Cumberland County commissioners recently backed an effort by Comcast to seek state funding to improve broadband coverage in the central and western parts of the county.
New internet service provider seeks to add alternative in Lebanon, York Hal Conte, Lebanon Daily News
Providing internet service during the new coronavirus pandemic
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NetKey Communications is set to bring a local alternative to major internet providers in the area, with services beginning in April in York and in September in Lebanon.
“NetKey is an idea I’ve had a long time,” said Gary Schaeffer, a partner at the company. It’s much-needed. I kept seeing the digital divide even before the pandemic. After the pandemic, this became magnified.”
The digital divide can refer to the gap between those who have access to and the ability to afford internet and those who don t. President Joe Biden made bridging it one of his campaign promises.
The company will offer internet, voice-over-internet protocol, and AT&T TV in business and residential plans and will be installing a fiber optic internet backbone that will be distributed via the company s wireless network. The company will use a location at 701 Hay St. in York and the Paper Box Factory at 1131 Cumberland St. in Lebanon, owned by Bryan Donovan, a partner at the company.
Schaeffer said the company’s prices on internet access will be “not all that different” from Comcast’s, and said that they would include options Comcast does not. The higher-level packages might be more expensive than Comcast’s, but would be comparable after Comcast’s sign-on offering disappears.
New internet service company to offer alternative in Lebanon, York ydr.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ydr.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Comcast sets sights on central Pa.: 5 new Xfinity stores planned for the region
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
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Last year, Comcast ended an era in the midstate. It closed its last service center location.
Comcast’s former service centers were for customers to pay bills and return items. They were typically attached to the company’s technical support centers. Many were located on back streets or in business parks, and options beyond paying a bill or returning a device were limited.
But then in December 2014, Comcast opened its first Xfinity Store in the midstate in Springettsbury Township, York County. A month later it opened a store in the Lancaster area. Three months later there was another store that opened in Spring Township, Berks County. In January 2017, Xfinity opened a store at the Colonial Commons shopping center on Jonestown Road in Lower Paxton Township. In March 2019, Comcast opened a store in Chambersburg, Franklin County.