A common question that often arises -- especially among Select Board members or residents who follow the news about broadband -- is "what about that $40 million from the state for broadband?" In late 2008 the state passed a $40 million bond bill establishing the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. The purpose of the institute shall be [...]
Making WiredWest into Reality: The WiredWest group is hard at work conducting research, planning, and working closely with legislators, and State and local agencies to leverage our collective resources and make this network a reality. The first order of business is creating a formal inter-municipal organization that governs the network, made up of participating towns. [...]
Many of us in rural western Massachusetts have no access to broadband at all. Here we are in one of the most technologically advanced, economically diverse, and highly educated states in the country while a third of the state (those of us here in the west) is still stuck with dial-up. How can this be? [...]
As of March 25, already thirty towns have agreed to place the WiredWest article on their annual town meeting warrants. This is amazing progress in a region as diverse and large as western Massachusetts and it speaks to the strong interest in broadband access throughout our community. Thanks to those of you who are helping [...]
Twenty-seven towns have now placed the WiredWest article on their town warrant for annual town meeting. Another 15 are in the process of doing so. You can find out the status of the warrant article in your town, track the developments throughout the region, and find out how you can help by viewing our map [...]
Please read our response to Google's recent RFI for an open-access Fiber network.