SHEFFIELD — Is the existing Internet service offered by a corporate cable company so terrible in Sheffield that the town should consider starting its own broadband utility?
That’s exactly what town officials are trying to determine as they field incessant complaints about the service offered by Spectrum, a division of the Connecticut-based Charter Communications. Telecom giant Verizon also offers DSL at a fraction of the speed that even Charter customers have with cable.
In order to gather data, the selectboard has partnered with a company, Sertex Broadband Solutions, to conduct a survey. Click here to take the survey, which includes answers to a list of frequently asked questions.
“I can’t tell you the number of people in public meetings, and privately, who have come up to me and said, ‘Boy, it would sure be nice to have fiber optic service here,'” Sheffield Selectboard member Martin Mitsoff said in an Edge interview. “So the selectboard made the decision. Let’s start the process. Let’s do the investigation and this survey is the first part of that.”
Other towns in Berkshire County have started their own municipal broadband utilities: Mount Washington, Alford, Becket and Otis, to name just three. One of the first to establish its own network was the Franklin County town of Leverett, which is in many ways considered the gold standard. Those towns, however, were not served by cable companies such as Charter or Comcast Xfinity. Sheffield is “served” by Charter, though not very well, according to many residents.
“You can use the term ‘served’ loosely,” Mitsoff said with a chuckle. “One of the recurring themes that has prompted the selectboard to undertake this survey is the myriad complaints that I have heard as a selectboard person over the last three years: ‘Gee, I hate Spectrum; the service is bad; you call them, make an appointment and no one shows up; it’s awful; my download speeds are bad; my ability to stream is bad.'”
“We’re kind of served, but not well served,” added Rene Wood, who chairs the selectboard. “We’re using this survey as an opportunity to gauge interest in potentially what it would cost to have Sheffield build its own fiber-to-home network.”
The survey includes an upstream and downstream speed test, rating the importance of internet service to your household, device connectivity in your household, what you use the internet for, your receptiveness to making fiber-optic broadband a public utility, and how much you would be willing to pay for the service if you currently have Spectrum and are willing to switch.
On paper, Charter appears to be competitive with other broadband providers. Using an unoccupied Main Street home as an address, this reporter found three options for stand-alone broadband service: 200 megabits, 400 megabits and 1 gigabit.
Charter notes that the advertised speeds are for hard-wired devices and that wi-fi speeds may vary. The introductory rates range from approximately $50–$90. All three plans rise by $25 after one year. But Mitsoff said Spectrum broadband customers in Sheffield tell him that the speeds, even on wifi, do not live up to the company’s promises.
Indeed, Main Street resident Robbie Cooper, who also sits on the Sheffield Planning Board, said in most portions of his home, he, his partner and their children are lucky to get 50 mb. Even when standing next to the router, the speeds do not come close to those that are advertised, though the company begs to differ.
“Spectrum Internet exceeded advertised download and upload speeds for all tiers measured — even during peak weeknight usage between 7 and 11 p.m. — according to the Federal Communications Commission’s most recent Measuring Broadband America Fixed Broadband Report issued in December 2021,” Heidi Vandenbrouck, Charter’s senior communications manager, told the Berkshire Eagle.
Cooper lives on South Main Street, in proximity to downtown and near power sources for the cable line, so his service rarely drops as it does in more remote parts of town. But consistent speed and reliability are lacking.
Mitsoff said town records indicate that Sheffield currently has a total of 1,859 housing units, with an unknown number of commercial establishments. The last time Mitsoff checked the response to the survey earlier this week, there were 146 responses, or less than 8 percent of those eligible to take the survey.
“That’s disappointing,” Cooper said. “I thought it would generate a lot of interest and clearly it has not.”
Mitsoff has been in contact with officials in Mount Washington, Otis and Alford. He described their experiences with their municipally owned broadband utilities as “incredibly positive.”
Right on cue, trade associations representing cable companies are warning towns of the perils of starting their own networks. Earlier this week, The Edge received — but did not publish — an op-ed submission from the New England Cable & Telecommunication Association (NECTA), warning of “the risks associated with municipal broadband” and the “burden of government-owned broadband networks.” Click here to read the op-ed submission by Tim Wilkerson, NECTA’s president.
The op-ed cites the handful of mishaps and failures of municipal broadband in Massachusetts but omits the many success stories such as those in Leverett, Otis, Mount Washington and Becket.
Most of Egremont and Monterey also have excellent broadband but the provider is Fiber Connect of the Berkshires, a private company that wired both towns because they were not even served by cable. Fiber Connect — and some of the aforementioned towns — did obtain partial funding from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute but Mitsoff said it’s unlikely Sheffield would be so fortunate because it is already “served” by cable.
Mitsoff, who is not running for reelection to the selectboard this year and who was nonetheless the driving force behind the survey, said he expects to close it out in the next couple of weeks. Once again, the survey can be found here.
