LUSK – “The Town of Lusk has been planning and waiting for fiber internet for many years, and it’s finally a reality.”, stated Stacie McDonald, Vice President of public relations for Visionary Broadband. “It’s exciting to think about how residents will benefit from this lightning-fast option.”

Visionary Broadband has been available at standard internet speeds and connectivity to residents of the town of Lusk for years. Known as VCN, they have a small but loyal customer base already established.

Visionary received funding to expand their coverage of Niobrara county through the Rural Development Opportunities Fund. While they were awarded the funding in December of 2020 it did take almost a year to complete the final approval process with this occurring in December 2021. RDOF awards give a provider ten years to complete the proposed builds.

Visionary began their expansion in the area as soon as they were given approval. The build is mostly aerial so faster to deploy and much less disturbance than underground.

Residents of Niobrara county have seen the installation crews around the county and town of Lusk for weeks. They have been running conduit using special machinery. This conduit runs on the west side of highway 85 north of town and on the east side of 85 south of town. It has also been run along streets and down alleys in Lusk.

Visionary Fiber will be the fastest internet available in the area by a wide margin, increasing local speed options from 50-200Mbps to 1000Mbps, also called a ‘Gig’. Faster internet offers faster transitions to websites, as well as improved video chat, gaming and streaming of television and movies, download and upload. For businesses, it can assist with Point of Sale (POS) systems and storing files on the cloud, photo uploads and connections to software programs.

Lusk residents can take advantage of Visionary’s promotional pricing through March, which offers a rate of $64.95/month with additional options available. Once the promotion ends, customers will be looking at $79.95/month, with additional options. Those who qualify can take advantage of the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and Lifeline programs through www.fcc.gov/acp, which can reduce monthly internet cost.

Visionary will continue to service wireless customers outside the build area and encourages any current customers to call about transitioning to fiber.

Visionary Broadband’s Zone 1 fiber is now available for pre-order in Lusk. Zone 1 includes homes and businesses on Main Street, West of Main Street, and South of the Railroad tracks. Visionary fiber offers customers gig/gig fiber internet without residential contracts or data caps, as well as phone service through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Visionary’s additional 3 fiber zones are not far behind with an estimated completion timeline of February and March. 

Lusk Mayor Doug Lytle states “I’m pleased with the progress so far and am looking forward to the progress that will be made the rest of the month.”

You’ll see continued Visionary vehicles in the area, and will likely meet some of the team as they travel door to door to share the fiber availability, or at one of the coffee or pizza events they’re planning this month. Visionary will be buying coffee at Rough’n’Refined from 8-12 on January 17, and Pizza at The Pizza Place on January 24. Details will be shared through the Chamber Facebook page and at the The Pizza Place and Rough’n’Refined.
Interested residents can call Customer Service at 888-682-1884 or 307-682-1884 or sign up online at www.vcn.com.