On March 22nd 2012 I took part in an in-depth conference call, hosted by Judy Dumont (director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, a.k.a. MBI). The topics discussed in the meeting included Closing the Digital Divide, Network Infrastructure, End Use Network Connection, Broadband Availability and Adoption, as well as Milestones.

In less than 468 days, MBI’s project must be 100% completed, a fully operational backbone ready for last-mile providers. Some important milestones have already been reached in 2012…

In January, 3.5 million feet of fiber was delivered, CAI “inside plant” construction and Fiber/Strand installation started in some towns, and Conduit installation began as well.

In February, 7.25 miles of fiber was installed.

In March, the first Commercial Customer was established with Crocker Communications, providing transport back to Boston.

In April, the I-91 network should become operational for the first I-91 customer (not stated).

As of March 15th, 100% of the poles have been surveyed, 54% of the poles were estimated, 5% of the poles were licensed, and only 1% of the miles of fiber had been rolled out (7.25 miles).

As of March 19th, 90% of the Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) had been visited, 20% had been approved, and 5% had been built ready. About 1000 unique locations need to be visited for over 1300 CAIs, so there’s lots of work to do.

Ray Purrington, a Selectboard member for Gill reported “your guys did a great job!” after the MBI’s team installed equipment at their town hall, their primary CAI. He was very impressed with their care and attention to the clean up. He said it was very refreshing given the “typical” contractors that had previously worked for the town.

As far as Points Of Interconnection are concerned; there are a total of 23 POIs and all have been visited, 7 of these sites have been engineered and submitted, 6 were approved. No sites are under construction yet, but MBI is close to the execution of agreements.

The MassBroadband 123 Phasing Plan was discussed, and Alford is in the Build Phase 2 of the plan.

About Construction Status, construction is ongoing in two locations, 7.28 miles, in Richmond the overlash is complete and in Sandisfield over 3 miles have installed.

Eight towns have been released to construction, including Agawam, Granville, Alford, Monterey, Conway, Southwick, Egremont and Tolland.

As of March 19th, Make-Ready work started in 36 towns; Amherst, Greenfield, Petersham, Ashfield, Hadley, Phillipston, Barre, Hatfield, Sheffield, Belchertown, Leverett, Shelburne, Brimfield, New Braintree, Stockbridge, Brookfield, New Marlborough, Sturbridge, Buckland, New Salem, Sunderland, Charlemont, Orange, Warwick, Deerfield, Otis, Wendell, East Brookfield, Palmer, Great Barrington, Petersham, West Brookfield, West Stockbridge, Westminster, Wilbraham, Williamsburg.

Also as of March 19th, 19 CAIs had been installed; Agawam, Ludlow, Bernardston, New Marlborough, Deerfield, Northampton, Egremont, Northfield, Granville, Pittsfield, Greenfield, Sheffield, Hadley, West Stockbridge, Hatfield, Whately, Lenox, Wilbraham, Leverett. Note that CAI installation needs to happen well in advance of the network being operational.

Market outreach continues to bring positive results. As of March 22nd, there were 20 signed up service providers to perform retail services across the network. Axia continues to consider various strategic commercial extensions including other networks, industrial parks and office towers. Current dark fiber interest includes HG&E, CenturyLink and UMASS. Axia is considering expanding its “extension approach” to facilitate community FTTP where there is committed support and funding at the community level, including early interest with Mt.Washington and Leverett. New England’s Middle-Mile interconnection strategy continues.

What’s to come the rest of this year? CAI informational meetings, Make-Ready work, fiber backbone installations, CAI installations. Phase completion targets should be developed by June 2012, and the first areas could be operational by the end of year. More information is available at Axia’s project website.

Service Providers as of March 19th include; Access Plus Communications, ayacht, blue front Telecom Group, CELT, Community WISP, CornerStone, Crocker Communications, DSCI, EarthLink, FTG Technologies, Holyoke Gas and Electric, new horizen Communications, Streamline Networks, thinking phone networks, Warwick Broadband Service, WiredWest, WiSpring, and more to come.

