Neighbors,
Recently the Boards of the MRE Property Owner’s Association and the Road District became aware of the possibility of bringing true high-speed fiber optic internet to MRE. Depending on the plan, speeds as high as 100-to-1000 Mbps could be possible, contrasting with 2-20 Mbps currently available to most MRE residents through Pioneer Connect’s old copper DSL lines. Upgrading our internet connections would have a positive impact on our ability to work from home, to stream HD video, to use web conferencing tools, and on overall property values.
Both Boards have approved the following letter (please see attached PDF file below) to be submitted to Pioneer and also (with change of addressee) to Alyrica. In addition to their wireless internet, Alyrica is currently completing fiber optic internet service in Brownsville, and they have been selected to provide fiber service to rural areas of Polk County. So there are now two potential providers of fast internet to MRE.
I’ve been told (informally by someone inside of Pioneer) that their new owner is very interested in getting rural areas cabled with fiber optic, and that there are grant funds available to do this. Furthermore they indicated that if MRE could demonstrate that there are a significant number of potential subscribers to fiber optic internet service, we could go to the top of the queue for installation - which is a process that takes about a year to do. So the sooner, the better if we want to see improved service.
We can’t say what, if any, the additional costs would be of fiber optic service, since like anything it depends on the speed, but Alyrica has a web page that details their current price structure (see bottom of: https://www.alyrica.net/residential/).
The costs appear to be favorable compared with Pioneer’s current service plans for MRE but the speeds are dramatically higher.
If you would like express your interest in potentially being a fiber optic internet customer, please respond to my personal email address below, giving me your name and address in MRE (not a postal address since we need to show the locations where fiber would need to run). I can then add that information to the letter. I’d appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible, and definitely by the end of this month (end of October) so the letters can go out then.
The more names, the greater the chance of getting Pioneer or Alyrica to commit to the project.
Many thanks-
Adam Schultz
dradamschultz@gmail.com