White River Connect finishes fiber internet build in Christian County, increases customers’ internet speed at no extra cost

White River Connect, a subsidiary of White River Valley Electric Cooperative, announced the completion of their fiber internet build in Sparta, Missouri. This represents a major project milestone as all the electric cooperative’s members in Christian County now have access to high-speed fiber internet.

"The residents living in rural Christian County have waited a long time for reliable internet,” said White River Valley Electric Cooperative CEO Beau Jackson. “We’re excited to bring this infrastructure to the Sparta community and to Christian County. We can’t wait to see the impact this technology will have on the area for generations.”

With Sparta complete, the fiber company has one service area left to build. The Ava service area is on track to be finished by the end of summer and will mark the completion of the original commitment White River Valley Electric Cooperative made to its membership. The project, originally anticipated to take five years to complete, is currently pacing nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Construction began on White River Connect in June of 2023 to provide high-speed internet to rural areas of Christian, Douglas, Ozark, Stone, and Taney counties. In March of 2024, White River Connect began serving its first customers. White River Connect is currently available in the Branson, Bear Creek, Sweden, Rockaway, Gretna, Goodhope, Compton Ridge, Taneyville, Protem, Theodosia, Wasola, Lake, Bluewater, Stonebridge, Riverdale, Silver Dollar City, Kimberling City, Stultz, Selmore, Table Rock, Clevenger Cove, Paradise and Spokane service areas. When completed, the project will cover over 4,200 miles of fiber lines.White River Connect’s high-speed fiber network offers symmetrical upload and download speeds, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services and more! Businesses and residents can visit https://www.whiteriverconnect.com to view service availability maps, express interest and sign up for service in their area.  

For more information about White River Valley Electric Cooperative’s fiber-to-the-home project, White River Connect, visit https://www.whiteriverconnect.com.

White River Connect increases customers’ internet speeds at no additional cost

White River Connect surprised residential customers on July 1 by announcing that they would be increasing current customers’ internet speeds for no additional cost. The complimentary speed upgrades reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to deliver exceptional value while ensuring customers have the bandwidth for today’s connected lifestyles and tomorrow’s technology.

As part of the upgrade, customers now have a multi-gig option to support the growing demands of smart homes, remote work, online learning, streaming and emerging technologies. “Technology continues to evolve at a fast pace, and our customers deserve an internet connection that’s ready for what comes next,” said CEO Beau Jackson. “By increasing speeds without increasing prices, we’re investing in our customers and making sure they’re ready for the technologies of the future.”

Customers will receive the upgraded speeds automatically where applicable, with no action required and no increase to their monthly bill.