City Will Bypass Time Warner for Cable Network Extension

The city of Beachwood hired a contractor to extend its internal Internet and telephone network, bypassing Time Warner Cable and saving about $200,000.

The network, called I-Net, provides telephone and Internet service to city-owned buildings and Beachwood City Schools. This construction will add the new municipal service building to the network.

Time Warner has built the existing network and provides Internet service to the city, which the new building will access by connecting to the existing network.

The move alleviates some of the city’s dependence on Time Warner Cable, said Finance Director David Pfaff, and will cost the city $107,000 instead of Time Warner’s over-$300,000 price tag.

Because the extension will be built with dark fiber cables, it will only be accessible to city buildings. This is not like the cable networks that Time Warner usually builds today, which connect homes, businesses and other buildings all on the same physical cable network, said Pfaff. The dark fiber cables are being phased out.

Monday night Council approved the ordinance to contract South Shore Cable Construction, Inc., which has built cable networks for both Time Warner Cable and the city of Strongsville, to perform the work. The city waived competitive bidding due to time constraints and the significant savings over Time Warner Cable, according to the city memo accompying the ordinance.