The multi-stage project aims to be completed this year and will deliver internet connectivity to at least 96 percent of the premises across the four towns, with at least 75 percent of the premises receiving broadband service at speeds that will meet or exceed the federal broadband standard.
MBI will utilize Worthington’s original Last Mile allocation of $1,070,000, with the remaining funds coming from additional investments from both the Commonwealth and the town, utilizing an agreement that will allow the town to contribute year over year without having to use municipal bonds.
"No corporation enters into a sophisticated agreement with the Commonwealth and doesn't do due diligence on make-ready ... They want more money? At what point could that happen again?" -- Attorney Bill Solomon
Monterey has been notified of the receipt of a grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute as part of the Last Mile broadband initiative to help communities and companies wire towns, but the town cannot access the funds because they were contingent on Charter-Spectrum being the provider.
"This is going to be a radical change for all us. Everybody’s talking about it."
-- Mount Washington resident Eleanor Tillinghast
"People may have ruled Mount Washington out before. But we just catapulted ahead of other towns in terms of amenities."
-- Brian Tobin, chair of the Selectboard
Neal added, however, that even though great gains have been made in the field of renewable energy, "plentiful natural gas" should remain an option, in part because it "does less harm" to the environment.
With download speeds typically maxing out at 60 megabits per second, the Internet service offered by Spectrum is barely satisfactory for consumers and some business owners but not up to the task for those who make heavy use of the Internet to transfer large files, an increasing necessity as businesses rely more and more on digital communication.
As part of its Last Mile initiative, MBI will provide Charter with a grant of more than $4.4 million to defray the costs of wiring the rural towns of Egremont, Tyringham, Hancock and Peru. State Rep. Pignatelli also noted that Egremont and perhaps Monterey will have a 1 Gbps connection through Fiber Connect, 12 times faster than what Charter offers in Great Barrington.
Auditor Suzanne M. Bump Monday released an audit of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative that assessed the controls and planning at its Massachusetts Broadband Institute.
Charlie Flynn, who chairs both the town Technology Committee and the Board of Selectmen, said the committee is meeting on Thursday (April 6) at 5 p.m. in Town Hall and the selectmen are slated to decide on a plan on Monday, April 10, at their regular meeting.
After decades of living in the slow lane of dial-up, DSL and rickety satellite connections, Egremont now has more than one company vying for the right to slake the town's thirst for the modern age.
The highest speeds provided by cable do not provide what a fiber optic network can. And increasingly, businesses require speeds and capacity possible only with fiber.
While the broadband ball is now rolling, resident Jean Atwater-Williams said she wants to make sure everyone knows where that ball is headed and, in an article in the Sandisfield Times, called for a revote on the new route the town is pursuing.
During the workshop, WiredWest will present, for the first time, a regional solution for operation of a broadband fiber-to-the-home network in any unserved towns in western Massachusetts that choose to join.
The MBI will allocate $288,775 in grant funding to Alford and $1,145,975 to Otis. The two municipalities will pursue their Last Mile projects independently, and each town’s fiber network will pass every residence and business located on a public right of way.
Many towns in southern Berkshire County will offer early voting options in advance of the election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. All registered voters are eligible to vote early.
