Fed up with poor broadband access, he started his own fiber internet service provider

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/ [login to see] /michigan-man-isp-fiber-internet
Long before the pandemic forced many office workers to depend on their home internet, Jared Mauch had been working from home for about two decades.

When he moved to Scio Township in 2002, an area in rural Michigan not far from Ann Arbor, his employer set him up with a great home internet connection — many of his neighbors at the time were still stuck with sluggish dial-up.

After a while, though, his bandwidth couldn't keep up with his tech job and his growing family.

But when he started shopping around, he wasn't happy with his options. The internet speeds from AT&T were painfully slow. Comcast wanted to charge him an up-front fee of $50,000 to expand service to his home. He opted for a third route.

Rather than shell out that kind of money only to depend on the whims of an internet service provider, the 46-year-old decided to create his own fiber ISP.

"I had every reason to believe that I would be able to execute and perform a lot of these pieces of it, and most likely be more able to bring the service to the community than, you know, a large company," he told NPR. "I saw it as an excellent opportunity both to expand service and something I'm passionate about."