The Village of New Berlin, IL is keen to stay connected and has voted to install high speed internet to all households in the community. As My Journal Courier reports, residents have complained about poor connectivity for some time and are ready to take the matter into their own hands. High-speed fiber-optic service is just one of the improvements being undertaken by the town.
“We’re trying to make New Berlin a better place to live,” said Village President, Mike Krall. “Besides this, we have the splash pad open now, the new water tower went up earlier this summer and voters approved a new junior/senior high school in June.”
“One of the reasons we did this is we have only one provider and the service is sometimes suspect. Things go wrong, the internet goes down; it’s that type of service,” Krall continued. “We had the opportunity to get high-speed internet. It will be a village utility and serve as another revenue stream for the village.” He noted that the first wave of residents should be connected by the end of September, with outreach to all completed by next spring.
The project includes erecting a 160-foot cell tower on the grounds of the village hall. Individual households will then connect up via a fiber connection out to the street. Technicians will need to enter each home to attach the household modem to the network. The Village Board already approved the charge for this service, costing approximately $100 per installation, including the cost of the modem.
Krall said that the charge for the internet service will be added to the monthly water bill. The one gig residential plan will cost $125 per month.. Residents who do not have a monthly water bill will enjoy the same rate, but will be billed separately.
“It solves two problems at once,” said Krall. “The tower will help everyone, no matter the provider. If you can’t get a signal in the middle of night, that’s a problem. No one has a landline anymore.” Krall told the Courier that COVID brought home the need for improved service when people within town had trouble staying connected to e-meetings and reaching emergency services.
“Our cell service and streaming capabilities are terrible, so we decided to do something about it,” said Krall. “You put up with the degree of terrible you will allow.”
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