[Hidden-tech] Wired West: ‘Fiber Towns’ to residents: Prove you want broadband

[Rich Roth]

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‘Fiber Towns’ to residents: Prove you want broadband*

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By DIANE BRONCACCIO Recorder Staff*

The WiredWest high-speed Internet collaborative has started signing up 
residents of 32 member towns for “Last-Mile” fiber-optic broadband.

This is the first step for “fiber towns” to become part of the 
collaborative’s fiber-optic network. If 40 percent of a fiber town’s 
households sign up, it shows there is enough interest and commitment 
tomake the build-out financially feasible.

WiredWest says the cost to build the network is estimated at $79 
million, and the state will contribute up to 40 percent through the 
Massachusetts Broadband Institute. The rest needs to come from the towns.

Services will start with 25 Mbps (megabits per second) service for $49 a 
month. Households get started with a $49 deposit that will eventuallybe 
used toward the first month of service fees once thenetwork is in place. 
If they move away, or if the fiber-optic network isn’t built in their 
town, the deposit is refundable.

After reaching the 40-percent goal, towns must get town-meeting approval 
to borrow the necessarymoney for the town’sshare of the broadband cost. 
This requires a two-thirds vote. The WiredWest “fiber towns” based in 
Franklin County include: Ashfield, Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, 
Leyden, New Salem, Rowe, Shutesbury, Warwick and Wendell.

As early as this summer,the Massachusetts Broadband Institute could 
begin the construction process in towns that qualify by having enough 
households signed up and borrowing approval in place, according to the 
WiredWest website.

You can register online, at:wiredwest.net <http://wiredwest.net/>On that 
site, you can also see how many more household sign-ups are needed 
before your town has reachedthe 40-percent goal.

As of Friday, for instance, there were 1,043 sign-ups in the 32 towns. 
Another graphic tells you how many more households are needed before 
your town has met the goal.

Those who can’t register online can do so by mail, by filling out a 
sign-up form and mailing it with the deposit to: WiredWest, Old 
Courthouse, 99 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060.



■Shutesbury, Warwick start campaigns to assess local support for 
broadband buildout,*See stories on**Page*C2* 
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