HMU celebrates 30 years of providing cable TV and internet

HARLAN — In the early 1990’s, the Harlan Municipal Utilities (HMU) Board of Trustees began discussing a municipal telecommunications system. However, at the time, several hurdles stood in the way. In May 1995, residents of Harlan voted on two measures to establish broadband cable communications as a municipal utility, which passed, setting the stage for HMU to offer broadband cable and internet service. Design and construction took place in 1995 and 1996, and both cable TV and internet services were available in early fall 1996. Shortly after, discussions regarding telephone service were held, and a decision was made to add telephone as the third telecom service, which was offered in 2001.
Over two decades later, HMU continues to provide the most up-to-date telecom services to the residents of Harlan. HMU’s telephone service is locally owned, operated and supported. HMU prides itself as being one-call service for telephone, cable TV, and high-speed internet needs for Harlan residents, which is combined into one bill for customers. “More of your money stays right here in Harlan working for you,” said Joe Rueschenberg, CEO.
In 2019, almost all of Harlan was serviced by a direct fiber connection, making it virtually “future proof”, meaning it will be almost impossible to exceed the technical capabilities of the fiber connection. Fiber allows for more data over a smaller physical connection, meaning a greater amount of material or items passing through a system or process. This allows HMU to offer enhanced data services now and in the future. At about 1/11th the size of a human hair, fiber allows for more data over a smaller physical connection allowing greater throughput for more HD video channels and almost unlimited Internet capacity. A fiber connection means HMU is poised to offer enhanced data services now and in the future.
 “In 2024 HMU upgraded our internet carriers. We have multiple carriers we get internet from. This diversifies our connection, giving us better reliability,” said Brian Dotzler, Telecommunications Superintendent. The change, was completed in April, which allows HMU to double the speed to all internet customers. In addition, HMU’s email platform was upgraded to a cloud-based system. This allowed increased accessibility from any device, cost savings by eliminating the need for on-premise hardware, enhanced data security through centralized backups, scalability to meet fluctuating demands, improved collaboration capabilities, disaster recovery options, and greater flexibility in deploying applications. “It’s no longer hosted on servers at HMU which provides better reliability for our customers with multiple backups,” said Dotzler.
HMU also introduced a new wireless router to internet customers called a GigaSpire.  “It’s a great new addition,” said Dotzler. The router allows customers to install an app on their phone to control their home’s wireless network (wifi). “They can kick a device off, change the wifi password, make a guest account, basically control the router through the app. It’s good to allow customers to make those changes. It gives them the flexibility to control their own items,” said Dotzler.
  New applications, such as smart home services, remote thermostat control, smart appliances, and accessing camera systems, are available to consumers by manufacturers. HMU believes they are ready for whatever the future may bring.
 HMU’s cable line-up includes two local school and community event programming channels. These channels were recently upgraded to high definition. “We aired every football game and most of the many other sporting and community events. We updated the equipment so we can put a scoreboard on the live broadcast,” said Dotzler. “We’ve received a good response.” The live events are shown on the local channels and also broadcast on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@HarlanUtilities
Editor’s Note: This article is the fourth and final in a series of articles highlighting each of HMU’s departments and recent improvements.