Residents in Harborcreek Township will soon have a new local way to connect to the internet.

VNET Fiber is the only locally owned fiber-optic network in Northwest Pennsylvania, and on Thursday, they announced phase three of their expansion: fiber-to-the-home. This phase brings their service to the residents of Harborcreek Township.

Reporter DeAnna Poole spoke with the CEO of VNET Fiber and he told her why he believes that his company will improve internet in Erie, “Spectrum unfortunately has a monopoly and as long as there is a monopoly, you will suffer. There will be inferior service, there will be, what we call in the industry, un-normal profits.”

He said that regardless of what network provider you use, VNET’s presence will increase the quality of service and lower prices by providing much-needed competition.

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Not only does VNET promise to improve internet performance, but they also promise to provide economic opportunities for the community.

Their Chief Operating Officer, Brad Wiretel, said that when you support VNET, you’re supporting local.

“It’s important that VNET Fiber is local because we support the local community. We sponsor local events, our children go to the schools here, we support the small to mid-size local businesses and making sure that we understand what the community needs versus companies from outside the region,” said Wiretel.

Being locally focused allows VNET to tailor their service to the Northwestern PA area.

Wiretel said that they also partner with local technical schools, participate in a scholarship program for students and work with the local community college on scouting employees.

Officials in Harborcreek are excited about this new expansion. The townships supervisor, Dean Pepicello, said that phase three is “definitely attractive to residents and businesses alike. Obviously the fiber and the high speed nature of it and how modern all of this is so all of it is a huge benefit to all of our residents and businesses.”

When this phase of the project is complete, more than 3,000 homes in Harborcreek will be connected to an internet source that will last into the future.

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