As the locally owned and operated fiber specialist Connext continues to expand fiber infrastructure across Northern Utah, they officially broke ground in Fruit Heights on Feb. 22. The groundbreaking festivities were held during the heavy snow event that day in conjunction with the city’s monthly council meeting. City residents and council members braved the storm to take part in this historic occasion. Connext officials hosted an open forum in the council chambers immediately following the groundbreaking, giving residents the opportunity to learn more about Connext and their fiber installation process. 

The Fruit Heights City fiber project will bring the speed and reliability of fiber optic internet to over 2,700 households across the city. This is only a portion of a much larger initiative that Connext is embarking on that will ultimately connect residents to fiber internet from Box Elder County south through the Salt Lake Valley.  

“We're excited to be starting in Fruit Heights,” Connext CEO David Brown said. “We have had amazing community involvement. The level of excitement at the groundbreaking, even with the weather, was an indicator of the support we are receiving across the community. We are looking forward to getting everyone connected.”    

The initial project construction efforts will commence in the neighborhoods along Laurelwood Dr. west of I-89 and expand both north and south from there. These areas were selected for the infrastructure construction to begin first as the residents showed the highest level of interest. Fruit Height residents are encouraged to visit Connext’s website at connextbroadband.com/fruit-heights-fiber to submit their information. This will allow the Connext team to gauge interest levels in each neighborhood as construction will progress next in the areas where the interest is highest.  

The Connext organization is investing directly in the Northern Utah communities the management and staff call home. The team handles all aspects of the project in-house from concept to execution. From engineering, to design, to build out, Connext is installing the region-wide fiber network at no cost to the residents or cities where they are working. 

The new fiber infrastructure will deliver residents internet speeds of over 1 gbps with a symmetrical connection that offers the same speed for both uploading and downloading with no data caps. This will allow users to download songs in seconds and a full-length HD movie in minutes.