Rural Manchester-area residents hooked up to broadband!
Broadband infrastructure going in currently along Pleasant Lake Road.
by Sara Swanson
In September 2021, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted to become one of the first counties in the state to create a path for every household to access high-speed broadband internet. In June of 2022, the first household, a household in Lima Township, was connected to broadband as a result of that vote.
Going into this project, the Manchester area, especially Bridgewater, Freedom, and Sharon townships, were the most underserved parts of the county. Here at the start of 2024, rural residents in the Manchester area are starting to have access to broadband!
We reached out to DCS Technology Design’s Chris Scharrer, who has been involved in the effort to bring high-speed internet to all of Washtenaw from early in the process and is serving as project manager for the county. Scharrer explained that three providers are working in the Manchester area: Washtenaw Fiber Properties (WFP), Midwest Energy & Communications (MEC), and Mercury Broadband. Visit https://arcg.is/0aSSuv to see specifically which provider is responsible for where you live.
WFP is responsible for the smallest part of our area, the northeast corner of Freedom Township and households around Pleasant Lake. Most of the construction has been completed with only the most northeastern corner of the township and the properties on the north side of Pleasant Lake remaining.
MEC is responsible for the largest part of the Manchester area, including Manchester Township, Sharon Township, most of Freedom Township, and a small amount of Bridgewater Township. MEC is currently finishing up in Manchester Township. And for those households that haven’t been connected, installation will begin in the next few months. After Manchester Township, MEC is moving into Sharon Township. Construction is just beginning, and home installations can be expected to begin in spring. Construction is scheduled to start in Freedom Township (the parts not being provided for by WFP) in the fall with home installation expected to start in the beginning of 2025.
On MEC, Scharrer stated, “They have informed me this last week that they will have Manchester Township completed by the end of January but will still be behind in installations, which will run into the spring.” He added that at this point all Manchester and Sharon township residents should be able to sign up for MEC (if they haven’t already done so) at www.teammidwest.com. This will give them direct access to much more information regarding their exact location.
Mercury Broadband is the provider building fiber in most of Bridgewater Township. This is being done through a program administered by the FCC, not the county, so the county doesn’t have oversight. However, they do ask for updates. Scharrer stated that as of their last update, Mercury plans to start connecting residential customers in the next few months and that it appears that those first customers will be in the north-east part of Bridgewater, around Austin and Boettner Roads.
Scharrer encourages residents to work directly with providers, but if you do run into issues with MEC or WFP you can contact him at washtenawbroadband@outlook.com. The county continues to monitor Mercury’s progress but is more limited in what information they can provide.
Map showing where in Freedom Township WFP is acting as provider (light blue/green) and where MEC is acting as provider (yellow). From Washtenaw Gap Project Public View 2023 map.
MEC’s service map. Construction is complete in green areas, red areas are currently under construction, blue areas will start construction sometime in 2024, yellow areas will start construction sometime in 2025, and light blue/green areas will start construction sometime in 2026.
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