Craven County hopes to bring more internet to underserved customers, here's what they did
There is an infamous stretch of N.C. Highway 43 between Craven County and Pitt County where drivers immediately lose cell and internet service.
The area is a "dead zone" and there are many more in rural areas of Craven.
Most of the dead zones in the county come from areas such as Ernul, Fort Barnwell, North Vanceboro, Cove City, and Harlowe. However, there are some within the city of New Bern as well, explained County Manager Jack Veit III.
To go along with that, there are also households and businesses in the county that pay for internet services but are seen as underserved by the Federal Communications Commission and the North Carolina Department of Information Technology Division of Broadband, according to a news release from the county.
One of them is Vanceboro resident Tonya Thomas who says while she has internet service most of the time throughout the month, there are a handful of days where the service goes out.
"Without warning, we will wake up and there is no internet," explained Thomas. "We try all of the troubleshooting methods to get it to come back on and eventually it will. But it is always at the worst time and it takes a couple of hours before it comes back."
More internet options: Internet company brings more options to New Bern
Concerns of questionable internet service have risen in the past several years as the city of New Bern stepped in after receiving hundreds of complaints regarding Suddenlink's service, which is the main internet provider in Craven County.
In March 2021, the New Bern Board of Aldermen announced that the city was in discussions with MetroNet to provide an alternative to Suddenlink. Since then, MetroNet has begun construction in parts of the city with the first customers set to come online this spring.
For customers like Thomas who may not have the option to switch to a new company like Metronet, the Craven County board of commissioners is looking into addressing those concerns for those underserved residents.
Households, businesses in Craven in need of more broadband
During a specially called meeting on Monday, the board of commissioners voted unanimously to issue letters of support for three North Carolina Broadband Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology, GREAT, grant applications.
The GREAT grant program focuses on increasing broadband access to Craven County in census blocks deemed to be underserved by internet with broadband speeds of less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
Funded with federal dollars for private sector broadband providers to facilitate the deployment of service to the area, there are no guarantees that any of the proposals will be funded or how much would be funded if chosen due to the expected statewide interest of the program, Veit added.
The goal of the project is to increase the number of households and businesses with access to high-speed broadband internet.
It is important for citizens and business owners to understand Craven County cannot guarantee what the quality of internet service will be once it reaches homes. The same is said for the city of New Bern and MetroNet.
However, the program's minimum required criteria for internet speeds is to reach 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, scalable to 100 Mbps symmetrical.
“This is a great opportunity for Craven County, now that we have partners interested in bringing high-speed internet to the rural areas of our county," added Jason Jones, board of commissioner chairman. "Commissioners have long considered access to broadband internet a top priority and a necessity for the quality of life of our citizens.”
Which plan would best suit the county's needs?
Veit added that since the start of the pandemic, it has become more prevalent than ever that reliable internet is a need for residents in Craven, especially for students.
A review of the high school attendance districts in Craven showed 7.74% of households in the Havelock High School district are without reliable internet, 12.30% of households in the New Bern High School district are without reliable internet, and 54.41% of households in the West Craven High School district have unreliable internet, according to NC OneMap.
If awarded, Craven could see a maximum of two proposals funded for households and businesses, and each proposal comes with a match of funds from the county.
The board issued three letters of support for the grant.
Suddenlink/Altice proposal designed to expand their existing network to reach approximately 753 additional homes and businesses for a total project cost of $4,515,509 with a requested match from Craven County in the amount of $250,000.
CenturyLink/Lumen/BrightSpeed proposal is designed to develop broadband that will either provide new access or improved access to 5,500 homes and businesses for a total project cost of $9.2 million with a requested match from Craven County in the amount of $500,000.
Charter/Spectrum's proposal is designed to expand their existing network to reach approximately 1,255 additional homes and businesses for a total project cost of $6,015,088 with a requested match from Craven County in the amount of $150,000.
Matching funds are required for each grant project awarded and must come from the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, funds issued to Craven County. Craven County has identified ARPA funds available to meet the match requirements should the grant proposals receive funding.
MetroNet update, where is construction happening in New Bern?
With the first MetroNet customers expected to have service this Spring, an interactive online map with the company gives us a glimpse of who those customers could be.
Most of Trent Woods, homes and businesses on Trent Road, the Ghent neighborhood, Jimmies Creek, Greenbrier, and portions of Glenburnie Road are currently under construction.
The rest of the homes and businesses within city limits are listed as future construction sites, with no current customers having MetroNet services available to them as of Thursday.
Reporter Trevor Dunnell can be reached by email at tdunnell@newbernsj.com. Please consider supporting local journalism by signing up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: More internet service a possibility in Craven County rural areas
