Bastrop County fiber: frequently asked questions

Yes. In November 2025 Bastrop County announced a $43.1 million grant from the Texas Broadband Development Office to bring fiber to more than 10,000 unserved homes and businesses. Highline is building it, construction is underway, and completion is expected in late 2026. See the full timeline.

The grant build is expected to finish by late 2026, and all Texas BOOT II projects must be complete by December 31, 2026. Individual streets light up across that period. Check your specific status at highlinefast.com or call Highline's Smithville office at 512-360-4273. Our coverage page tracks it community by community.

The grant covers unserved areas across the county. Smithville, Bastrop and Elgin — with existing infrastructure and Highline's operating base — tend to come earlier; remote county addresses later. Check your exact address, since a town being listed doesn't mean every street is connected yet.

Highline (Highline Fast Internet) is a rural fiber-to-the-home provider operating in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas — a brand of ITC Broadband Holdings, whose roots trace to Interstate Telephone Company, founded in West Point, Georgia in 1896. It entered Bastrop County in October 2025 by acquiring the local Smithville operation of RTA.

No. Bastrop Fiber is an independent community guide. We are not affiliated with Highline, the county, or any provider or government body. We track the public build and point residents to official sources so you can decide for yourself.

Local office: 125 Kellar Rd, Unit C-2, Smithville, TX 78957, 512-360-4273. Sales: 1-888-212-0054. Availability and ordering: highlinefast.com.

Highline sells symmetrical fiber in 400 Mbps, 1 Gig and 2 Gig tiers, each with a WiFi 7 router, unlimited data, no annual contract and a 3-year price lock. Installation is $99. Exact monthly pricing is confirmed once your address is verified serviceable; the published Whole-Home Wi-Fi package starts at $91/mo for 400 Mbps. See plans and pricing.

For most homes, 400 Mbps symmetrical is plenty — it handles multiple 4K streams, video calls, gaming and cloud backup at once. Higher tiers are for heavy simultaneous uploaders or future-proofing. Our speed guide shows what each tier really covers.

A technician runs the fiber drop (aerial or buried) to your home, mounts the ONT, connects and configures the WiFi 7 router, and verifies your speed on a wired test — usually 1.5–3 hours. Our installation guide covers how to prepare and where to place the router.

Depending on your address: Spectrum cable (widely available in the towns), AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon 5G home internet (a strong rural stopgap where you have signal), or Starlink (for deep-rural addresses). We compare them with qualified prices and speeds on the alternatives page.

For nearly everyone, yes — fiber's symmetrical speed, lack of data caps and low latency make it the best pick once it reaches your street. Keeping a month-to-month bridge plan lets you switch with little penalty the week Highline lights your address.