As mentioned in our last newsletter:
"To get to Presque Isle, Spectrum must install a transport fiber (a high-capacity link) from the Sayner area across CTH N to CTH M and then north to the intersection of CTH M and CTH B. This work will be done in 2023, estimated to be finished in early Fall."
If you have been back and forth on CTH M this summer, you have seen a lot of activity all along that route -- trenching, directional drilling, and big rolls of plastic orange pipe. That orange pipe is what will protect the fiber optic cable, so it is the first thing to go in the ground. In September, the work shifted to north of Boulder Junction for the final run to CTH M and CTH B. As of this past week, the trenching and drilling connected to a termination point right outside the entrance to Natural Lakes.
Spectrum has already been in the Natural Lakes area, marking the roads to locate where the fiber will run and terminate. We are also starting to receive detailed maps from Spectrum which we can use to make sure that all locations that should have service will have it available. From these first maps, we can see that Spectrum will start heading west along CTH B towards Lynx Lake and Annabelle Lake, north towards Lone Pine Lake, and north into Natural Lakes and Frontier Lakes.
This is exciting progress, but just the first steps. Think of this like building a house: first the foundation, then the walls and roof, and then the rough electrical all have to be completed before you can plug anything into the wall outlet. We are a ways away from being able to plug into this new network.
As activity accelerates, we will be sending out this newsletter more frequently and delivering more updates to the Town Board. Stay tuned!