In May of 2025, Surf Internet kicked off construction of a new fiber network that will bring high-speed internet to 145 addresses across the village—including apartment units, municipal buildings, businesses, and dozens of single-family homes.

Construction on the network was completed last summer.

The project was initially guided by the North Central Illinois Council of Governments (NCICG), which worked closely with the Village to secure grant funding and bring together project partners.

Michael Wujek, president/mayor of Troy Grove Village, said that after the previous mayor began evaluating potential public-private broadband provider partners, it was found that Surf’s all-fiber approach was the best fit.

“There were a couple of providers that had their hat in the ring, but Surf was the only one to do true fiber internet, so that’s why we went with them,” he said. 

Addressing broadband needs

Besides fixed wireless and satellite, broadband choices in Troy Grove were limited.  

Like other communities that have had little or no broadband choice, the main challenge in attracting a new provider to build out fiber infrastructure is its population. Today, the Trove Grove community consists of 250 people.

Also, there isn’t a large business presence in the town. Besides the local post office, there are a few businesses: a radiator shop, an elevator shop, and two sand plants at the edge of town.  

“There’s not a whole lot of business here,” Wujek said. “Other than if you want to look at the Old Wild Bill Hickok Memorial, there’s not a whole lot to draw anyone here.”

He added that because Troy Grove “is a small community, you get overlooked."

Now, the availability of fiber-based broadband could be an attraction.

“With tech at your fingertips and having faster internet, a fiber connection will make working from home and schools doing stuff from home easier,” Wujek said.

Gene Crusie, CEO of Surf, said that Troy Grove’s emphasis on working with a public partner means that they now get service faster.  

“By taking this initiative into their own hands, Troy Grove is two years ahead of when they got service,” he said. “There is a nationwide fiber shortage due to an emphasis on prioritizing data centers and a rise in fiber conduit pricing, so that puts significant risks on the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program for the future.”

He added that “by moving quickly, they were able to get ahead of these issues and get people connected while Illinois BEAD allocation is still months from being approved.”

The fiber buildout is being funded through various grants, including: $538,282.54 investment from the State of Illinois ($238,282.54), LaSalle County ($250,000), and the Village of Troy Grove ($50,000), with Surf contributing an additional $125,000 to complete the project. The total investment exceeds $663,000.

“The first round of funding that was applied for was through LaSalle County, specifically ARPA funding to use and branch out to different applicants on behalf of them,” Hogan said. “The $250,000 wouldn’t be enough for what Troy Grove needed, but they anticipated that and used it as a match and applied for another source of funding.”

Another element of funding was Connect Illinois, the state’s broadband investment program.

Since its launch in 2019, Connect Illinois has become a key component of the 2019 Rebuild Illinois infrastructure program and its five-year economic plan. The plan, which appropriated $400 million for broadband grants, was the largest state broadband matching grant program ever and provides the funding needed for state-driven broadband ubiquity and lasting broadband equity.

In addition to the $400 million in competitive grants, the Connect Illinois program included $20 million for upgrades to the 100 GB Illinois Century Network, the state’s existing 2,000-mile open-access institutional fiber network serving over 3,400 K-12, higher education, and library locations across the state.

One of the highlights of the program is its funding for a secure K-12 Broadband Network, available at no cost to all Illinois K-12 public schools.

“Connect Illinois became available, and we pursued that and started piecing together the two sources to implement the project,” Hogan said.

Middle mile capabilities

Another key element that was central to bringing service to Troy Grove was developing a middle mile connection. 

Direct Line Communications was awarded the construction contract and will lead the fiber build, while Stratus Networks is providing middle-mile connectivity as part of its statewide transport network expansion.

Originally, the project was awarded to Rise Broadband and iFiber. During this process, iFiber was acquired by Stratus Networks. Meanwhile, Rise decided not to accept the Connect Illinois grant.

Stratus Networks continues to expand its fiber network across Illinois. Its latest expansion brings new infrastructure to Rockford, Peoria, Ottawa, Mendota, and Streator, placing as many as 1,000 additional businesses within reach of enterprise-grade connectivity.

But Surf, which had been building out its service in adjacent communities, had found that Stratus was a willing partner in extending its fiber network.

“Rise Broadband reached out to Surf because we had built out the nearby town of Mendota and Ogelsby, which was 5-6 miles from Troy Grove,” said Crusie. “To get to Troy Grove, it requires 5-6 miles of rural fiber, where population density is very low, to get to the town.”

Surf eventually negotiated a deal with Stratus to build a few miles of fiber from Troy Grove to its network, enter into an IRU to sell to enterprise customers, and build FTTH for the 146 houses it ultimately served.

“It was a cooperative effort to make it happen, and it took a whole team to get this done,” Crusie said. “This is one of the coolest projects we've ever done where the county, NCICG’s team, the state, and the city, and a couple of different providers said we’re going to get these people connected.”

A reliable connection

Having built fiber into surrounding communities, including Mendota and Ogelsby, Surf has currently connected 50 percent of Troy Grove to its fiber broadband network.

About 50 percent of the Troy Grove population has signed up for service.

Surf will offer fiber internet plans with symmetrical speeds up to 2 Gbps. Residents will benefit from no-contract plans, unlimited data, a lifetime price-lock guarantee on their chosen plan, and local customer support.

Thus far, Troy Grove residents have embraced Surf Internet's service. “Everything I have heard has been really positive,” Crusie said. “All I have heard is people appreciate having reliable internet after having unreliable fixed wireless connectivity their whole lives.”

Wujek agreed that the feedback on the service, including the installation, has been entirely positive. “Fiber is in the ground, and they can’t take it back,” he said. “The option is there if you want quality internet.”

But the desire for fiber connectivity isn’t limited to consumers. Businesses have been vocal about the utility of fiber.

After Surf accidentally missed connecting with a gravel business that wanted service, it found a solution: building fiber underground through its partnership with Stratus.

“They came to us and really wanted service,” Crusie said. “Even though it was very complicated because of being located on the other side of a railroad track, we were able to work with everyone to make it happen and get them connected.

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