For Jared Mauch, frustration was the starting signal for founding his company, which now provides hundreds of rural households with high-speed internet.
This is how he became an Internet provider: Jared Mauch is an American from Washtenaw County, Michigan. During the Corona pandemic, the network architect was annoyed in his home office with his internet, which was slow in rural areas at just 1.5 Mbit per second.
He asked his provider whether there was a better way. It would be possible, but only for the equivalent of around 45,000 euros. Then he took the initiative himself and founded a company that was supposed to bring fast internet to the region and outdo the competition.
Our colleagues from GameStar-Tech also reported on the story surrounding Jared Mauch’s success.
600 times faster and affordable
How did Jared Mauch manage to become an Internet provider? The state of Michigan launched a program to combat the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic. Here Munch applied for funds and was successful. Washtenaw Fiber Properties LLC began operations.
With the help of around $2.6 million and donations from the local community, he began digging to lay fiber optic lines. The network headquarters was built at his home, including an emergency power supply.
What does Jared Munch offer? His company, like other providers, offers a range of tariffs, but with one-off subscription fees. All houses near the developed streets will be connected for around 550 euros. Depending on the speed, the monthly prices range from around 60 euros for 100 Mbit to up to 128 euros for 1,000 Mbit, according to the official homepage; each upload and download.
Jared Munch offers a maximum of 600 times the speed of his former provider on site. By mid-2024, the company already had 200 customers, as he explains to GameStar-Tech. The network should also be further expanded.
Completely different time, hundreds of kilometers away, but related professionally, an IT technician was angry with Microsoft. A bug in the then current version of Office threatened to get him into a lot of trouble. He then decided to take an unusual step: when an IT technician wrote an angry email to Microsoft boss Bill Gates personally about a bug in Office – and saved his job