April Update

 

The Westford High-Speed Internet Research Committee has been meeting regularly since its inception in early January.   Our goal is to see affordable high-speed internet service widely available in Westford in the near future.   The game plan to accomplish this goal finds us in relatively uncharted waters where only a few other towns in Vermont have taken similar action to obtain service where nothing other than dialup or equipment-intensive satellite service was available.

 

The response to our survey was great…over 170 responses from some 700 residences/businesses in Westford!  Thank you!   The next step has been to draft a formal Request For Information document that describes Westford, our interest in high-speed internet service, our expectations, and our survey data (totals-by-road only.) The RFI’s will be mailed on or around April 5th to a number of service providers. 

 

We’ve already seen some significant interest from a few providers.  It’s probably worthwhile to note at this early date that unless a single provider rolls into town and simply “wires” the town (unlikely, at least from Verizon or Aldelphia,) viable solutions will range from individual solutions (such as satellite) to a combination solution (such as fiber/wire/radio from multiple, but integrated, providers.)

 

If you get a chance to look at the recently published “State Telecom Plan”, you’ll see that the published maps that show DSL and cable coverage have a clearly defined blank space called Westford…we’ve been completely bypassed by DSL and cable services that surround us on three sides right up to our borders.  Enticement for other good providers to come to Westford?  We hope so.  We’ll keep you posted. 

 

As we get further into the process, there may be opportunity for town-wide informational meetings with a targeted group of service providers.  

 

The Westford High-Speed Internet Research Committee

(meeting on most Monday evenings at the Town Office.)

 

Sherri McCormick                                               Stacey Bonk

Debra Johnson                                                    John Doty

Charles Cavenaugh                                            Ted Horton, westfordvt@earthlink.net              

Jon Fick, chairman