Date: 12/21/2022
WEST SPRINGFIELD – With the approval of a referendum vote last month, West Springfield is moving forward with plans to establish a town-owned fiber-optic cable network and municipal broadband internet service.
A pilot program to test the system, to run in partnership with Whip City Fiber from Westfield, will bring service to four neighborhoods: two north of Route 20 along Ohio Avenue, Beverly Hills, Wolcott Avenue and nearby streets; and two south of Route 20 adjoining Fire Station 2 and Tatham Elementary School.
Chief Technology Officer Stephanie Straitiff said the town is now asking people to sign up for the service. She added that even residents who do not live in the pilot areas, if they are interested, should sign up at www.whipcityfiber.com/west-side. A map of the pilot neighborhoods is available on that site.
Collecting signups now will help the town to gauge interest in the new service. Those who sign up will receive updates on when network construction begins and when installations are available.
“The goal is to wire the entire city,” Straitiff added.
Straitiff added that now that the town has voted to establish a municipal light plant – a public utility department – the next step will be to gain approval from both Verizon and Eversource to install the fiber optic lines on the utility poles owned by both companies.
She explained the two utility companies have to make sure the poles have enough room left for another line.
She could not say exactly at this point how much it will cost to subscribe to the new service, as that has not yet been finalized, but she said she believes it will be “comparable” with the services already available from Comcast, the town’s cable television provider.
“For residents, it’s going to be a choice. It’s nice to have choice,” she said.
Besides choice, the new service will also allow residents to have faster broadband service, Straitiff said.
Whip City Fiber’s West Springfield website is advertising “gigabit residential internet service” for $74.95 per month, with upload and download speeds of 1,000 megabits per second. It also says Whip City Fiber will offer unlimited local and long-distance telephone service for $19.95 per month, plus fees and taxes.
Whip City Fiber is a service of Westfield Gas & Electric, the city-owned power utility in Westfield. Whip City Fiber has installed and operated fiber-optic networks in Westfield and in several small towns in the Berkshire foothills.