CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
April 1, 2021
The Town of New Shoreham and Sertex are excited to continue moving ahead with the launch of BroadbandBI! We’re building the first municipal fiber-to-the-home network in Rhode Island to deliver fast, reliable high-speed Internet to everyone who lives and works in our community. The project has come a long way, and we genuinely appreciate your support and patience.
More than 1,000 property owners have registered for fiber installation! Thank you to everyone who has already submitted your property information.
Currently, the BroadbandBI team is working to address permitting and design issues before proceeding to contact property owners. Please know that our goal is contact everyone as quickly as possible over the coming weeks.
Sertex construction crews will begin arriving on island the week of April 12th. They will start work in the North and West areas to complete site surveys on properties where owner approval has been secured. Color-coded flags will delineate underground construction pathways as required by state law for Dig Safe notification (read more about Dig Safe). Once properties are cleared for construction, crews will install microduct conduit for future fiber installation.
As more areas of the island are cleared for construction, Sertex crews will be deployed to other sections. With more than 60 miles of underground drop construction, Sertex hopes to make as much progress as possible before the busy summer season begins.
We know that everyone is anxious to get connected to fiber Internet service. While we would like nothing more than to get everyone online as quickly as possible, this is a complex and challenging project that will take time to build. The full project schedule is being refined and an updated timetable will be shared in the coming weeks. The most significant time factor hinges primarily on underground permitting approvals and Verizon pole work to begin stranding the aerial fiber cable.
Thank you for your patience and for registering early!
Important Registration Information
If you registered your property, you should have received an email confirmation. As the email is an auto-reply, it can sometimes be blocked by Spam filters or firewalls. If you did not receive your confirmation, please check your Spam folder and mark no-reply@broadbandbi.com as a safe sender in order to ensure receipt of future correspondence.
If you haven’t yet registered your property for a broadband service drop, now is the time to do it.
Registering your property will ensure a service drop is constructed to your home during the roll-out of the Town of New Shoreham municipal broadband project happening now. Later requests for outside service drops may come with installation charges.
Please note, registrations should be performed only by property owners or their agents. Tenants should check with the property owner to make sure their premises are registered.
At this time we are gathering registrations for drop construction only. As we move through the construction phase signup for services will launch, at which point services (internet, phone) and service tiers will be selected.
If problems arise during the registration process or you have additional questions or concerns, please send an email to Sertex customer service.