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