End Use Network Connection (a.k.a. Last Mile) Solicitations include 8 awards totaling $335,000, 3 of them are for planning and 5 for deployment. The planning grants impact 49 communities, and deployment grants provide new service availability to 1,000 homes. The MBI will be energizing providers and seeding the market as their teams develop best practices or blueprints.

Awarded Last Mile Grants for planning included WiredWest, Royalston and Leverett, for advancing their last mile network designs and plans.

Deployment grants were givent to Warwick (purchased and testing new WiMax gear), WiSpring (completed tower permit application), AccessPlus (deployed in Savoy, planning for Berkshire East), Princeton (installation completed), and GAW (working to secure tower sites).

The Last Mile Toolkit involves assembling planning information as it gets finalized into Last Mile Toolkit. Google Earth shows the MassBroadband 123 route, which is available on MBI’s website, showing locations of Points of Interconnection. Future release will include the finalized list of CAIs, data from on-going last mile analysis, and WMC assets and barriers analysis.

The MBI has received federal funding to assist small business to develop technology plans. The final stages of selecting 4 CDCs will soon be complete, and each CDC will issue an RFP to help 10 small businesses.

The MBI is building a Veterans’ Portal, they received federal funding to build an e-government website, partnering with the Department of Veterans’ Services to build the portal. This portal will make it easier for veterans of all ages and abilities to access benefits and programs, and the site is expected to go live in April 2012.

WiredWest wants to bring high speed internet to everyone in the Berkshires, here’s an easy way to help…

During the month of March, a market research company will be calling randomly selected residents of WiredWest towns to determine demand for internet services and other telecom services. This is a necessary component of preparing our business plan.

If you are called, please agree to participate in the survey.

Alford’s Broadband Progress

The broadband initiatives physically came to a halt in 2011. Earlier in the year we had some news from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute that they had finished their pole surveys for the fiber runs. Governor Patrick lead the broadband groundbreaking ceremony last summer. However, there was not much physical activity in our town indicating any real fiber expansion through the last quarter of 2011, despite the continual churning of broadband politics, funding and planning behind the scenes, as well as the regular MBI and WiredWest meetings.

Why A Survey?

The MBI announced in January that they would be sending me maps of our town to confirm existing wired service coverage (in our case, only DSL), which prompted me to start a fresh Broadband Survey for 2012.

Here are the results from the broadband survey (in Adobe Reader PDF format):
Alford Broadband Survey Data 2012

This new data represents our current needs and desires in Alford, which will help our town to strike better deals with service providers in the coming months. I greatly appreciate your participation in this survey!

Trucks Running Fiber, Or Feeder?

In February 2012 some of us witnessed cable trucks in Alford (which were sub-contracted by the MBI). This was very exciting for us broadband folk! Initially we thought it was the actual fiber run, but soon afterward we discovered that it was the feeder cable. Despite that, it was still exciting to see physical results on the poles in our town after all of the time that I had invested in staying on top of our town’s broadband status!

Call To Arms

In fact, February also sprouted renewed interest amongst our former Alford Broadband Committee members, which could not have come at a better time! If you’ve been tracking broadband progress, you’ve seen that there is little to do for months at a time, and suddenly there is an explosion of broadband activity that happens in an instant… it is at these times when managing broadband politics is extremely difficult for one person to handle. I greatly appreciate the support of our Selectmen, as well as the renewed interest of our broadband committee members!

There are a number of important broadband issues that need to be addressed prior to our Annual Town Meeting on the 2nd Tuesday in May. And over the next couple of years, our committee will probably have private and public meetings to hammer out our broadband issues. I will announce any public broadband meetings on the town’s web site. It will be most helpful if you attend public broadband meetings, bringing with you your questions and concerns about our broadband initiatives. Again, I thank you all for your participation in bringing our town of Alford’s communications into the 21st century!

Sincerely,

Arthur Dellea, Alford Broadband Representative

On Thursday, January 12th, I attended an MBI conference call, and the briefing was about mapping verification. Each of the unserved and underserved towns have to verify internet coverage maps for the various services that are already available within their borders. Data that I collect from the Alford Broadband Survey (which should arrive in your postal mail soon) will help me to accurately update these maps when I receive them.

