The Google Fiber project in Kansas City grabs a lot of headlines.

As Austin continues its* exploration of the importance, costs and best business model for next-generation data service, the story of a different town in Kansas is worth a look.

According to a 2012 article in the online news outlet dailyyonder.com, Chanute, Kansas, built a municipal fiber network. Chanute has a population of 9,000 and is more than two hours away from Tulsa, Oklahoma; Joplin, Missouri; and Kansas City.

The community built its network over many years, accessing small grants and incurring no debt. It now serves schools, including the local community college, government, health care facilities and law enforcement.

Chanute reports that the network has provided options for local business. Traditional for-profit providers continue to serve Chanute but local business and residents report lower rates, better quality and better customer service. One Chanute business credits the fiber network with keeping it in town.

From the paper “Chanute’s Gig” by Lisa Gonzalez and Christopher Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance:

“Chanute Manufacturing, Post Rock Energy, Tri-Valley Developmental Services, MagnaTech and Consolidated Oil Well Services are among the fourteen local businesses that use the network and are some of the largest employers in town. They say the reliability and capacity of Chanute’s network create efficiency and make them more credible to their clients. The network continues to attract new businesses to Chanute and retain companies that increasingly rely on broadband.

David Orr, owner of MagnaTech, was born and raised in Chanute. He credits the network for keeping him in his hometown, running a company that designs and manufactures equipment for installing conduit and cable, tow trucks, RV accessories, and related heavy duty machinery.

He sends and receives large blueprints and CAD documents with clients on a daily basis. These documents used to be physically shipped via mail or courier. Now, clients expect immediate digital transfer of large documents, video conferencing, and other high bandwidth applications. Magna Tech employs 10 people in Chanute and another 38 at the original plant in Victor, Iowa.

Orr moved back to Chanute in 1996 after purchasing a bankrupt firm in Chanute to expand his business. He was excited to move back to Chanute but was quickly disappointed by the lack of connectivity options at the new facility.

His needs had been met in Victor by the Cooperative Telephone Company but the best he could do in Chanute was an unreliable wireless connection.

Hoping for a better experience, Orr signed on to HughesNet Satellite Internet service, but the data transfer caps were too low for his business. Regularly, Magna Tech would surpass its HughesNet cap and be cut off in the middle of uploading large data documents to clients. Clients would become frustrated, which meant Orr had to find a better solution.

Orr contacted AT&T, but the telco refused to expand DSL to the industrial park. He received a similar answer to his request for CableOne to bring broadband to the location. Three months later, CableOne offered to connect his facility for $3,900 if Orr paid all labor costs. Service, still with data caps, would have cost $125.00 per month – more than he could afford. Magna Tech continued to muddle through with HughesNet until 2010.

‘It was like living in a nice new home with no sewer,’ he says. He had contemplated leaving to find a location with modern connections but remained in town until the City began to experiment with WiMax in 2010. He quickly signed up as a beta customer, calling it a lifesaver and crediting it with keeping his business in town. Now he has access to faster, more reliable transfer for large amounts of data. He recounts instances when the network ‘made him a hero’ because he responded to clients so quickly. Gone are the days of fear and frustration from inadequate connectivity.”