Fiber Network FAQ’s

Q. What is Fiber-to-the-Home? 

A. Fiber-to-the-Home aka FTTH refers to a technology that can be used to provide services to your home or business. Fiber replaces older copper wires and allows us to provide voice, high-speed Broadband Internet over a fiber optic (glass) cable which is as thin as a human hair.

Q. What are the benefits of FTTH?

A. Unlike copper and wireless Internet, fiber has a higher bandwidth capacity and can carry data for great distances without signal loss or interference with plenty of capacity left over for future services. Plus, fiber is more durable and less susceptible to inclement weather, but if damaged it is significantly more expensive to repair than copper wire. Additionally, the services offer greater speed and crystal-clear connections.

Q. What is the difference about fiber?

A. Unlike copper or coaxial cable, fiber optic cable cannot provide electrical power to the devices that are connected to it. Therefore, power must be supplied by a local source (an electrical outlet) at your home or business. In addition to standard AC power, if you subscribe to landline phone service, a battery backup unit is recommended inside your house or business to allow 9-1-1 services to function in the event of a power outage.

Q. How does FTTH affect Broadband?

A. FTTH offers greater bandwidth and the ability for us to provide you with more Broadband Internet speed. This benefit provides the opportunity for music, movies, studying and working from home, online healthcare appointments, and a variety of other services that require higher speeds of Broadband Internet.

Q. Any other concerns?

A. Because FTTH is more expensive to operate and repair, it is even more essential that you call Iowa One Call at 811 or 800-292-8989 at least 48 hours prior to digging anywhere on your property. Not only will it keep you safe and help you avoid the inconvenience of an outage, but it may save you from having to pay for costly repairs to the fiber optic cable. Call Iowa One Call…it’s the law.

Q. Why are you building the FTTH network in Oelwein, Hazleton, and Lamont?

A. We were approached a few years ago by an Oelwein group requesting us to come into Oelwein with fiber, and we also saw that Hazleton was a great fit to connect two existing fiber routes creating a “ring”. This is to ensure that if the ring is cut, that data and phone calls re-route in another direction and services are not interrupted. And in 2026, we are bringing the same reliable fast technology to West Oelwein and Lamont as we had people in those areas also reach out to us requesting fiber optics!  

We need FTTH to offer the services that customers deserve and expect. The new technology will allow us to offer today’s services and those that become available in the future for remote work opportunities, tele-health, and tele-education or distance-learning.

Q. Will I need to purchase a new computer or television?

A. It depends on the age of the equipment. Computers will need to have an Ethernet port to plug into or have Wi-Fi capabilities – same as today. Televisions should have an HDMI type connection to receive the best quality picture and audio from a streaming device.  County Line Fiber does not offer “Cable TV” services because it’s much more economical for customers to use a streaming device with less expensive TV viewing options than to have us offer Cable TV service. We want to do what’s best for our customers!

Q. How do I make sure that I get the new FTTH network installed?

A. Simply call our office at 319-283-1188 to schedule a time for a technician to do a site survey, or if fiber is spliced and ready, just give us a call to discuss your options. We will also have technicians going door-to-door in an attempt to contact customers within our project area.

Q. Will the process of burying fiber disturb my yard or property?

A. We’ll do everything we can to make sure any disturbance is minimized, and the original condition of your property is returned as promptly as possible. We will either plow in the yard (similar result as a single mole tunnel), or we may bore under the ground and only have an entrance and exit point with no “mole-like” disturbance in-between. Every property is different, and we’ll do the best job possible with the least amount of disturbance. Our contractor will also re-seed any major disturbance with appropriate grass seed as weather permits.

Q.Will company employees need to enter my home?

A. Yes, our County Line Fiber technicians will come to your home or business and conduct a site survey to find the best location for the new equipment. This consists of making certain that there are no underground obstacles, and also viewing the interior of the property to make certain of the best location to maximize your WiFi coverage area. We will also mount a gray box (called a NID – Network Interface Device) on the outside of your home. The next step is for our contractor to place fiber optic cable from the nearest street, road, or alley to your home where the site survey previously determined the location of the NID. Once fiber is brought up to your home, spliced and tested, we will again contact you to set up an appointment for County Line Fiber technicians enter your home to install new electronic equipment (including a free router) that makes your home WiFi network connect with your current computers, TVs, and phones – and you’ll be up and running!

