About
Mission
Provide Communities a better way to get the most reliable, affordable and fastest internet serving them well into the future.
Goal
We empower community leaders with the information and choice they need to make the best decisions to achieve their broadband goals.
Our Story
Decades of experience gave the Hometown Fiber technical team direct experience with the technical and economic reasons so many communities don’t have the broadband they need.
Based in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Our team has years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Founder Kyle Moorhead and his crews at Morecom have worked with civil engineers, utility contractors, architects, judges, city administrators and other community leaders to solve problems by integrating technology into operations. Decades of leadership and in-the-field experience paved the way for Hometown Fiber’s answer that gets communities the reliable, affordable and fast internet service they need.
We are here to ensure you get the best internet possible today and well into the future.
Put our expertise to work for you
Meet The Team
Kyle Moorhead
Founder and President
Kyle's consulting experience blends technical expertise with a community-driven focus. For 30 years Kyle and his first company, MoreCom, worked closely with public and private organizations to solve technology challenges—including the design, construction and maintenance of fiber optic networks. Kyle also worked with broadcasters and ISPs to build, troubleshoot, repair and maintain fiber optic, twisted pair, coaxial and wireless networks. This first-hand experience gave Kyle and his team direct insight into the technical and financial reasons so many communities lack the broadband they need to thrive.
Eileen Smith
Vice President and Media Contact
Eileen is passionate about making complex topics easy to understand. She’s done it throughout her career in rural journalism, health care, public schools and health insurance. By working with Hometown Fiber, Eileen has the chance to help leaders understand the complex world of broadband.
Mitch Gordon
Executive Officer
Mitch brings his decades of work in construction and project planning to lead all Hometown Fiber work. In addition to operating the day- to-day, Mitch leads our exclusive field studies, including training, GIS mapping, the efficient collection of field data and observations, the technical review and analysis of the findings.
Marlena Pfeiffer
Broadband Specialist
Marlena is passionate about helping people get what they need to make informed decisions. She’s been a consultant for 10 years in a variety of settings, including agriculture, online business development and sales. Marlena is active in her community’s boys and girls club and helps other local nonprofits raise funds.
Aaron Lesmeister
Network Architect
aaron@yourhometownfiber.com
Aaron brings nearly a decade of telecommunications engineering experience to the Hometown Fiber team. He supported Lumen/CenturyLink’s third largest metropolitan market as part of the Local Network Implementation Department. In addition he’s served multiple telecommunications companies while working for two contract engineering firms. Aaron combines his holistic understanding of telecommunications and outside plant design with a construction background. He brings a detail-focused, responsible approach to every aspect of his work.
Clint Johnson
Fiber Optic Expert
Clint works with our field study teams, taking on complex field study evaluations. His expertise encompasses all broadband technologies in the past 30 years and can easily identify how systems connect. He spent 36 years making sure Ma Bell, U.S. West, Qwest and CenturyLink customers had telephone and internet service.
Dave Swanson
Fiber Optic Expert
Fiber Dave, as we call him, designed and built the first fiber optic links in downtown Minneapolis in the 1980s and that fiber remains in service today. His 40 years of experience includes developing the fiber optic division for CenturyLink. Fiber Dave is a natural mentor who has trained other team member how to splice, troubleshoot and test fiber optic systems. We are honored to have him on the Hometown Fiber team.
Marshall Stueven
Field Technician
Marshall is an expert in field data collection, GIS mapping, network design and fiber network construction. He worked with MoreCom for 15 years serving the technology needs of municipalities and businesses.
Tom Wilson
Field Technician
Tom began his career with MoreCom nearly 15 years ago. His expertise includes field data collection, GIS mapping, fiber network construction, emergency fiber restores, network trouble shooting, GPS locates and data centers.
