Cleveland County Telephone Switching from Copper to Fiber for All Phone Service
RISON - Rally Networks, the parent company of Cleveland County Telephone, has announced that it will be upgrading the service lines to all of its telephone customers from old copper lines to new fiber optic lines.
Bruce Grubb, service manager for Cleveland County Telephone, said the telephone upgrades are part of Rally’s expansion of its fiber optic internet service into areas of the county outside of Kingsland and Rison.
While most people associate fiber optic cable with internet service, Grubb said the new lines are also being used for landline telephones. He said several customers in the Rison and Kingsland area, the first to get fiber optic, have already upgraded their phone lines.
Grubb joined Herald editor/publisher Britt Talent and Douglas Boultinghouse on this week’s Free Range Conversation podcast. The episode can be downloaded through Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or it can listened to through the paper’s website at clevelandcountyherald.com.
Rally originally installed an underground fiber optic network in Rison and Kingsland, and is now in Phase 1 of a three-phase project to extend fiber optic service to the rest of its service area in Cleveland County. Rally received more than $35 million in grants and loans to expand the service.
The Phase 1 expansion, currently underway, includes areas along Hwy. 35 both north and south of Rison. Grubb said it will extend north to the Staves community and south to essentially the Big Creek bridge. He noted that service extends along the roads that intersect Hwy. 35 in the Staves, Toledo and Macedonia communities.
At Kingsland, Phase 1 is extending fiber service to areas along Hwy. 97 south of town and extending it along Mt. Elba Road north and south of the Saline River as well.
Grubb said there has been confusion with some of their telephone customers thinking that the company is trying to install fiber optic internet service to their homes. He said the true intent is to upgrade the copper telephone lines with the fiber optic, which he said provides customer with greater reliability and clarity during phone calls.
Cleveland County Telephone’s entire landline telephone service area will eventually be converted from copper to fiber optic, Grubb said.
Upgrading the telephone service requires the company to run a “drop” (a new fiber line) directly to the home. To do that, he said telephone customers should call the Cleveland County Telephone office at (870) 325-6244 to schedule an appointment.
Grubb said the telephone upgrades are only available in the areas that currently have access to Rally’s fiber optic network. He said he expects Phase 1 to be completed by the end of the summer. Phase 2 will be along Hwy. 63 from basically Rowell south to Rye, and Phase 3 will be along the rest of Hwy. 63 north of Rowell to Randall. Grubb said he expects all the phases to be completed within about two years.
While Cleveland County Telephone is currently getting word out about the upgrading telephone lines, Grubb said those areas that have the new fiber optic lines can also receive Rally’s fiber optic internet service, which offers speeds of up to 8 gigabytes.