High-speed Internet service went live at the Dolores Schools on Friday, opening up the opportunity for businesses and individuals to also sign up for faster Internet.

The schools’ need for faster Internet provided large enough demand for Cedar Networks to lay fiber-optic lines into Dolores.

“We would much rather build it, when we have a need for it,” said Company President Vijay Bastawade.

The new fiber optic lines in town were laid by Cedar Networks over the past three months, and any business or individual can now sign up for the service. The service is about 50 to 70 times faster than traditional service and helpful for those streaming video or downloading large files, Bastawade said.

On a traditional connection, for example, someone might wait 45 seconds to download a large file but with a fiber optic connection it’s instantaneous, said Bastawade.

The increased connectivity has made a big difference for the school.

At certain peaks usage times even mundane tasks like sending email and basic internet research could be laborious. Everything changed on Friday.

Cedar Networks leased fiber from Tri-State Transmission and Generation Association and EAGLE Net to complete the project.

mshinn@cortezjournal.com