Palm Coast Going Gigabit: City Announces Arrival Of Fiber Optic Internet

Palm Coast, FL – Soon, Palm Coast is going to be one of the fastest cities online. That’s all thanks to the upcoming introduction of fiber optic internet, which will be brought to the area as part of a collaboration between the city and MetroNet—an independent Evansville, Indiana-based fiber optic company. According to MetroNet, this will come from a multimillion-dollar—closer to the tens of millions—infrastructure investment that will be fully funded by the company. This will also make Palm Coast MetroNet’s second city to offer fiber optic internet in Florida, the first being Tallahassee. Sam Cinelli, the CEO of MetroNet, spoke to News Daytona Beach and said Palm Coast just seemed like the perfect fit for the company. “We prefer to go with smaller towns where people know their neighbors,” said Cinelli. “We find that we have a lot more success doing that. And sometimes, the services are a little overlooked by our competitors in these kinds of communities.” Construction in Palm Coast is not slated to begin until spring of 2022, with the first customers expected to be connected as early as fall of 2022. Kris Smith, MetroNet’s Director of Government Affairs, said customers will be connected as certain segments of construction wrap up. So while they work on other areas, some customers will already be connected to MetroNet’s network. Smith added that the work will be somewhat invasive as they begin construction, but residents will always be informed on what MetroNet is doing in their neighborhood 30 days in advance. “We’ll send plenty of notifications to folks when we come to their area. We’ll also have a dedicated phone number and a website where they can reach out to us,” said Smith. Once the network is set up, customers can expect to receive speeds of up to 1 gigabit. For comparison, companies like Spectrum offer basic internet speeds starting at 200 megabits a second (mbps), which is just 0.2 gigabits of information sent a second. And when the construction is complete, Palm Coast will officially be known as a “Certified Gigabit City,” adding to the only 30 percent of households in the United States that have access to gigabit speeds. “Residents and businesses will soon be able to experience a future-proof network in a time when reliable access has become critical,” added Cinelli. Residents and business owners interested in MetroNet’s services can visit the company’s website to indicate interest and to receive updates on construction. Smith added that MetroNet also has plans to introduce a retail storefront—which will bring about 20-30 jobs to the area—so customers can have direct access to service and sales. For more information, or to indicate your interest in the project, visit MetroNetInc.com/IWantFiber