Rock Falls (IL) is a gigabit city

Rock Falls is a gigabit city and the backbone to its fiber network is in place. Now it's time to get residents connected to its broadband, which can provide speeds up to 1,000 megabits per second. As part of its marketing campaign, city officials held their final informational meetings for a packed council chamber at City Hall. City Administrator Robbin Blackert retraced the process, started in earnest in 2015, that has made broadband the newest city utility. The city took out a $4 million bond to complete the backbone, which is along the U.S. 30 and state Route 40 corridors, including the industrial parks. Wayne Shafer, the city's broadband department director, explained how the residential areas will be built out. The service areas are divided into 26 potential "fiberhoods," each with about 250 homes. To mitigate the financial risk, a fiberhood won't be done until 45 percent of its prospective customers sign up for the service.