First New Bern Metronet customers expected online by late summer
The fiber internet company Metronet should have its first New Bern customers online by late summer, according to Kris Smith, the company’s government affairs director.
According to Smith, Metronet is approximately a quarter of the way through its fiber installation project in the New Bern area. Installation began in November 2021 and is expected to take two years to complete.
“I think it’s safe to say we’ll be done by late summer of 2023,” said Smith during a phone interview last week. “Our partnership there in the city has been excellent so it makes for a really nice build.”
Locally, Metronet is currently offering internet service from 100 megabytes up to 1 gigabyte, with prices ranging from $50 to $90 a month. A fiber phone service is also offered for $10 a month.
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Though Metronet had originally planned to offer IPTV service as part of their New Bern service package, that option is longer be available, Smith said. IPTV allows viewers to receive their broadcast signal through an internet connection as opposed to a rooftop antenna, satellite dish, or fiber-optic cable.
“Right now we’re focusing more on providing that 100% fiber internet and then phone with that as well,” Smith said. “Most of us are doing more with streaming, with your Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Prime video, so we’re focusing more on the fiber optics that you need in order to watch your TV that way when it’s convenient for you.”
The first phase of the Metronet installation is focused primarily on underground construction, with aerial work scheduled to get underway in the late summer, he said.
“With construction, we follow the existing utilities, so in New Bern, it’s about a 50/50 build where we’ll do underground and aerial,” Smith explained. “We’re on target but we’re still early in the process. We want to make sure with our fiber connection that there’s an aerial route and an underground route so customers will experience very few outages if any.”
More: Internet competition is coming: New Bern creates $7.2M broadband fund for MetroNet project
The local Metronet service area will be available to the north along Highway 43 to Washington Post Road, west on Highway 17 just past River Bend and as far south as Havelock. The company will also do installations in Trent Woods and the James City, Pembroke and Bryce’s Creek areas.
According to a progress map on the company's website, https://construction.metronetinc.com/l/New_BernNC, installation work is currently underway in the Colony Estates and Greenbriar subdivisions off Glenburnie Road; along the Trent Road and Trent Boulevard corridor from Liberty Street west to Trent Woods, including Spencer Avenue and Red Robin Lane; and in the Trent Woods area off of Country Club Road.
Smith said Metronet employees will be working in utility easements and right of ways, which in some instances may be located in backyards.
Residents can expect to receive postcards seven to 14 days before construction with information on how to contact Metronet. The final public information step will be individual yard signs and neighborhood entrance signs announcing the construction is coming.
Suddenlink complaints led city to seek competitive service
The Metronet project is the culmination of months of work on the city’s part to bring in a competitor for the area’s main internet provider, Suddenlink.
Last August, Mayor Dana Outlaw noted that certain areas of the city have very little internet service. At the time, he said the city had received more than 200 complaints about Suddenlink through an email set up specifically for that purpose.
More: Metronet internet company to begin work in October to bring services to New Bern
In April 2021, the New Bern Board of Aldermen approved a request for the city to negotiate and execute an agreement with Metronet allowing the parties to work through permitting issues, easement plans and questions concerning what Metronet would offer in the area.
Three months later, the city of New Bern established a $7.2 million project fund to facilitate necessary infrastructure work for Metronet to bring their services to New Bern. The 2021 Make Ready Public Infrastructure for Broadband Service Providers Project Fund was approved by the board during their July 27, 2021 meeting.
According to Charlie Bauschard, director of Public Utilities, the installation work will have the largest impact on the city’s utilities and public works operations and will potentially touch every public easement, right of way and private land parcel in the city.
“(Metronet) want to move fast, they want to get the project installed and get out of here and get the customers connected just as fast as possible,” Bauschard said.
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: First New Bern Metronet customers expected online by late summer
