Now, Herman is paying $80 a month to his own company for symmetrical gigabit service. Prime-One also offers 500Mbps for $75, 2Gbps for $95, and 5Gbps for $110. The first 30 days are free, and all plans have unlimited data and no contracts.
“We are 100 percent fiber optic,” Baciu told Ars. “Everything that we’re doing is all underground. We’re not doing aerial because we really want to protect the infrastructure and make sure we’re having a reliable connection.”
Each customer’s Optical Network Terminal (ONT) and other equipment is included in the service plan. Prime-One provides a modem and the ONT, plus a Wi-Fi router if the customer prefers not to use their own router. They don’t charge equipment or installation fees, Herman and Baciu said.
Prime-One began serving customers in January 2025, and Baciu said the network has been built to about 1,500 homes in Saline with about 75 miles of fiber installed. Prime-One intends to serve nearby towns as well, with the founders saying the plan is to serve 4,000 homes with the initial build and then expand further.
“This is our backyard”
Herman and Baciu’s main competition in their initial build area is Comcast and Frontier’s DSL service, they said. So far, they have built only to single-family homes, but they plan to serve multi-unit residential buildings, too.
“We started building in an area that’s a lot more rural,” where people have fewer options than in more densely populated areas, Herman said. “This is our home, this is our backyard, so we take this build very, very seriously.”
Baciu, who is 29, said that residents seem excited to have a new Internet option. “It’s so nice to see the excitement that they have. [People say], ‘Oh my gosh, I told everybody about Prime-One. My neighbor cannot wait for you guys to have them up, too. My boss is asking, my grandma’s asking.’ It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.
A bit more than 100 residents have bought service so far, they said. Herman said the company is looking to sign up about 30 percent of the homes in its network area to make a profit. “I feel fairly confident,” Herman said, noting the number of customers who signed up with the initial construction not even halfway finished.