Photo Illustration by Angie Hall

ALPENA — Black River resident Dan Gauthier can’t wait for the day when he can stream videos, movies, and music, or even get a simple website to load in a reasonable amount of time.

Like thousands of others in Northeast Michigan, Gauthier is forced to live with inadequate service that hinders his way of life.

He said internet service providers have promised that expansion of fiber is on the way, but, so far, those promises have proven empty.

“We have very limited service, and it is very temperamental,” he said. “A storm or other changes in the weather affects it, and even the leaves on the trees can change its performance. Right now, it is all we have available to us, so I guess we’re lucky to have any at all.”

Since 2020, thousands of new internet customers in Northeast Michigan have gained access to broadband as companies such as the Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op install new fiber, but federal data shows thousands more in the rural areas of Alpena, Montmorency, Alcona, and Presque Isle counties have no internet or internet with such slow upload and download speeds they can’t do the digital parts of everyday life.

Doug Cheek, the chairman of the Alcona Economic Development Corp., said he fears companies working on fiber now won’t fulfill the promises they made to the government for the expansion of high-speed internet. He said those companies are being watched, however, and the people of Alcona County will hold them accountable.

“We know for sure the legacy companies have not built out this county the way they promised,” he said. “We’re not going to stop until this is made right. We will keep pushing.”

The News could not reach officials at many of the companies working to install high-speed internet for comment on this story.

‘WE ARE NOT SEEING THE PROGRESS’

Federal data compiled by the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office shows that, as of July, about a third of the homes and businesses across Northeast Michigan still lacked access to modern internet speeds.

Just 8% of homes across all of Michigan lacked that basic internet.

In Alcona County, the expansion of fiber systems — funded mostly by federal funds — has been the quickest of the four counties in Northeast Michigan, according to that data.

Still, some believe progress is too slow and say that, even when high-speed internet becomes available, connecting is too costly and doesn’t meet the minimum speed requirements companies promised to provide when they accepted government grants and loans.

Cheek, of the Alcona Economic Development Corp., worked with local government officials and potential partners to help devise a plan to improve high-speed internet access to those without it in the county.

Cheek said one of the problems that hinders installation of fiber is inaccurate Federal Communications Commission maps that claim to show the areas that already have high-speed internet.

Until accurate maps are created, Cheek said, internet companies will continue to look past underserved neighborhoods.

“Right now, we are not seeing the progress for both hookups and speed,” Cheek said. “When they did the map, if there were two houses on a block that had high-speed internet, they were marked as fully served, when they weren’t.”

Cheek said Alcona County hired Connected Nation, a consultant out of Kentucky, to draft new maps to get a clearer picture of the deficiencies for internet availability and speed rates.

“We are going to take a deeper dive into the layering of the Geographic Information System maps and we hope to use 911 data, because it is the most accurate,” Cheek said.

He said 911 maps include all addresses, while the broadband maps only use some properties to show if an area has service or is underserved.

‘ONE OF MY BIGGEST CONCERNS’

Alcona County has four primary internet providers, some of whom committed to use government grants or loans to expand fiber systems to meet demand in low-coverage areas, Cheek said. Allband, Mercury Broadband, and Centurylink are trying to expand in the rural areas, while Spectrum offers high-speed internet packages in the more populated areas of the county such as Harrisville and Lincoln, Cheek said.

As the progress of those companies lags, it is hard for other internet companies to move into the area to install their own systems, Cheek said.

Michigan has received nearly $1.6 billion from the federal government to reach 100% internet coverage across the state by 2030.

But that Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment money can’t be used to install broadband infrastructure where other programs are supposed to install it, said Eric Frederick, chief connectivity officer at the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office.

Frederick’s office also can’t hold other programs accountable for meeting their promises.

Frederick said he worries homes or businesses might get missed because other grants fail to connect everyone they were supposed to connect.

“That’s one of my biggest concerns,” Frederick said.

Frederick’s office is currently accepting challenges to internet service providers’ claims of internet coverage. He said that process could reveal evidence of gaps left by other programs and BEAD money can be used to fill those gaps.

But it would have to be solid evidence that minimum internet speeds aren’t available where another program says they should be, Frederick said.

Cheek said there is currently an effort in Alcona County to have residents participate in the challenge process, which he said is cumbersome but could help put a focus on how underserved the area is.

‘FULL-STEAM AHEAD AGAIN’

More people have high-speed internet available to them thanks to the Onaway-based Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op building out a fiber system in Presque Isle and Montmorency counties.

Only a small portion of the population in Alpena and Alcona counties who are customers of PIE&G will have internet available to them when the expansive project is complete, as a large portion of PIE&G’s member base is in Montmorency and Presque Isle counties.

PIE&G CEO Tom Sobek said customers of the utility company will receive service first, but the company plans to then expand fiber into other areas where the company’s gas and electric services are unavailable.

When PIE&G announced it would move into the internet business, officials announced a four-phase plan.

Phase one, which began in 2021, wrapped up last year and connected residents in Onaway, Black Lake, and other neighboring communities.

Phase two is underway, which will connect Millersburg, Hawks, and Hammond Bay to the fiber system.

Sobek said the current phase is about 70% complete and the co-op is already thinking ahead to phase three, which is slated to begin near the end of this year and focus on running fiber to homes and businesses in Posen, Grand Lake, Hillman, and rural areas of Alpena County.

The final phase includes Atlanta, Beaver Lake, and Lewiston, and is slated to take place in 2025 and last until 2028.

So far, Sobek said, PIE&G has 3,800 active internet accounts as of March 20. He said that number will climb as the fiber expansion continues.

Sobek said that, when the project started, PIE&G figured it would take about four years to complete, but inflation and rising costs forced the company to take a step back for several months and regroup.

“We needed to pull back for five to eight months to regroup and figure out the best way forward, but we are full-steam ahead again,” he said. “We are looking into other areas and our goal has always been to improve the lives of the people in Northeast Michigan. It just won’t be as quick as it will be for our members.”

HOW TO CHALLENGE INTERNET CONNECTION CLAIMS

The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office has opened a 30-day window for the public to challenge internet service providers’ claims of internet availability across the state. Challenges will be accepted through April 23.

Only local units of government, tribal governments, nonprofits, and internet service providers can file formal challenges, but the general public can participate.

Visit MichiganBroadbandMap.com and search for your address to find out the upload and download speeds internet service providers claim to be available at your home or business. If you think those numbers are wrong, you can visit tinyurl.com/MIHIchallenge to learn how to take a speed test, the results of which will be shared by the High-Speed Internet Office with an eligible challenger.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

In 2020, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, when much of the world’s business was forced online because in-person contact was deemed unsafe, The News uncovered the lackluster connectivity among homes and businesses in Northeast Michigan.

Four years later, The News wanted to see what — if anything — had changed.

After weeks of reporting, this is what they found:

* SATURDAY: Much of Northeast Michigan remains disconnected.

* TODAY: A look at efforts to help Northeast Michigan connect.

* TUESDAY: A look at how area groups help Northeast Michiganders overcome a lack of internet access.