MetroNet is coming: First New Bern customers could be online by end of September

The fiber internet company MetroNet should have its first New Bern customers online by late September or early October, according to Kris Smith, the company’s government affairs director.

According to Smith, MetroNet is approximately a third 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.

Originally set for the end of summer, Smith acknowledged that the planned date for customers to be online had been slightly delayed.

“We’re targeting the end of this month, maybe the first of October, so that did get pushed just a bit,” Smith said.

More: First New Bern Metronet customers expected online by late summer

More: Craven County hopes to bring more internet to underserved customers, here's what they did

According to Smith, approximately 200,000 feet of underground fiber cable has been installed  in the New Bern area. She said installation of aerial cable began over the last month. The fiber installation follows the existing utilities and consist of approximately 50% underground and 50% aerial work, she explained.

As of September 6, close to 29,000 feet of aerial fiber had ben installed in New Bern, Smith said.

“We got a little slower start on the aerial than we wanted, but that was just a permitting issue," she commented. "We’re still on target and things are going really well.”

Smith said the aerial work should move quickly.

“You’ll see bucket trucks, you’ll see gentlemen starting at one end of the street and within an hour or two they’ll be at the other end almost done,” she explained.

Smith said MetroNet was currently working in New Bern's Pembroke community, between Aycock and Chestnut avenues.

“One of the things we’re really excited about is we have over 1,000 presales the last time I checked. We’re having a huge response from the city of New Bern and we’re really excited about that,” Smith said.

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.

Though MetroNet had originally planned to offer IPTV as part of their New Bern service package, that option will no longer be available, according to Smith. IPTV allows viewers to receive their broadcast signal through an internet connection as opposed to a rooftop antenna, satellite dish, or fiber-optic cable.

The local Metronet service area will run from 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 installation in Trent Woods and the James City, Pembroke and Bryce’s Creek areas.

A map showing the installation progress can be viewed at https://construction.metronetinc.com/l/New_BernNC.

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 yards signs and neighborhood entrance signs announcing the constriction is coming.

Internet 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 local 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 of New Bern had received more than 200 complaints about Suddenlink through an email set up specifically for that purpose.

“We’re glad to see some competition in New Bern...We really look forward to a much better internet system,” he commented.

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.

“They (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 planned online by end of September