Since taking over Time Warner in 2014, Spectrum has consistently provided less for more. That double-edged practice requires attention from both legislators and the Five Town Advisory Committee.
"Without these stations, Berkshire County residents lose access to Massachusetts-specific information that matters to them, including Boston sports and news from their state capital, which is not reported on by an Albany station in New York." U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, in a letter to Charter-Spectrum
There was also considerable grumbling about Berkshire County being included in the Albany, New York, television market, resulting in very few stations from Springfield or Boston in the channel line-up and, therefore, a dearth of news coverage concerning Massachusetts.
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.
"I think Great Barrington needs to have a more robust business community than it currently does. Great Barrington needs to become that small town that, besides great food and culture, is also a very interesting place to set up your business and that's the missing piece."
-- Tim Newman, WiredWest spokesperson who would move his business to Great Barrington if affordable high-speed communications were available
James frequented the James A. Modolo Post #8348, enjoyed participating in the shoots at the Great Barrington Fish and Game, playing horseshoes, attending his children's sporting events as they grew up and was an avid Red Sox fan.
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.
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.
The newly formed Spectrum (previously Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications) will be encrypting its signals and all subscribers will soon be required to have converters in order to watch TV.
