MiWave began building its fiber Internet network in Harney County Community News December 15, 2021December 14, 20210 Submitted photos MiWave is building a fiberoptic network to bring affordable, Gigabit-speed Internet to Harney County. Installation will occur in phases, starting in northwest and downtown Burns and quickly expanding to the east and south into Hines. After months of delays during permitting and due to material shortages, MiWave started building its Gigabit fiber network in Burns. As previously reported, the Burns-based business forged a partnership with Harney County to bring high-speed fiber to area residents. The new fiberoptic network will offer 100 Megabit and 1 Gigabit Internet service starting in northwest and downtown Burns in early 2022. Services will then quickly expand to the east and south to Hines. MiWave began offering wireless Internet in 2016, building out a network of transmitters around the area to serve Harney County residents. In 2018, the company purchased the wireless network from Harney Educational Service District (ESD) and invested heavily to revitalize the network to offer faster speeds to customers outside the Burns-Hines city limits. In 2020, MiWave was awarded a grant to install broadband wireless links to several remote Harney County schools, which were previously unable to offer streaming services for students. While expanding its wireless network, MiWave started working behind the scenes to build out a fiber network to meet the demand of local residents for Gigabit speed connections. Construction started in September of this year, and MiWave expects to launch fiber services to Burns in 2022. “We’re finally under construction!” Jeff Graham, co-owner of MiWave, said. “We’ve been working for so long to get this network installed that it is great to see the trucks out there installing the infrastructure to serve the cities with fiber.” MiWave plans to offer service at 100 Megabit and 1 Gigabit levels initially, giving customers access to speeds previously unavailable for less than $200 per month. “Just a year or two ago, you would have to pay upwards of $1,000 per month for Gigabit access,” MiWave Co-Owner Justin Chase said. “MiWave is going to provide that for $80 or $120 per month. In addition, our customers don’t pay a bunch of taxes and fees on top of their service, we don’t bait-and-switch with teaser pricing, and we don’t throttle customers to limit their use. We are the only Burns-based business offering Internet service in town, and we are so excited to bring fiber to Burns and Hines residents.” Currently, MiWave is installing support infrastructure. Within days, the team will install fiber in northwest Burns. To view the fiber network map and pre-register for fiber Internet service, visit http://www.miwaveinternet.com/fiber-internet.html. MiWave will install service to residents based on reservation order in each completed phase.