MIDDLETOWN — Several Internet providers are looking to expand into local markets, which is good news for former Innovative Fiber Optic Solutions customers.

Mitchell Smith of Elk Creek Road, Middletown, lost iFiber service Dec. 23. He said he was a customer since the company’s inception, about four years.

iFiber has closed out of fears it would be cut off based on a court settlement between its owner, the late businessman Perry Thatcher, and Cincinnati Bell. Thatcher owned the company Normap, which provided the infrastructure for iFiber’s service. Thatcher’s estate reached a court settlement in November in which Normap will be owned by Cincinnati Bell.

Area Internet companies plan to grow in Butler County by building up fiber networks, opening closer offices and increasing speeds. In addition to Cincinnati Bell, options include TW Telecom, Just Micro Digital Services Inc., Datacom Specialists and Open Range Communications.

“We have a lot of large and small customers in Butler County and everything in between,” said Tim Raffel, Cincinnati general manager for TW Telecom.

Littleton, Colo.-based TW Telecom has offices in Dayton and West Chester Twp. TW Telecom is a fiber-based network that offers voice, phone and data services for business customers, Raffel said. The speed of its services go from a T1 line with 1.5 megabytes and up, depending on what customers need and can afford.

The average installation time is 30 to 45 days, he said.

Robert West, owner of Just Micro Digital Services, said he was contacted in early December by representatives of about 65 former iFiber customers in Warren County. Based in Washington Court House, West is planning to open an office in Blanchester in Warren County. Currently he offers residential and business fixed wireless Internet service that’s available from south of Columbus to Cincinnati on fiber and copper lines.

The service has download and upload speeds of two megabits per second for $29 month, West said. He’s also looking to buy access to a fiber optic network to improve the experience and prices.

Residents and businesses also have the option of Datacom Specialists of Cincinnati, a technology solutions company. It started offering wireless services in Butler County last year and is expanding north of Cincinnati, said Chief Executive Officer Liam Cummings. In addition to reaching more areas, Datacom is increasing its speeds. The minimum speed available now is three megabytes for a standard residential package, which the technology company plans to have jacked up to five megabytes by the end of the month.

“Our goal is just to provide them speed just as if they were in the city,” Cummings said.

Datacom’s coverage area includes most of Preble County and stretches north from Cincinnati to Collinsville in Butler County for now, he said.

Open Range Communications, a fixed wireless provider, launched its wireless Internet services in Trenton in September. It sells a Freedom 4G device that has Internet, Wi-Fi, router, phone and answering machine capabilities.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.