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The good news is that for parts of Prince Edward and Cumberland counties, the lines have been laid. Work is continuing on the Kinex Telecom high-speed internet project, say company officials, with more residents getting added each week. 

Kinex President Jim Garrett said the company has built more than 650 miles of fiber optic in Prince Edward and Cumberland counties, as well as Lunenburg, as of the end of May.

“At this point we are adding 20-plus clients a week and have open fiber construction and installer positions being advertised continuously to double or triple that rate,” Garrett said.

The company remains on track to have its fiber optic installation complete by 2025, with some work to wrap things up spilling over into 2026 as part of its four-year, four-phase project.

He explained that the majority of Kinex’s new fiber optic users are residential customers.

Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corp. connected all of the schools and business parks years ago, Garrett said.

“So most of those tenants have been served by us or others for many years,” he said. “We have connected, or will connect, most all businesses that we pass with fiber. It is fast, economical and reliable.”

Kinex Telecom explains that fiber optic cables are used to transmit broadband that beats speeds of DSL and cable internet service.

“Fiber optic internet has faster upload and download speeds and is more reliable,” the Kinex FAQ web page explains at kinextel.net. “The strands of fiber are made of glass and transmit pulsing light. Older technologies like DSL and Cable use copper which can’t scale like fiber does.”

High-speed internet project adds workers

With the lines laid, in order to help more customers switch to fiber service, Garrett said his high-speed internet company has hired five new employees in the last six weeks.

Kinex is “working to hire more local people, so I expect people to see the pace increase,” he added.

Prince Edward and Cumberland residents wanting to know when fiber optic service will be available at their homes can check the Kinex website.

“We are trying to add timelines into the backend database so that people will know when to expect us on their roads or they can call the office,” Garrett explained.

The fiber optic installation is a completely underground project, Garrett explained in the past, which takes both more time and money than aerial installation.

He said overall this year’s weather has not affected their work on the project, noting it has not been more or less what they expected. Additionally, weather delays are built into their plans.

“We are getting positive feedback as more and more people join Kinex. Broadband opens doors for work, school, and entrepreneurial opportunities,” Garrett said. “I think it is an exciting time for our region and I am excited to see what some people manage to do using their imagination and their skills.”

The company website explains fiber makes internet and TV streaming faster.

“With more speed you can support multiple HDTV or Youtube streams without the dreaded ‘buffering,’” according to the website. “Fiber will also grow with your household needs as new technologies continue to push the boundaries of speeds across fiber networks. Gamers will love our low and consistent latency.”

The website FAQs explain that folks who have seen their crews burying fiber, dropping in large boxes (handholes) or putting in orange conduit (pipe), that’s the first step in providing the new internet. 

“If conduit has been put in, there’s still fiber that needs to be placed into the conduit,” the website explains. “Then crews will begin splicing the end-to-end sections of the fibers and any lateral roads that tie in along that section of build. Electronics may need to be deployed in remote locations to ‘light up’ the fibers.”

Testing strands 

Testing the optical strands follows this as a quality control measure, according to the website. After engineering approval, Kinex then splices in splitters to feed customers. 

“Once that is complete, we’ll call Miss Utility for your location and have any underground public utilities marked, which will require more splicing where your house fiber connects into the main ‘trunks,’” the site explains. “Finally we’ll call to schedule the inside fiber run along with electronics. This is all to say this is a large project with many moving parts that you might not always see happening.”

The Kinex page notes that a crew might be working miles up the road on things that will directly affect new high-speed internet users.

“It’s very hard to nail down a certain date as things are always in motion,” according to the website. “You can use our signup portal at signup.kinextel.net and put in your address. Once we are ready to officially start offering services the system will let you know.”

Customers also can call Kinex at 434-392-4804 to learn more about availability or to sign up for fiber internet service.