[Hidden-tech] Latest from Wired West

[Rich Roth]

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My Turn**. Greenfield Recorder, Jan 20, 2015, p A4

At a crucial turning point**, WiredWest’s effort for Internet access*

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By DAVID GREENBERG and OTHERS**
W*e’re sure that many of you have been following the efforts of the 
commonwealth, the Franklin Region Council of Governments and our 
legislators to convince private sector companies to significantly 
upgrade Internet service to the underserved towns of rural Franklin 
County. They’re not interested. Why? Too few customers to make a quick 
profit on the investment.

Our towns, along with 29 others who are members of the WiredWest 
cooperative, have stated their intention to seek voter authorization to 
borrow money to build our own high-speed fiber-optic network together. 
The purpose of this article is to explain why this is a pivotal moment 
in our collective histories.

Internet access is the public utility of the 21st century. It is 
critical infrastructure like telephone and electrical service, schools 
and roads. Can you live without the Internet? Sure, but not if you want 
to engage with the modern world.

Although our schools have fast Internet access, teachers are frustrated 
because their students do not have the same capability at home. A new 
method of teaching, known as the flipped classroom, requires students to 
watch videos at home and to do interactive activities in class, but this 
is unrealistic without fast broadband service in every home. Our 
students are at a distinct disadvantage when compared to students in 
urban environments.

Telemedicine technologies, which promise to make it easier for older 
citizens to stay in their homes longer, is an up and coming online 
technology that will not only bring down healthcare costs, but make life 
more comfortablefor the aging population that is the future ofmany 
Franklin County towns.

Even DSL cannot keep up with the demands of the growing Internet that is 
providing easy access to free, online education, banking services and 
shopping, video connections to anyone anywhere in the world, auto 
registration, tax preparation, books, pictures, music, maps … Need an 
old tractor manual? Online may be the only way you can get it.

The fiber optic network proposed for our towns comes at a price, but 
this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is no faster 
transmission technology than fiber. Once the fiber is in place, the 
connected equipment can be upgraded for decades to come.

The beauty of this particular network is that ourtowns will own it 
through WiredWest and we will decidehow we want to use it so that it 
best serves our needs.Much of the money you pay now to Verizon or 
Hugheswill stay in our communities, strengthening our localeconomy.

The commonwealth has agreed to contribute about40 percent of the cost of 
this project and will designand build the network. We will be asking our 
towns toauthorize borrowing money to finance the remainder.We will 
borrow money only as we need it. By the timesignificant loan payments 
are due, the network could begenerating enough revenue to offsetthose 
payments. The more subscrib­ers, the more money there will be tomake 
payments on the loans. Costsfor basic Internet service will be $49/month 
for a 25 MBPS connection thatis about 450 times faster than dial-upand 
10 times faster than DSL.It is a serious investment. Butwhat if we 
decide not to do it? Whathappens to our communities asyounger people 
leave town becauseof no jobs, and town centers contin­ue to atrophy? How 
will those of uswithout broadband sell our homes?Tax rates will go up, 
as there will befewer people to support the sameinfrastructure. The jobs 
that are partof the 21st-century economy will belost to us because we 
won’t have theinfrastructure to support them.Over the next several 
months, res­idents of WiredWest towns will be

asked to do two things:

∎Put down a $49 deposit so that we can accurately gauge the number of 
subscribers. This money will be credited to your first subscriber bill 
when the network goes online.

∎Vote for passage of the spending authorization article at town meeting. 
And convince your neighbors to do the same.

We will be holding information sessions to prepare for town meeting. If 
enough towns approve the spending authorization, construction could 
start as early as this summer. Borrowing money notwithstanding, we will 
still come out ahead because the cost of Internet and associated 
telephone service will go down more than taxes will go up. We hope you 
will agree with us that our future is at stake and that this is an 
opportunity too good to pass up.

David Greenberg, who is chairman of the Colrain Broadband Committee, 
took the lead in writing this column.
Others contributing to it were Sheila Hourihan of Leyden,
Al Canali of Heath,
David Dvore of Rowe and
Bob Handsaker of Charlemont.




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Copyright © 2015 Greenfield Recorder 01/20/2015

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