Welcome to CVG Fiber - Gates Mills' Incredible Infrastructure Win!

CVG Fiber
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Welcome to CVG Fiber - Gates Mills’ Incredible Infrastructure Win!

Gates Mills is getting fiber to the home. Let that sink in.

We are a village of 2,300 residents and we are getting gigabit fiber throughout our entire community. Add on top that this fiber is buried directly to our houses, not strung on poles. This doesn’t happen to villages our size. It is extraordinary, and we should all be excited about it.

Credit Where It’s Due

Laurie Deacon spearheaded this effort. She just rotated off Council but will continue chairing the CVG committee. Laurie saw the opportunity, pushed for it, and made this happen for our community. Thank you, Laurie.

Why This Forum Section Exists

CVG already provides excellent resources: their website, construction updates, door hangers, and responsive communication. This forum section is meant to complement what CVG offers, not replace it. Think of this as your community gathering place to:

  • Share your experiences (good connections, smooth installations, even boring utility repairs: we want to hear it all!)
  • Ask questions without feeling bashful
  • Help neighbors navigate the process
  • Build excitement as construction progresses through different areas

The CVG Literature Gallery

I’m creating a file gallery here with CVG’s public materials: FAQs, construction updates, service information, so you have everything in one searchable place.

How I Can Help

If you run into issues or have questions, DM me. I’ll either help directly or connect you with the right people at CVG. I’m here as a resource.

Please Sign Up

This is an incredible deal. Gigabit fiber, locally supported, built to last. I want to see everyone sign up. This is transformational infrastructure for our village.

Town Halls Coming

I’ll be holding some town halls to help people understand what to do with all that speed: home networking, streaming, remote work, smart home setups, whatever interests people. More details coming soon.

This Is Exciting!

Construction starts in January 2026. Ask questions. Share updates. Post photos. Let’s make this the community resource it deserves to be.

For CVG’s official information:

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Hey John - The manner in which you have taken on this fantastic project is also extraordinary! Thank you. I can’t wait to disconnect from Spectrum. In the giving credit department, it was Ann Whitney and Larry Frankel who made the original investigation into fiber optic providers, developed a resident survey, and much more that I have forgotten. When they both rotated off Council, Laurie Deacon graciously and very competently took the project over. And yes, I am extremely excited to sign up. Thanks again.

Beth DeCapite

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This IS very exciting! Do you happen to know how homes on shared driveways will gain access to this service?

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That is great information to have - thanks for sharing! My hat goes off to anyone who got us hooked up with CVG.

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Great question! I’m going to give you my best understanding, and hopefully CVG can chime in.

The way fiber typically works is that CVG will run a main distribution cable (which contains multiple fiber strands) down your shared driveway. Then, at each house, they’ll create a “drop” or “lateral” connection to bring fiber directly to your home. Think of it like branches coming off the main trunk.

Each home typically gets 2-4 fiber strands (one active pair for service, and often a backup pair for redundancy). The main distribution cable running down the driveway might contain 12, 24, 48, or more strands, depending on how many homes it needs to serve.

Since everything is being buried, they’ll likely:

  • Bore or trench the main line down your shared driveway
  • Create splice points or taps at each property
  • Run individual drops to each house from those connection points

The beauty of fiber is that it’s incredibly flexible for different property configurations. Shared driveways are pretty common, so CVG definitely has a plan for this.

CVG is supposed be setting up their account on the forum tomorrow. I will point them to this thread to see if I got it right :slight_smile:

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Very pleased Gates Mills has this fiber technology infrastructure. Our current internet plan is Spectrum Internet Premier, speeds up to 500Mbps at $45 per month. Is the CVG $84/ month for Download: 500 Mbp, Upload: 500 Mbps?

I’m not that knowledgeable about this internet service, can you explain the advantages of the CVG and why it’s not competitive in price for the same Mbps speed.

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Thank you so much for contributing and welcome to the forum! The short answer: comparing fiber to cable is comparing apples to oranges. Cliché, I know.

Spectrum’s “up to 500 Mbps” plan is download only. Your upload speed is probably around 10-20 Mbps. Test this at Speedtest.net and let us know. My bet is that you will be surprised how slow your uploads actually are, especially during peak times.

CVG’s 500 Mbps plan is symmetrical, which means that your speed is 500 Mbps down AND 500 Mbps up. That’s a massive difference.

Let’s talk about why upload speeds mater, as most people don’t think about upload until they need it.

The following are all upload:

  • Video calls (Zoom, FaceTime): both your video and audio are uploads
  • Sending files or photos
  • Cloud backups, including iCloud backups of every iOS device, etc
  • Working from home entails a lot of upload
  • Uploading videos to YouTube or social media (that’s definitely a younger generation than me, but my kids do it)
  • Gaming: if you want to impress your kids and grandkids, let them know you have ‘half a gig up’ - I’d like to think they will visit more!

