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After some of the discussion last night, I've been endeavoring to
learn from whatever is available about other rural broadband
solutions and came across this article on<b><i> </i><i>Stop the
Cap!</i><i> <a href="http://stopthecap.com/">http://stopthecap.com/</a><br>
</i></b>It brings into perspective the attempt at using a
fiber/wireless solution, and the actual financial pitfalls of the
hybrid model within our regional service area (Hawley). The rest of
the site has some useful and intriguing articles, as well, and is
well worth reviewing.<br>
<br>
Also, I wanted to point out that as I recall (and I will "dig" into
it), dedicated wireless is not permitted on cell towers, according
to Wendell By-Law, and possibly restricted, in general, per this
town document, but I will pull it up for confirmation.<br>
<br>
Al MacIntire<b><i><br>
<br>
</i></b>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><i><b>"There is strong evidence voters
across western Massachusetts are not looking for a government
handout and have more than stepped up to pay their fair share to
guarantee their digital future, but some challenges can be
insurmountable without the kind of help the FCC already gives to
private phone companies that spend the money on delivering
dismally slow DSL service. Western Massachusetts has
demonstrated it can get a bigger bang for the buck with fiber to
the home service — a far better use of <big><big>
</big></big></b></i><small><b><big><big>Connect America Funds</big></big></b></small><i><b>
than spending millions to bring 3Mbps DSL to the rural masses."</b><br>
</i><br>
<big><big><a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/providers/wiredwest/"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://stopthecap.com/category/providers/wiredwest/">http://stopthecap.com/category/providers/wiredwest/</a></a></big></big><br>
<div class="article-header">
<h1><a
href="http://stopthecap.com/2015/06/03/broadband-excitement-continues-in-western-mass-big-support-for-wiredwest/"
rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Broadband Excitement
Continues in Western Mass.; Big Support for WiredWest">Broadband
Excitement Continues in Western Mass.; Big Support for
WiredWest</a></h1>
<div class="meta"> <span class="author">Phillip Dampier</span> <span
class="time">June 3, 2015</span> <span class="categories"><a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/broadband-speed/"
rel="category tag">Broadband Speed</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/municipal-networks/"
rel="category tag">Community Networks</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/consumer-news/"
rel="category tag">Consumer News</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/editorial-site-news/"
rel="category tag">Editorial & Site News</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/government-legislation/"
rel="category tag">Public Policy & Gov't</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/rural-broadband/"
rel="category tag">Rural Broadband</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/providers/wiredwest/"
rel="category tag">WiredWest</a>, <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/category/issues/wireless-broadband/"
rel="category tag">Wireless Broadband</a></span> <span
class="discuss"><a
href="http://stopthecap.com/2015/06/03/broadband-excitement-continues-in-western-mass-big-support-for-wiredwest/#respond">No
Comments</a></span> </div>
</div>
<div id="attachment_39986" style="width: 413px" class="wp-caption
alignright"><img class="wp-image-39986"
src="cid:part13.06010202.03020009@gmail.com" alt="fiber
wiredwest" height="209" width="403">
<p class="wp-caption-text">WiredWest is a public co-op seeking to
deliver fiber to the home broadband across western
Massachusetts.</p>
</div>
<p>Despite the dreary drizzle, fog, and unseasonably cold weather
that has plagued the northeast since last weekend, 191 residents
of New Salem, Mass. crowded into a basement for the town’s annual
meeting Monday night, largely with one issue in mind: better
broadband.</p>
<p>A reporter from <em>The Recorder</em> <a
href="http://www.recorder.com/home/17133801-95/new-salem-voters-turn-out-to-ok-borrowing-15m-for-broadband"
target="_blank">noted</a> Moderator Calvin Layton was surprised
by the overwhelming vote for fiber broadband — 189 for and only
one apparently against.</p>
<p>The town clerk for New Salem typically counts around 60 heads at
such meetings, but this night was different because the community
was voting to spend $1.5 million to bring broadband to a town
completely ignored by Comcast and Verizon. That fact has hurt area
property values and has challenged residents and business owners
alike. The town is fed up with inaction by the state’s dominant
phone and cable company, which has done nothing to expand access
in western Massachusetts.</p>
<p>“Our goal is to make this broadband available to every house, not
just the places that are easy to wire,” said MaryEllen Kennedy,
the chair of the town’s Broadband Committee.</p>
<p>New Salem isn’t alone.</p>
<p>Monterey passed its own bond authorization with a vote of 130 to
19, becoming the 10th consecutive town to vote in favor of
bringing 21st century broadband to the region. The community of
Beckett followed a day later.</p>
<div id="attachment_31154" style="width: 202px" class="wp-caption
alignleft"><img class="size-full wp-image-31154"
src="cid:part15.05020304.02030306@gmail.com" alt="Phillip
"There are no broadband magic ponies" Dampier"
height="226" width="192">
<p class="wp-caption-text">Phillip “There are no broadband magic
ponies” Dampier</p>
</div>
<p>Residents in 16 of the 17 towns asked so far to authorize the
borrowing necessary to cover their community’s share of the fiber
to the home project <a
href="http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_28225436/wiredwest-advocates-energized-by-town-votes"
target="_blank">have usually done so in overwhelming majorities</a>.
