Are you noticing little white flags on lawns throughout the island? These are the first visible signs of the BroadbandBI fiber network coming to life. These Sertex flags mark the path fiber conduit will take from the island’s roadways to a particular premise.

Are you wondering how you can get flags? Go to www.broadbandbi.com and click Register, then follow the prompts to register your property for a fiber drop. If you’ve already registered, no need to take further action at this time. Once your property clears external (DEM/CRMC/DOT) permitting, a Sertex customer service representative will contact you first by phone, then by email to schedule a site visit. Scheduling these meetings can take some time as the permitting process is complex. We appreciate your patience.

Project coordinator Morgan Jeane or her designee will visit your property to mark your proposed conduit path with flags. You’ll work together with Morgan to determine the ideal fiber path for your unique property, then Morgan will place your Sertex flags along the proposed route. After this happens, your property is on Sertex’s list for a conduit installation from the roadway to your premises. Remember, conduit is not fiber. It is simply the protective pipe that will house the fiber cable when it’s installed at a later date.

Other utility providers (electric, phone, water, sewer) may visit your property after the Sertex flags are placed and before the conduit is installed. They will mark their own utilities as appropriate with flags or temporary paint to ensure a safe construction environment for all. After our conduit installation crew completes their work at your property, Sertex will remove the Dig Safe flags presently marking underground utilities. The timeframe from Sertex site visit to completion of drop construction will likely be less than 30 days, but may be as long as 60 days.

In the meantime, pole make ready work continues across the island. Building a fiber broadband network is an involved process. Before any fiber cable can be attached to utility poles, each pole must be inspected prior to fiber attachment licensing approval. If there’s not enough room on a pole to accommodate the new fiber cable within standards, existing pole attachments may need to be moved or the pole may need to be replaced entirely. Make ready is a critical process outside the control of the network builder or the Town.

For more information on the make ready process, please read this Sertex blog post.

Thanks for your patience and support.