Fiber Optic Cable being buried underground
Since 2002

History of MMU
Internet Department

The Internet Department is one of our newest endeavors at MMU. Establishment of the Internet Department was done at the January 2nd, 2002 meeting of the Board of Public Works. Prior to this, MMU was already using wireless communications to connect some of our own facilities. With much of the infrastructure already in place for our own use, it was a natural step to start offering wireless and fiber high speed internet service to our customers.

In the beginning, customers wanting to connect to our internet service needed to have a direct line-of-sight to our Power Plant building. Also, for a higher initial cost, fiber optic cable could be installed to the customer’s location. Shortly, antennas were added to the Water Tower so a much larger portion of the town could be reached by our wireless network.

When we first started running fiber to all the homes of Marshall we began by doing a survey of customer interest. From these surveys, a test area was developed. Once the test area was operational, we started working on the remainder of the City of Marshall.

Below you will find a history of our plans and rate changes over the years. If you look through them, you will discover one constant them: the speeds were continually getting faster while the price remained the same or even went down!

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
125 Kbps download$40
300 Kbps download$80
500 Kbps download$120

These were our original rates when we first started our wireless internet service. Notice that the speeds are in Kbps rather than Mbps making them much slower than typical speeds today, but at the time it was considered very fast. In December, we added another Tier of 750 Kbps at $160.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
125 Kbps download$30
300 Kbps download$70
500 Kbps download$105
750 Kbps download$140

All speeds remained the same but the price came down a little on every plan but the lowest.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
250 Kbps download $30
500 Kbps download$70
750 Kbps download$110

We increased the speed of the first two tiers without changing the price. We combined the top two tiers, keeping the speed of the fourth tier but lowering the price to almost as low as the old third tier.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
1.5 Mbps Download / .75 Mbps Upload$30
3 Mbps Download / 1.5 Mbps Upload$70
4.5 Mbps Download / 2.25 Mbps Upload$105

Speeds increased to the Mbps range, but the price remained the same, except for the highest tier which actually came down a bit in price.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
3 Mbps Download / 1.5 Mbps Upload$30
6 Mbps Download / 3 Mbps Upload$60
9 Mbps Download / 4.5 Mbps Upload$90

All speeds were doubled, but were lowered on the top two tiers.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
4 Mbps Download / 2 Mbps Upload$30
8 Mbps Download / 4 Mbps Upload$60
12 Mbps Download / 6 Mbps Upload$90

All speeds were increased, but all prices remained the same.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
6 Mbps Download / 3 Mbps Upload$30
12 Mbps Download / 6 Mbps Upload$60
18 Mbps Download / 9 Mbps Upload$90

All speeds were increased by 1/3 but again there was no price increase.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
10 Mbps Download / 5 Mbps Upload$30
20 Mbps Download / 10 Mbps Upload$55
30 Mbps Download / 15 Mbps Upload$80

Again, all speeds were increased but all prices were either lowered or remained the same.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
10 Mbps Download / 5 Mbps Upload$30
40 Mbps Download / 20 Mbps Upload$45
80 Mbps Download / 40 Mbps Upload$70

Speed was doubled on the middle plan and more than doubled on the top plan. Meanwhile, the price of both plans went down!

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
10 Mbps Download / 5 Mbps Upload$30
50 Mbps Download / 25 Mbps Upload$45
90 Mbps Download / 45 Mbps Upload$70

Speeds raised on top two plans again but again with no price increase.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
20 Mbps Download / 10 Mbps Upload$30
75 Mbps Download / 40 Mbps Upload$45
150 Mbps Download / 75 Mbps Upload$70

All speeds were increased but no price change.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
25 Mbps Download / 12.5 Mbps Upload$30
90 Mbps Download / 45 Mbps Upload$45
200 Mbps Download / 100 Mbps Upload$70

Again, all speeds increased but with no price change.

Maximum SpeedMonthly Charge
50 Mbps Download / 25 Mbps Upload$30
150 Mbps Download / 75 Mbps Upload$45
450 Mbps Download / 225 Mbps Upload$70

All speeds were increased dramatically, but price remained the same.

Learn the history of our other Utilities