It’s been years in development, and Wired West is at a critical stage. The municipal coop to bring fiber based broadband (internet, television, and telephone service) to the under-served towns in Western Massachusetts including New Marlborough and Monterey needs your support to move forward.
It’s essentially a two-step process before build out can occur: 1) each town must have at least 40% of its households express a statement of interest and submit a refundable $49 deposit and 2) each town must vote on issuing a municipal “construction” bond to build out the network with a 2/3 majority needed to pass. Why 40%? Because at the 40% threshold, the business model projects that the Wired West subscribers will generate sufficient revenue to cover operating costs and payback the construction bonds.
If you have not signed-up and are interested, visit this site soon: https://register.wiredwest.net/ . Neither town has reached the 40% target as of April 15, 2015.
Let’s also acknowledge the tireless work of our Board of Selectmen appointed reps to Wired West, Monica Webb (Monterey) and Tim Newman (NM) who have shepherded the process so far. Let’s now do our part to sign up and make telecommuting from the beautiful shores of Lake Buel a viable option!
Read more about Wired West at www.wiredwest.net
Boston Globe article (4/5/2015) about Wired West: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/04/04/time-for-western-mass-get-broadband-speed/Lqo2Ia5tn07lM52PXEbCyL/story.html?comments=all&sort=NEWEST_CREATE_DT
Berkshire Eagle Editorial from May 3, 2015
Lake Buel - A place we love 
Please sign up. I did.
Sent from my iPhone
Alan Lafer 914-522-8122
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Just a quick update: Neither town has reached the 40% sign-up goal as of April 24th. If you are interested, sign-up this week and also speak to your neighbors who are undecided. The next milestone, the Towns of Monterey and New Marlborough voting on Wired West construction funding during first week in May, will likely have a better chance of success if the 40% target is met.
The original posting has been updated with a link to a recent editorial from the Berkshire Eagle regarding Wired West.
If you have not signed up yet (both full-time AND second home owners) please do so. Wired West needs to pass the 40% households threshold as the first critical path milestone. Let’s join the other western MA towns that are well on their way to making broadband access a reality.
The Town of Monterey vote for Wired West funding will be held this Friday, May 8th, at 7:00 PM at the Firehouse. A 2/3 majority of registered voters is required for it to pass. Second home owner residents who are not registered to vote in Monterey are not permitted to vote per Massachusetts law.
Please attend the meeting if you can for this strategic vote.