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Municipal Light Board provides update on Blandford broadband

Date: 11/12/2020

BLANDFORD – Peter Langmore, chair of the Municipal Light Board, hosted a virtual information session on Nov. 7 to provide an update to the Blandford community on the broadband project scheduled to begin construction at the end of November.

Langmore said approximately 50 residents joined the meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place in Town Hall, but went remote due to increasing COVID numbers in the town.

At the meeting, Whip City Fiber Marketing Associate Laura Dorman and Key Accounts Sales Manager Caitrin Ferriter gave an overview of where the project is in the process and answered questions from residents. 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.

Applications for service are now available on the Westfield Blandford website at whipcityfiber.com/blandford. Langmore said the residents who sign up during the construction phase will have fiber extended to their homes for free.

“It doesn’t cost anything to sign up, but it’s important that people do sign up. There is no obligation,” Langmore said, adding that residents may sign up now. He said if people don’t want the internet, they should still sign up, because it puts value on their homes for the future to have the fiber connection available.

Langmore said since the site went live, 266 residences have put in applications for fiber, representing 45 percent of the premises in town. Twelve people signed up during the broadcast.

"I’m very encouraged by the number of people that have signed up in the four-week period since we announced it, and I think that will continue as people talk to their neighbors and their families,” Langmore said.

In order to get the state to reimburse the town, however, more residents need to sign up. Langmore explained that the state will give the town $500 per premise up to 70 percent; but Blandford won’t get any money until at least 70 percent of the premises have signed up. Langmore said the goal is 100 percent.

The cost of the internet service will be $85 a month with no additional fees, apart from a one-time activation fee of $99 charged by the town.

The VOIP telephone service is $14.99 per month plus taxes and fees. Dorman said the service is similar to what residents have now, and they may keep their own numbers. She said it’s best to take advantage of it on the day of the install to save $100 on installation at a later date, or $20 plus a self-install kit.

Asked about the timelines, Dorman and Ferriter explained that the town has been divided into five Fiber Service Areas (FSA).  Construction on the first FSA is expected to begin on Nov. 30.

Two companies will be involved in the construction. Sertex will come in and put the cable up, then put fiber on the cable and lash it.  They will 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, as soon as the end of March for the first FSA.

The second FSA will begin the process on Feb. 8, 2021.  Langmore said if all goes according to plan the five FSAs will go live from the end of March through September, with a month or two in between each.  Dorman said that the companies are coming in very close to schedule in the other hilltowns they are working with.

Langmore said the Whip City Fiber presentation will be available on YouTube with a link to the town’s website at www.townofblandford.com.