Hermiston residents have a chance to bring ultra-fast fiber optic internet to their neighborhood, but they have to make their voices heard.

Eastern Oregon Telecom has identified 10 possible zones in the city to expand its fiber-optic network to more homes and businesses, but the company wants to invest where people are most interested in connecting to the network. As a result EOT has set up an online voting system and will build the zones where enough residents and business owners express interest in connecting to the network.

Interested residents can enter their address at join.eotfiber.com to see if they live in one of the 10 zones. If they do, they can pay $4.99 to fill out a survey adding their names to the list of backers for expanding the project into their neighborhood.

“The amount of work and expense to bring fiber optic Gigabit service to a neighborhood is huge,” according to the survey. “Simply put, the more backers in your zone, the more likely we are to bring fiber to your door.”

EOT brought fiber optic internet to Hermiston a year ago, and so far 475 homes and businesses have been hooked up to the network.

“Response to EOT’s Velocity Internet has been great,” EOT General Manager Joe Franell said in a statement. “We are excited to offer more homes and businesses in Hermiston the opportunity to get ultra high-speed Internet with excellent customer service at competitive rates.”

Franell said fiber-optic networks help make communities and homes attractive just as good water, power, transportation and schools do. One study shows a connection to internet speeds of 1,000 megabits per second increases a home’s value by more than $4,000.

— JADE McDOWELL