Jefferson Public Radio

Amidst aging infrastructure, Ashland seeks to modernize city-owned internet

Ashland, Oregon, created the Ashland Fiber Network in the late 1990s, after discovering the city’s only internet provider wouldn’t upgrade its infrastructure to meet rising demands. Ashland decided to offer its own internet service. Now all this equipment is starting to become outdated. While AFN was a pioneer for city-owned internet at its inception, the service has since fallen behind other municipal fiber networks.