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Date: 1/12/2021
BLANDFORD – Town Administrator Joshua Garcia said construction is continuing on the broadband network in town, and signups are going “great, better than what some of us hoped for.”
He said while the goal is for 100 percent of residents to sign up for service, the town needs 70 percent to cover maintenance costs, and they have reached 67 percent, according to the Municipal Light Board (MLB). “There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel,” Garcia said about the project which has been years in the making.
Whip City Fiber, a division of Westfield Gas & Electric, has been selected as the internet service provider for Blandford, and will offer 1 gigabyte of internet access with an option for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone service.
“It’s slowed down. It would be nice to see another burst of signups,” said Peter Langmore, MLB chair over the weekend. “I’d like to see the percentage go up. The bottom line is that the higher the percentage, the more money we will get from the state to cover the drops,” Langmore said, He said the state is going to subsidize the town for 70 percent of the drops, $500 for each one.
“Obviously the higher the percentage, The more people that sign up, the more Blandford will receive from the state,” Langmore said, adding that Blandford is covering 100 percent of the drops.
Langmore said the weather is cooperating for the construction of the network. “I don’t think they’ve lost a day because of the weather,” he said. The crews continue putting the strand up, and they’re almost completed in Fiber Service Area (FSA) 04, which is North St., Chester Rd., North Blandford Road and roads going off of them.
Two companies are involved in the construction. Sertex will come in and put the cable up, then put fiber on the cable and lash it, then come back and test it. Tri-Wire will then come in and connect the fiber from the pole to the house. Anybody who signed up will be connected free of charge for standard connection by Tri-Wire. Once the FSA is connected and tested, then it goes live, which is anticipated to occur in early spring for FSA04.
“When they finish with the stranding of 04, the next step is to put in the actual fiber to the strand. They can start that before they finish the strand. They’ll just continue putting in the strand in another FSA. It just progresses, and we have weekly progress meetings,” Langmore said.
Langmore said that Tri-Wire has contacted “a good number of people” in FSA04 who have underground connections to arrange a meeting to go to their properties and determine where the fiber will go underground. Then they will go out and dig the actual trench and put the conduit in, once the ground becomes unfrozen.
Langmore said If residents don’t have a computer, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a connection. Those are the people that should get a cold drop, according to Langmore.
“With remote learning and the plethora of Zoom meetings that people are having, it becomes much more important,” Langmore said, adding, “Even if someone doesn’t think they want or need to have the fiber connected to their home, they should certainly sign up for a cold drop, because in today’s real estate market, houses need to be internet ready.”
Residents may sign up at whipcityfiber.com/blandford. Anyone with questions may call Whip City Fiber at 485-1251 or Peter Langmore at 505-9086.