Q. What equipment is needed in my home to be connected to the FTTH network?

A. We will install a network interface device (NID) on the side of your home and a new optical network terminal (ONT) device inside your home where the fiber terminates. The device will need to be placed near an electrical outlet, which will act as its power source. The amount of electricity used by the ONT device is extremely small and not noticeable. From the ONT, we connect your phone line (if needed) and a CAT 5 cable to a County Line Fiber Wi-Fi router and WiFi booster if needed. The Wi-Fi solution will be installed to give your home the best possible signal.

Q. What Internet speeds can we expect?

A. We have 4 different speed packages available and located on our Internet page with their associated prices for easy viewing and comparison.  The top 3 speed plans will satisfy most homeowner’s needs and be able to stream videos without buffering. We suggest the lowest speed package for customers who only use email and web browse.  

Internet speed is measured by how much data you can access per second, and are measured in Megabits (Mbps) or Gigabits (Gbps)  which is achieved via fiber optics. Think of it as a speedometer on your car – do you want faster or slower speeds?

By today’s standards, 100 Mbps is the minimum we suggest for video streaming, and we have two faster options for multiple TV streams in your household and for gaming. We have multi-gig speeds also available. 

1 gigabit per second (Gbps) equals 1,000 megabits per second = Super-Fast Internet.

 How much Internet speed your household requires depends on many factors such as…

1. The number of people in your household
2. The number of Internet-enabled devices in your household (the nationwide average is now over 20 devices!)
3. How often you use each device
4. How often your household streams videos or using video-conferencing services or telecommutes from home, or plays, online games simultaneously on multiple devices.

For example, anything above 25 Mbps is considered usable Internet for one user streaming TV service on one device. However, speeds below 100 Mbps may be challenging for larger households with multiple family members trying to stream services on multiple devices or working from home while others household members are online.

On the other hand, subscribing to 1 Gbps of Internet service will provide even the most high-tech Internet consuming household with plenty of bandwidth speed to keep everyone streaming peacefully – and our upload and download speeds are synchronous – meaning that your upload speed (that is becoming more and more important) is roughly the same as your download speed – providing a more robust and overall Internet experience. 

If you need help calculating your home’s required bandwidth Internet speed, give us a call at 319-283-1188. We’ll be glad to help!

Q. Do I need to subscribe to Internet if I only want landline phone service?

A. You can subscribe to phone service without having Internet service. But it’s important to note that you would still need a fiber connection to your home.

Q. How about the opposite – Do I need to subscribe to landline phone service if I only want Internet service?

A. You can subscribe to Internet service without having phone service. We realize that many people rely on their cellphones. But it’s important to note that you would still need a fiber connection to your home. 

Q. Are there any hidden fees?

A. We have no hidden monthly fees for Internet service. There are small surcharges for phone service that we try to estimate in advance to make customers aware, but there are no surcharges for our non-regulated fiber Internet service.

We do charge a one-time $50 fiber connection fee that is collected at the time that your service is ready to begin. However, we are very community-minded and we will donate 50% of the fiber connection fee ($25) back to the local charity or local nonprofit of the customer’s choice. As of February 1, 2026, we have over $2,000 donated back to local organizations. We have a list of organizations on our service application. And we have charity grants available to apply for on a quarterly basis if you’re a County Line Fiber customer.

We also provide one-time bill credits for E-billing (electronic billing statements) and also for Auto-pay from your favorite financial institution. Call our office for more details.

It’s important to note that while our fiber construction crews are in your neighborhood, there is no charge to have fiber brought up to your home or business. If the contractor is denied permission from the homeowner to bring fiber to your home during our construction phase – and you later change your mind after the contractor leaves the neighborhood – then the homeowner would need to pay normal construction charges to have fiber plowed in at a later date which could be around $2,000. It’s said that just having fiber access to your home will increase your home’s value by between 5-10%, so we strongly encourage everyone to have fiber brought to their home. 

We try to keep things simple – no hidden fees, no promotional discount periods, no contracts for residential customers, no “funny business”! Our philosophy is that if we take care of our customers, our customers will take care of us! We are a local company with our County Line Fiber and East Buchanan Telephone Cooperative business office located in Winthrop serving local area customers since the 1800s!  We strive to respond to trouble issues within 30 minutes and have a person on-site asap, although many times issues can be corrected remotely without a service trip – although with fiber, service issues usually drop by over 90%. 

Be sure to follow us or like our Facebook page where we provide frequent updates, happenings, and progress reports! Simply click the “f” in the top header row of this page or search for County Line Fiber when on Facebook. You’ll be glad you did.