With Spectrum’s 10-20 Mbps upload, a family of four can max out your connection. With CVG’s 500 Mbps upload, that’s not even close to a problem.

Some other differences:

  • Reliability point 1: Fiber doesn’t degrade in weather. Cable does.
  • Reliability point 2: CVG’s fiber is buried. Spectrum’s cable is aerial. Trees falling will not be a problem
  • Consistency: You get the speeds you pay for, not “up to” speeds that drop during peak hours.
  • Local support: CVG is local. You call, you get a person who knows Gates Mills. I personally have Spectrum Enterprise Business, which has decent support. Everything below that: meditate before calling!

As for pricing, can you check if you are on Spectrum’s $45 promotional rate? If so, it will bump up to $70-$80. If you wanna DM (Direct Message) me a picture of your bill I can scour it for you. You can also email it to me at [email protected].

To be fair, if you only browse the web and stream Netflix, Spectrum might be fine. If anyone in your house works from home, does video calls, or uploads anything regularly, CVG’s symmetrical speeds are transformational.

One last thing, CVG is covering fiber installation costs if you sign up now, but will not be covering it after the equipment has passed your house. The cost of boring and termination is in the thousands and, with larger/more complex yards, could be much more. Mine was :frowning: Having fiber already run to your house matters when you sell as it is infrastructure that stays with the property.

Happy to answer more questions!

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Hi John, are you on a promotion with your Internet? I am on the phone with spectrum and they are telling me that $90 is the lowest they can go for me and all I have is Internet with them. Thanks so much.

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Thank you for this information, I am on a shared drive 1/3 mile from our street, I will get with my neighbors and find out if they are interested and what is going to cost!

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Spectrum subscriber here - considering a switch. Download speed 246; upload speed 37….

Thank you to everyone who moved this mountain!

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I just set up my property walk with CVG (I also live off of a shared driveway). The president of the company (per the rep) confirmed that the dig to properties on shared drives is free as long as your account set up within the next year.

I would recommend starting the process now as John suggested & not wait.

The rep also told me that he expects (and NOT to quote him) that Gates Mills fiber installs should be completed by the end of March. I am sure that this is a loose timeline.

Hope this helps

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Thanks for sharing those numbers! I want to geek out on all the reasons to switch to fiber. Let me start with the simple version: trust me, you are going to love it. Then I’ll follow up with a super geeky deep dive into the nitty gritty in a separate topic.

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I would think that would be March of 27. @CVG_Marketing can confirm.

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March of 26 sounds like they would be really rushing people to commit to this.Are they planning on showing us the monthly costs before we do this? I hope March 27 makes more sense, considering right now we have so much snow, you would need utilities to mark where they can push this thru, etc. Once this comes in, Spectrum will start discounting, right now they have us held hostage.

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Thanks for this info, John! I currently pay $78.20 to Spectrum and get 570 mbps down/22mbps up. The mid tier looks like it is $84 which isn’t too much of an increase.

Does anyone know the length of contract required?

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Two quick clarifications:

  1. Fiber strand count: The main cable down shared driveways can range anywhere from 2 to 48 strands (depending on how many homes share the driveway).

  2. Installation method: For the drops to each house, we use a vibratory plow rather than a trencher, it’s less invasive to landscaping.

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John did a great job explaining the differences! Just wanted to add a few things:

On pricing: We also offer a Lifeline package at $62/month that delivers 300 Mbps download AND 300 Mbps upload (symmetrical). We’d recommend running a speed test at Speedtest.net during peak hours to see what you’re currently getting, and then we can help you figure out which tier makes the most sense for your household.

Pre-registration benefits (first 15 months):

  • Lock in the Gates Mills Community-Sponsored discount for life—meaning your rate stays the same, no surprises or increases

  • Free WiFi router included (no monthly rental fees)

  • Service drop installation at no charge, regardless of distance

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Current projected timeline:

1. Hook up City Hall by end of March.

2. Residential installations begin in April .

Please note, these are projected timelines and may shift based on various factors like weather and ground conditions as we work through the project.

To get monthly updates on our construction process, join our community email list here

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Great question! With our BasicAccess package at $84, you’ll get 500 Mbps download AND 500 Mbps upload, that’s a huge upgrade from your current 22 Mbps upload.

As for contracts, we don’t have any! For the first 15 months, we’re offering residents the ability to lock in the Gates Mills Community-Sponsored discount rate for life of maintaining our service. That $84 includes your router and taxes, and the rate stays the same, no surprises or increases!