Founded 123 years ago as the Norway Rural Telephone company, the company now known as Communications 1 (aka Comm1 – which completed the acquisition of Goldfield Telephone and Goldfield Access Network in 2021) is headquartered roughly 25 miles north of Eagle Grove in nearby Kanawha, and still maintains technical support offices in Goldfield. And with the exception of a single Goldfield Access employee who has since retired, all the employees of Goldfield Access now work at Comm1. As such they are THE local choice for broadband internet, digital television and phone service in Eagle Grove.
Over the past 40 years, the company has focused on expanding services to more and more rural Iowa communities. Today the company provides service to customers in Kanawha, Britt, Garner, Belmond, Humboldt, Dakota City, Renwick, Goldfield, Clarion, and Eagle Grove.
And right now they're investing in Eagle Grove in a big way, bringing state of the art gigabit certified fiber optic technology to the city as part of their 15 million dollar expansion in Wright County.
Last summer Comm1 completed phase one of their certified Gig Capable fiber optic overbuild project in Eagle Grove, bringing blazing fast internet service to the Northwest corner of the city. The project brought fiber optic fiber to approximately 400 homes in the northwest quadrant of Eagle Grove, with over 150 homes with active service. The company's goal is to place a fiber line to every residence and business in the city. Similar to your gas, electric, CATV, this is infrastructure that adds value to your property and gives you options for your telecommunications services.
Now, Comm1 is gearing up for phase two of the Eagle Grove overbuild, to begin bringing fiber lines to the Southwest quadrant of the city, running roughly west and south from the intersection of Broadway and Commercial.
The company has a reputation for quality customer service and transparent pricing. There are no contracts, and no bundle requirements. And they've been doing fiber longer than most of their competitors. Comm1 President Randy Yeakel recalled how a lightning strike in Kanawha got the company moving into fiber optics years before other local companies. "The old copper lines were completely fused," Yeakel recalled of the event, adding that as a result "this is about our nineteenth year doing fiber optic."
"I've been here for 31 years," noted Colleen Lodin, Office Manager at the Comm1 Headquarters, "so it's very exciting to see the company expand from our base of Kanawha to other communities. And with our staff of people from small communities, they understand how important it is to treat people well."
Yeakel agreed, saying "what's really one of the most satisfying things is when we get emails or run into people on the street, and they have good things to say."
To enable prospective customers to hear for themselves from existing customers just what their experience has been, the company recently placed signs in front of the homes of local customers. At the Eagle, we took advantage of this, and spoke to satisfied customer Brandi Larsen. "I would say our services have definitely improved compared to what we had before," Larsen said. Her former internet provider's service was "a lot slower," Larsen explained, adding "we've had zero issues since we changed." Asked what kind of difference switching to fiber has made for their family, Larsen related that "the kids complain much less, because there's no lag time," unlike her former provider, which she said "used to drop frequently. We haven't had a single drop since we changed. I feel that we definitely get our money's worth."
As the company moves into phase two of the Eagle Grove fiber project, they are offering to waive the installation fee for new customers in the areas where they've already installed service. Installation of fiber optic lines to homes in the phase two area, in the Southwest quadrant, is free during the initial install.
