Town Of Alford Massachusetts

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