The MBI’s Community Representative Briefing was hosted by Cynthia Gaines (GIS Project Manager) and Christine Hatch (Outreach Manager). The meeting covered the State Broadband Initiative (SBI) Program, the State & National Broadband Maps and Data, the Data Verification Project, and the Role of Municipalities in Verification.

The State Broadband Initiative (SBI) is a federal grant program with participation by all 56 states and territories. The MBI was awarded $6.1 as our designated state mapping entity. Accurate information is critical for broadband planning, and the current information doesn’t accurately portray our needs in Western MA. The SBI Programs include:

• Broadband Data Collection, which consists of Broadband availability, technology & speed, as well as internet connectivity at community anchor institutions (a.k.a. town government locations).
• Broadband Mapping, dealing with the state and national broadband maps.
• Broadband Planning, handling deployment barriers & last mile analysis.
• Broadband Adoption, which collects data about computer, Internet and application usage.

The Data Collection project includes data collected from broadband service providers for wire line (Cable, DSL & Fiber optic) and wireless (Fixed, Mobile (3G/4G) & Satellite), as well as data submitted by town broadband representatives and collected from the MBI’s online broadband surveys. You can search the MA Broadband Interactive Map which focuses on technology, speed and the of providers for given areas. The National Broadband Map is information updated by the federal broadband initiative on a semi-annual basis for each state.

Of course, the MBI’s maps are more accurate and detailed for Western MA than the National Broadband Maps. The MBI needs more accurate data than what the internet providers have submitted, so they are using alternate verification sources, such as service area modeling, the MBI’s Public Broadband Survey, and community anchor institution surveys (a.k.a. our town governments).

My Tasks And Objectives

The MBI is mapping field locations of DSL remote terminals, community wire line map reviews, and verification of mobile wireless service drive studies, which I will be undertaking. For the current status on Wireline Verification, I need to verify the data submitted by internet providers (and more specific details about each of the census blocks), to map service availability by address, and to support last mile planning. This is why I decided to perform an updated Alford Broadband Survey for 2012. I will receive maps from our Regional Planning Agency, and will review and make corrections directly on the maps.

Summary Of Internet Technologies

Wireline services are provided via a physical “wired” connection. Cable (which we currently do not have) is delivered over coaxial cable television lines. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL, which is sparsely available in Alford) provides “always on” broadband service via copper telephone lines that is limited by distance. It extends up to approximately 18,000 cable feet, in all directions from a central office (CO) or in a specific direction from a remote terminal (RT). Fiber-Optic (which we do not have) is delivered via light impulses along glass or plastic fiber lines. Wireless services include services such as WISP (provided by WiSpring), cellular 3G and 4G (provided by Verizon Wireless), and Satellite (provided by Hughes, WildBlue, etc). The survey I’m conducting will provide me with the details about what services each of you are currently using at your physical locations.

DSL Mapping Issues

There is little DSL service in Alford, but the survey will help me to pinpoint the actual residents getting service. The DSL maps are less accurate because the estimated DSL service areas were developed based on an 18,000 foot distance from Central Offices. Modeling can overestimate or underestimate actual service. Remote Terminals have been mapped and show estimated DSL status, but areas served by Remote Terminals are not included on maps. Your physical street locations will help me to see where any DSL is actually serving our town at the moment, and I’ll need to estimate the last serviceable address on applicable roads.

Summary Of The Survey

The MBI will be sending me maps and information in early February, and the Alford Broadband Survey is due back from all of you by February 29th. In the beginning of March, I’ll verify and make changes to the MBI maps, and will compile and send all of the maps and information back to the MBI. While you are waiting to receive the Alford Broadband Survey in your postal mail, you can complete the MBI’s Public Broadband Survey if you haven’t already done so, however, I still need you to complete and return Alford’s postal survey.

