Lawton, Oklahoma To Get Yet Another New Internet Company

For as long as there has been a place to vent frustrations, people in Lawton, Oklahoma have complained about the internet providers in town.

"It's always messing up!"  "I constantly lose connection!" "We deserve better!"

Odds are you've seen or heard the same sentiment in casual conversation or online peeping as well. Heck, you've probably muttered something much the same at some point in your time here too... and 2022 appears to be the year the internet in town is evolving.

Earlier this year an announcement of digital salvation was made and well received on the news that AT&T was building out a new internet infrastructure plus newcomer BluePeak broke ground on the West Side promising much cheaper prices for the same speeds.

Naturally, the public celebrated what was perceived as the breaking up of the local cable ISP's "monopoly" grip on the town. For the record, they never had a monopoly on internet... their contract specifically gives them exclusivity on providing television, the internet has always been a free game.

With the uncertainty of how Lawton will fare from year to year, which comes naturally for any town that lives and dies on the whim of a military installation, it's taken until 2022 for ISPs to realize the money to be made selling cheap broadband.

Honestly, internet is super cheap. One local ISP currently sells $10-ish of digital monthly access for $107+tax. It's ridiculous, yeah, but competition will be the savior of our collective monthly budgets, and that competition just ramped up with another hat in the metaphorical ring.

Dobson Fiber is the company that has evolved from an Oklahoma original communications company formed in OKC back in the 1920s. Over the years they've made changes to reflect modernity, really making waves in the golden years of late telephone and early cellular service in rural Oklahoma.

At least that's how the Wikipedia page reads...

Wikipedia also ties Dobson to AT&T as a parent company, but as far as the neighborhood signs around town go, AT&T plans to offer their own ATTFiber as well, but Dobson appears to be separate for now...

In the official Lawton release, Dobson announced:

Dobson Fiber announces another multi-million dollar expansion of its fiber internet offering in Lawton, Okla. today. This is the fifth market Dobson has launched residential fiber services in the last seven months.

 “We are bringing the best fiber network and fastest residential speeds offered in the United States to Lawton. We will be deploying a network that has been designed to offer up to 10 gigabits per second to the residents we serve here,” said Francisco Maella, CEO at Dobson Fiber. “Our commitment to launching innovative products and the latest technology is unwavering.”

If you're curious about Dobson's pricing, here's the table:

Basic 100mbps - $55/mo.
Premium 1gbps - $85/mo.

Dobson states there is a $100 installation charge for each new customer atop other subscription options like a $5/mo equipment protection plan and a $10/mo in-home wifi signal booster.

Will it be a better deal at the end of the day? Meh... It's hard to argue something as concrete as basic math, but competition is competition and the consumers usually win in this kind of scenario.

If you're counting, Dobson is the third new internet company expanding into Lawton in the last calendar year.

Out of curiosity, I typed in a bunch of random addresses on the Dobson service request page trying to get an idea of a timeline of their service launch... so far the reply is "Soon."