By Steve Nelson (reprinted from Berkshire Eagle, Broadband effort gets back on track, October 12, 2016 ) You will soon see work crews standing around utility poles, gazing upward. They'll not only be checking the cables on those poles, but looking as well toward the future of broadband in western Massachusetts. The long-awaited project to bring high-speed internet [...]
An anonymous admirer of WiredWest nominated us for the 2016 1Berkshire award for Growing/Advancing the Berkshire Economy. We made it to the finals. WiredWest didn't win, but we were one of 5 finalists. Steve Nelson attended the ceremony to receive the award on behalf on WiredWest. An unexpected recognition of our work.
(Comments below) We are happy to see that MBI is encouraging "Regional cooperation" in this new Last Mile Policy. They are leaving it entirely up to towns to work out details, however some of the policies are contrary to operating a regional network, specifically: Ownership and required utilization of the MB123 middle mile. [...]
As part of its revised Regional Operational Plan, WiredWest will arrange for all services, such as Network operations, Customer Service, Billing, Technical Support, Line Maintenance, etc. on behalf of member towns. Consolidating these services regionally reduces the burden for the towns and lowers costs to customers as described in WiredWest's comprehensive analysis on the benefits of regionalization. WiredWest has released a Request [...]