The internet speeds will be fast, but the trip to get to them has been slow and steady. Such is the case for Leelanau residents who have been waiting on bated breath for the chance to connect to the county’s ambitious new fiber internet network. Once completed, the network will bring high-speed internet service to nearly 8,000 unserved or underserved households throughout Leelanau County. So far, zero of those households have been given the green light to hook into the network. But according to a new update from the Leelanau Internet Futures Team (LIFT), the waiting game is almost over – at least for parts of the county.

LIFT is a collection of public and private sector stakeholders brought together by the Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation to steer the ship for the county’s ARPA-funded fiber internet project. The team has been providing occasional updates on the fiber project since this past spring, when Point Broadband – the fiber provider hired to build the network – first kicked off construction. The latest of those updates, sent out to the LIFT email list yesterday (Tuesday) includes the first mention of light at the end of the tunnel for the project.

“Solon Township is expected to take the prize for where Point Broadband’s first fiber broadband customers reside,” the latest LIFT email proclaimed. “The company’s fiber network is on track to be activated and available to customers in Solon and Elmwood Townships beginning this month.”

Per LIFT, Point Broadband crews have “successfully completed” construction on the physical fiber network infrastructure necessary to bring service to “the southern portions of Elmwood and Solon townships.” The next step is for Point Broadband to test the systems, a process LIFT says should take approximately two weeks. Assuming all systems are go, Point Broadband should be able to start making “customer connections” to that part of the network before the month is out.

In addition to the southern parts of Elmwood and Solon townships, LIFT said that Point Broadband is also making good progress on its network buildout in northern Solon Township and southern Centerville Township. Those areas will likely be the next on the list to get service, after which work will “proceed northward west of Lake Leelanau and reach southern Leland Township in the next two months.”

LIFT encourages Leelanau residents interested in securing fiber service through the new network to “visit Point Broadband’s Leelanau County project web site to verify availability for a particular location.” The Point Broadband site includes a tool where residents can input their address to see service availability, choose services, review pricing, set up accounts with Point Broadband, and schedule installations.

Leelanau County is also keeping its own broadband map tool “routinely updated to show Point Broadband’s construction progress and internet availability.” In addition to Point Broadband’s network, that map also highlights broadband services available in the county from other service providers.

While fiber network availability is finally near at hand for some local residents, others will have to wait longer than initially expected. LIFT’s update from this week also included the news that Leelanau County’s Board of Commissioners has struck an agreement with Point Broadband to amend the latter’s service contract. Specifically, both parties have agreed “to extend the fiber network completion date by six months to no later than June 30, 2024.” (Since early on, Point Broadband has said its intention was to finish the fiber buildout “before year-end 2023.”)

How many prospective fiber customers will be impacted by the delay? Roughly a quarter, according to LIFT’s recent update. For instance, of the 3,522 totally unserved “addresses and parcels delineated in the service agreement,” Point Broadband’s new contract calls for the fiber provider to complete network buildout to 2,604 of them – or 74 percent – by December 31, 2023. The other 918 unserved parcels “will await the spring thaw for resumption and completion of the construction project.” (LIFT’s email does not break out the numbers for underserved parcels.)

One area that will definitely be impacted by the delay is the tip of Leelanau Peninsula. LIFT noted in its update that a key remaining part of the Point Broadband buildout involves “delivering a fiber connection to the Leelanau State Park.” That segment of the network won’t be done this year, and is expected to halt construction in January or February due to winter weather conditions.

While work on the fiber network is continuing and even finishing out in some parts of the county, the rolling nature of the project means that other areas are much less far along. In some places, for instance, the Leelanau County Road Commission is still “working diligently to process the permits needed” for Point Broadband to work “within the right-of-way adjacent to county roads.” Per LIFT, the goal right now is for all Road Commission permitting to be “completed by the end of August so that construction can proceed unhampered.”

Meanwhile, in some areas where construction needs to occur in the rights-of-way along private roads, Point Broadband still needs to obtain approvals from homeowners or homeowners associations (HOAs) to move forward with its planned construction. Residents in these areas can expect to be contacted by Point Broadband soon.

“A member of the Point Broadband team will be visiting your neighborhood if you live in an HOA or on a private road prior to undertaking construction within your neighborhood,” LIFT said in its email. “We encourage HOAs to proactively discuss this with their members and neighbors to keep construction moving to serve as many homes as possible this year.”