Elimination of 200 Ft Metronet Driveway Service Limit

All rural internet service providers have a distance limit in which they consider a location serviceable based on the distance from their infrastructure at the road to the home or building on the parcel.  It's suprising to many, but the cost for fiber construction as an example, in rural areas can easily exceed $20,000.00 per rural build mile so someone for example with a long 1/4 mile driveway is an expensive build to connect.

Carver County's primary fiber partner in the County's CarverLink Fiber network is Metronet.  And Metronet has a 200 ft construction limit from the road to the house/or structure for a location to be considered serviceable.  This limit has previously excluded a number of rural locations within Carver County.

In the County's efforts to help bring high speed broadband to everyone in Carver County negotiated with Metronet to eliminate this "200 Ft Driveway Limit", which we were successful in doing.

To promote the removal of this limit and inform all those affected by its elimination, in late February 2023 the County did direct mailings to 343 residents informing them of their new availability to connect to Metronet fiber services.  A copy of the letter sent is shown below.