Cherry Capital Communications is pleased to be working with a group of residents and Leelanau County Commissioner Ty Wessel to bring improved high speed internet access and telephone services to the Omena area. Fiber to the Premise (FttP) is the goal of this effort. The conversation has created the following foundation for continued action.
2021 Update: Working with the Omena champions and Gills Pier champions CCC is pleased to add the route between Gills Pier and Omena plus Meadow Ln and Pine Ave. The scope of the project can be expanded based on demand. The image reflects our most recent update: Get your petition signed: cccfiber.com. Our goal remains to connect 100% of all households along a route and to respond to demand.
The latest information presented to the neighborhood captains. Updated 08-29-2021
2021 Update: We have expanded the scope of the project to include Cathead Bay. Five of your neighbors have stepped up to assist us in our efforts. The image reflects our most recent update: Get your petition signed: cccfiber.com. Our goal remains to connect 100% of all households along a route and to respond to demand.
2021 Update: We met with some of your neighbors at the Omena Point club. Some of the points that were of greatest interest were:
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Based on enough petitions being received (150) by Sept 15 CCC will begin construction October/November 2021 and will have the project completed the end of Summer 2022.
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Without the demand the project would be delayed until 2023.
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A recent survey has reported that customer satisfaction with fiber to the home is at a level of 98% compared with cable or fixed point wireless.
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Having a broadband connection raises the property value by 3%
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If the broadband connection is fiber the property value is raised by 5.1%
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A fiber connected home with a value of $500,000 would see an increase of $25,500
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Get your petition signed: cccfiber.com.
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The design work to establish a project budget is complete.
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There will be 300 households passed.
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The cost per participating household is $5,000
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Speeds being offered are:
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50Mbps x 50Mbps @ $88.00 per month
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100Mbps x 100Mbps @ 128.00 per month
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1Gig x 1Gig @ $156.00 per month
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Seasonal plans are being offered.
CCC uses a five step process to achieve better internet - FttP
Step 1. Petition: (click on petition). You will be asked for your name and e-mail address (see image). Please complete this request and click on start signing. An email with a link to an electronic reservation form will be sent to your email. Once the reservation form is returned you will gain access to a CCC user portal. The CCC user portal will provide an electronic means of communicating with Cherry Capital Communications.
During this step community champions will be identified.
Three individuals have stepped up to be neighborhood champions
Step 2. Design: To begin working on the design we are requesting a non-refundable design fee, estimated $125 per participating household. When the project moves to construction CCC will apply your "design fee" to your account. Once the design is complete, we will have a detailed understanding of timeline and cost to construct. The response to the petition step will signal when the design phase will start. It appears there is already strong interest in developing a FttP solution. The "petition" is the primary method for CCC to measuring and quantifying interest - so encourage your neighbors to sign up.
See image above
Step 3. Funding: Funding for projects utilizes multiple sources: 1) Customer Installation Fees 2) CCC Long Term Capital Debt 3) a Portion of the monthly subscriptions fee and 4) Federal, State, County, township or organizational grants or loans that may be available.
We have determined that the cost to connect will be $5,000
The greater the Omena community's participation, the lower the installation fee will be.
Step 4. Construction: This is an estimated 12 month project. Our objective is to get each household connected as quickly as possible while maintaining safety and quality during the construction process. This project requires MDOT and Leelanau county road right of way permitting. We have not identified any private road right of ways. The installation fee is collected once construction starts. Payment is collected through the CCC user portal.
Step 5. Connect: CCC will design to allow groupings of 16 homes along each path. We start from our primary internet source and build to the farthest participant. By grouping households, we can begin offering service as we construct. During the process of connecting we obtain a standard utility easement from each household allowing CCC access for future repairs.
Sample utility easement for Leelanau township for review. When we receive your reservation forms we will send you a completed easement for signature and notarizing.
For further information contact sales at: sales@cccfiber.com
Miss Dig Note
CCC or their contractors will call Miss Dig per section of the project. A section may be up to one mile of construction route or may be a grouping of up to 16 homes. During this time you will see flags or paint along the route. Please do not remove these flags. These locators are critical when working underground. Colors identify the type of utility being located. We ask that if you know of private utility locations please tell our crews or call the office and we will come out and help mark these utilities. Some of the most common colors are:
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Red for electrical
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Orange for telecommunications (fiber)
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Yellow for gas
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White and Pink are proposed pathways.
Omena Project Status
As the project progresses, CCC will include updates here. So please check back often.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Seasonal plans: We offer Seasonal Discounts on our Fiber Optic Internet for customers that spend less than 6 months per year at the service address.
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We do require a different billing address on file for seasonal customers.
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We invoice once per year, not monthly.
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Services are not turned off.
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This allows you to leave a security system, cameras and environmental monitoring systems on year round.
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We do not monitor your services during the months that you are away (so a failure may not get repaired until Spring).
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We prefer that you call or email CCC before you leave for the season to inform us of your “Leave” and “Return” dates for our monitoring purposes.
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Do not require a connect or reconnect fee between seasonal visits.
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You choose the primary months of service (minimum of 6 months) and at what rate.
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The remaining months are billed at the lowest published monthly rate
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If you are in the $88 monthly rate then the lowest rate is $66 for calculating the season rate.
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Monthly plan verses Seasonal Plan pricing - the plans are based on speed not data usage. Per month charge list below assumes an annual seasonal pre-payment for subscriptions.
A great value for Fiber to the home with unlimited data and always available in support of Internet of Things
Monthly paid annual
Seasonal paid annual
Thoughts regarding the installation fee
The number 1 question, How much will this cost me? $5,000.
The number 2 question, When will the install be done? if we have the demand defined by Sept 15, 2021 construction shoulc be completed by end of summer 2022.
We will explore both questions. Done