we moved into Williamsport, it was a great fit for us and there's definitely a need for fiber optic internet and services,” he said.
Installation and service calls are free. Internet speed packages start at 500 megabytes per second for $50 a month; $65 for one gigabit per second; and $100 two gigabits per second.