Sincerely, Arthur Dellea

UPDATE: On January 14th, Reva Reck of WiredWest sent me an updated correction for this article: “I’d like to clarify one point you made in regard to WiredWest. We will not be waiting for MBI’s roll-out to start our own construction. We will start on our network as soon as we obtain financing. Although we will use MBI’s middle mile, we could also connect to other fiber networks, so we wouldn’t necessarily need to wait to connect a town until MBI had done so. That said, we have a lot of work ahead of us and realistically I doubt we’ll be done before MBI. We won’t however, wait for MBI to finish before we start.”

As of today, the Alford Broadband Survey for 2012 is being printed for postal delivery. It’s been a few years since we’ve performed a broadband survey, and we need updated statistics to determine the broadband internet needs for our town. You should receive the survey in your postal mail very soon, it is of the utmost importance that you participate in this survey. It needs to be filled out and returned before February 29th, you can mail it back or drop it off at the Town Offices.

My original plan was to post a broadband survey on the town’s web site, but then I realized that an online survey may not reach everyone. A postal survey will be more effective at getting everyone’s participation and should produce far more accurate results. It will give providers a clear understanding of our needs, our desires, and their potential “take-rate” for customers and services.

I will be compiling the survey data in the beginning of March. The statistical information will be posted here on the town’s site, and your street addresses will be compiled and delivered to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute for broadband mapping. This information will also be given to Wired West, WiSpring, and may be sent to other potential internet providers upon request.

The Fiber-Optic Backbone

As you may remember from town meetings and from postings on the town site, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) will be running a fiber-optic backbone into our town, but will only be connecting directly to the Town Offices, the Town Hall, the Highway Department and the Fire Department. In order to provide services to the rest of us, internet providers will be connecting to the fiber-optic backbone to give us residential and business connections.

Internet Providers

We already have a local wireless internet provider, WiSpring, who is providing internet access to the town, and WiSpring will benefit from the MBI backbone. WiredWest is the regionally-created fiber-optic provider that we voted on in the 2011 town meeting last May, and we need to pass a second vote for WiredWest (and to establish a Municipal Lighting Plant with them) at Alford’s 2012 town meeting this May so that we can become a Wired West member town. Other providers, such as Verizon, Time Warner, etc, may want to offer services through the fiber as well after MBI’s backbone has been established.

Broadband Meetings Summary

I have not attended broadband meetings for several months, as some of the meetings have been informational (more geared toward public awareness), and at this point, here in Alford we do not need any more information to proceed. I may attend the larger, more publicized area meetings and will record and post videos when possible.

I’ve been taking part in all of the MBI’s telephone conference meetings. They haven’t had one in quite some time, but I’ll be joining in on one this week, and will post a summary.

WiredWest’s meetings have primarily been geared toward planning with the towns that have already become WiredWest members (and who have already passed two votes of approval). Once we’ve become a full-fledged member town of WiredWest, I will be representing our town in their meetings.

Current Progress

The few things that are holding us back from getting service are politics, funding, and time. Funding is needed to fuel the fiber-optic roll-out at the state level, time is needed to physically set up the backbone, and obviously politics tends to hold back progress. However, MBI has approved state and federal funding with a deadline to complete the fiber-optic roll-out by the summer of 2013.

WiSpring continues to provide our town with wireless internet services. In 2011 they performed changes and upgrades within their network to give us stronger connections and smoother internet speeds. Overall, we have not had any outages in quite some time, and I have not received any complaints about service issues in months. WiSpring has not only improved their backbone with newer technology as it has become available, they have also been working on expansion. They are in the process of establishing services in the town of Tyringham, and they have plans to establish service in West Stockbridge as well. I’ve been told by WiSpring that one of their towers in West Stockbridge may be erected not far from the northern border of Alford, which may be able to provide more of our northern residents with wireless internet access.

WiredWest will not be able to progress in the physical roll-out of their services until the MBI backbone is complete. But in the meantime, WiredWest has continued to become more organized, they’ve established a business plan, they’ve been moving forward in planning their own structure, and have been ironing out the political and financial speed bumps along their path. WiredWest already has some approved state funding, and they continue to apply for more funding as potential grants become available. This week, the Alford Selectmen signed support for another source of funding that will be a great help to WiredWest if they receive it.

Happy New Year everyone!
Sincerely, Arthur Dellea