Current and Recent Projects
City of Willmar, Minnesota
Community Owned Fiber Optic Network
Hometown Fiber’s work with Willmar started with our response to an RFP. Following conversations with respondents, the city conducted extensive interviews with communities and broadband infrastructure companies throughout the country. While what’s called open access fiber networks are successful in other parts of the country (Utah, Ohio, California) the concept is new in Minnesota.
Willmar realized the value of Hometown Fiber’s proposal to bring an individual, directly connected fiber optic network to the community. The proprietary network design, construction and neutral operations mean people get choice as internet service providers compete for customers. Since nearly the entire community, population 21,015, has cable modem service and does not qualify for grants. Bonds will fund the project.
Pine County, Minnesota
Consulting and Construction Administration Services
Priorities and goals, field study, mapping existing infrastructure, property ratings, technology assessment, partnerships and funding options, development of a county grant program and recommendations. Project was 1,435 square miles, 29,200 residents. Hometown Fiber continues to serve as Pine County’s broadband consultant. The county contracted with Hometown Fiber’s construction administration services to ensure a project with direct federal funding is built to specifications and public funds are spent as approved. Next, Hometown Fiber will be working with the county to determine how to get service to the remaining under-and un-served residents and businesses.
Contact: Lezlie Sauter, county economic development coordinator, lezlie.sauter@co.pine.mn.us, 320-591-0019.
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin
Broadband Map Verification
The county wanted to ensure it has the facts it needs to make wise investments in the future. Hometown Fiber identified unreported fiber throughout the county, conducted map verification work and scored service available at properties against market demand. The county received both printed and online reports and interactive maps, and GIS layers of broadband technology throughout the entire county.
Contact: Chris Lewinski, Sheboygan county director of information technology,
chris.lewinski@sheboygancounty.com, 920-459-0335.
Previous Municipal Networks
Litchfield, Minnesota
Private Fiber Optic Network & Data Center
Hometown Fiber’s founder Kyle Moorhead and Bolton & Menk have been working together since 2004 to serve the City of Litchfield, Minnesota. In 2010 the city faced unreliable communication between City buildings and utilities. The communication breakdown had an impact on community-wide critical infrastructure including water, wastewater, electricity, water tower, water pumps, water meters, public safety, and basic city services such as phones, networked computer operations and more.
This project’s successful network design, construction and operation proved the technical model works. What was once not economically feasible for residential construction is now a solution that ensures reliable, affordable fast broadband for decades to come, ending the need for ongoing government subsidies.
Process
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Met with City leadership to document the goals and priorities. Digging deep into the challenges facing the City, the project team ensured solutions fixed not only immediate issues but accounted for future needs as well.
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Developed a five-year technology plan with actionable, phased priorities.
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Designed a private fiber optic network connecting utilities and city facilities.
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Managed all aspects of the projects from start to finish.
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Coordinated and worked with all city departments, local internet service providers, local contractors and subcontractors.
Result
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Reliable network.
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Enhanced security by removing critical city services from the internet.
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Achieved 99.9995% up time over 12 years. One building experienced a four-hour outage in 2020 when a contractor dug into the fiber optic line after failing to follow the locate.
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Low operating and maintenance costs.
Contact: George Baldwin, manager, Litchfield electric utility, george.baldwin@ci.litchfield.mn.us, 320-296-1114
Hopkins, Minnesota
Private Fiber Optic Network
Hopkins used multiple technologies and services to provide city services. It was not reliable, and the technologies did not work well together. Together Moorhead’s team, along with Bolton & Menk, designed and built a private fiber-optic network connecting key City buildings and departments. Like in Litchfield, the work greatly improved City operations.
Hopkins has experienced zero downtime since the network opened in 2015, and proprietary elements in the network design ensure easy utility locates. The City of Hopkins now enjoys the flexibility and capabilities of the infrastructure accommodating everything from SCADA links to Voice over Internet Protocol phone service and high-speed data. Hopkins is now expanding its network.
Contact: Alex Hepp, information officer, City of Hopkins, ahepp@hopkinsmn.com, 952-548-6305