But it has not been all good news. The town of Montgomery in
Hampden County voted down paying its share by just two votes.
Supporters claim low voter turnout may have done the project in,
at least for the time being. A call for a new vote is underway.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most contentious debate over WiredWest continues in
the small community of Hawley, where <a
href="http://www.recorder.com/news/townbytown/hawley/16526714-95/letter-not-the-only-option"
target="_blank">one activist has organized opposition for the
project</a> based on its cost to the community of 347. Hawley is
in the difficult position of being a small community spread out
across a lot of hills and hollows. The cost for Hawley to
participate in the fiber to the home project would be around $1
million, a figure many residents decided was out of their price
range. Participation in WiredWest was shot down in a recent vote
and the repercussions continue to this day in the opinion pages of
<em>The Recorder</em> as residents <a
href="http://www.recorder.com/home/17048179-95/letter-divided-hawley"
target="_blank">fire back and forth at each other</a>, sometimes
with strident personal comments.</p>
<p>While easy to vote down participation in WiredWest, finding an
alternative for Hawley has proved difficult.</p>
<p>Kirby “Lark” Thwing, a member of both the town finance and
communications committees, is <a
href="http://www.recorder.com/home/16989622-95/hawley-is-cheaper-broadband-possible"
target="_blank">trying to find the cheaper broadband solution</a>
advocated by Hussain Hamdan, who has led the charge against
WiredWest’s fiber to the home service in Hawley.</p>
<p>Thwing has run headfirst into what <em>Stop the Cap!</em> <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/2015/05/07/western-mass-voters-stampede-for-fiber-optic-broadband-in-communities-big-telecom-ignored/">feared
he would find</a> — the rosy budget-minded alternatives
suggested as tantalizingly within reach simply are not and come at
a higher price tag than one might think.</p>
<div id="attachment_39987" style="width: 286px" class="wp-caption
alignright"><img class=" wp-image-39987"
src="cid:part21.01050102.01050103@gmail.com" alt="Installing a
Wi-Fi tower to bring wireless Internet access to a resort park."
height="491" width="276">
<p class="wp-caption-text">Installing a Wi-Fi tower to bring
wireless Internet access to a resort park.</p>
</div>
<p>Thwing is looking at a hybrid fiber/wireless solution involving a
fiber trunk line run down two well-populated roads that could
support fiber service for about half the homes in Hawley and lead
to at least two large wireless towers that would reach most of the
rest of town. He’s also hoping Hawley would still qualify to
receive its $520,000 share of broadband grant money from the
Massachusetts Broadband Institute to help cover the alternative
project’s costs.</p>
<p>If Hawley can use that money, Thwing predicts it will cover much
of the construction cost of the fiber trunk line. After that, each
homeowner would be expected to pay to bring fiber from the trunk
line to their home, definitely not a do-it-yourself project that
will cost at least several hundred dollars, not counting the cost
of any inside wiring and a network interface device attached to
each participating home. Residents should also expect to spend
another $100 on indoor electronics including a receiver and
optional router to connect broadband to their home computer and
other devices.</p>
<p>But the expenses don’t stop there.</p>
<p>Thwing also has to consider the cost of the wireless towers and
provisioning a wireless service to Hawley residents not
immediately adjacent to the fiber trunk line. He will be asking
residents if they are willing to pay an extra $25-50 a month
($300-600 a year) to pay down the debt service on the town’s two
proposed wireless towers. It isn’t known if that fee would include
the price of the Internet service or just the infrastructure
itself.</p>
<p>As Thwing himself recognizes, if the total cost for the
alternative approaches the $1 million the town already rejected
spending on fiber to the home service for everyone, it leaves
Hawley no better off.</p>
<p>As <em>Stop the Cap!</em> <a
href="http://stopthecap.com/2015/05/07/western-mass-voters-stampede-for-fiber-optic-broadband-in-communities-big-telecom-ignored/">reported
last month</a>, we believe Hawley will soon discover the costs
of the alternatives Mr. Hamdan has suggested are greater than he
suspects and do not include the cost of service, billing and
support. Fiber to the home remains the best solution for Hawley
and the rest of a region broadband forgot. Other towns that want
to believe a cheaper alternative is out there waiting to be
discovered should realize if such a solution did exist, private
companies would have already jumped in to offer the service. They
haven’t.</p>
<p>At the same time, we cannot ignore there are small communities in
western Massachusetts that will find it a real burden to pay the
infrastructure costs of a fiber network when there are fewer
residents across wide distances to share the costs.</p>
<p>That is why it is critical for the Federal Communications
Commission to expand rural broadband funding opportunities to
subsidize the cost of constructing rural broadband services in
communities like Hawley.</p>
<p>At the very least, state officials should consider
creative solutions that either spread the cost of network
construction out over a longer term or further subsidizing
difficult to reach areas.</p>
<p>There is strong evidence voters across western Massachusetts are
not looking for a government handout and have more than stepped up
to pay their fair share to guarantee their digital future, but
some challenges can be insurmountable without the kind of help the
FCC already gives to private phone companies that spend the money
on delivering dismally slow DSL service. Western Massachusetts has
demonstrated it can get a bigger bang for the buck with fiber to
the home service — a far better use of Connect America Funds than
spending millions to bring 3Mbps DSL to the rural masses.</p>
<br>
<br>
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