Town Of Alford

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND CABLE
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
D.T.C. 09-1 June 4, 2009

Investigation by the Department of Telecommunications and Cable on its own motion, pursuant to General Law Chapter 159, Section 16, of the telephone service quality of Verizon New England Inc., d/b/a Verizon Massachusetts, in Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties.

On June 1, 2009, the Department of Telecommunications and Cable (“Department”), pursuant to G. L. c. 159, § 16, opened a regional investigation of Verizon Massachusetts’ (“Verizon”) telephone service quality in Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties (“Regional Service Quality Investigation”) and consolidated existing Verizon telephone service quality investigations for the Towns of Hancock and Rowe and petitions regarding Verizon’s telephone service quality by the Towns of Shutesbury and Egremont into the Regional Service Quality Investigation.

The Department will hold public hearings to receive comments pursuant to the Regional Service Quality Investigation on the following dates and locations:

• Franklin County: Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., at Greenfield High School Cafeteria, 1 Lenox Avenue, Greenfield.
• Hampshire County: Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., at JFK Middle School Auditorium, 100 Bridge Road, Florence.
• Berkshire County: Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., at Berkshire Community College Robert Boland Theatre, 1350 West Street, Pittsfield.
• Hampden County: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., at Westfield State College, Scanlon Hall, 62 School Street, Westfield.

Members of the public and elected officials are invited to attend and comment. Persons wishing to comment on this matter may appear at the public hearing or file written comments with Catrice C. Williams, Secretary to the Department of Telecommunications and Cable, Two South Station, 4th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02110. Written comments must be filed no later than the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on Friday, July 10, 2009. Written comments intended to be part of the evidentiary record in any subsequent adjudicatory hearing must be signed and accompanied by an affidavit attesting to the veracity of the facts contained therein.

Any person who desires to participate in any subsequent adjudicatory proceeding concerning the Regional Service Quality Investigation must file a written petition for leave to intervene or to participate in the proceeding (“leave to intervene”) with Catrice C. Williams, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications and Cable, Two South Station, 4th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02110, no later than the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on Friday, July 10, 2009. A petition for leave to intervene must satisfy the timing and substantive requirements of 220 C.M.R. § 1.03. Receipt by the Department, not mailing, constitutes filing and determines whether a petition has been timely filed. A petition filed late may be disallowed as untimely, unless good cause is shown for waiver under 220 C.M.R. § 1.01(4). To be allowed, a petition under 220 C.M.R. § 1.03(1) must satisfy the standing requirements of G.L. c. 30A, § 10. A procedural conference will be held after intervention has been established, at which time a procedural schedule will be established for the efficient, orderly, and timely conduct of this adjudication.

If possible, please submit a copy of all nonproprietary written pleadings, comments, or petitions to intervene to the Department in electronic format by e-mail attachment to dtc.efiling@state.ma.us and Catrice.Williams@state.ma.us. The text of the e-mail must specify: (1) the docket number of the proceeding, D.T.C. 09-1; (2) the name of the person or company submitting the filing; and (3) a brief descriptive title of the document. The electronic filing should also include the name, title, and telephone number of a person to contact in the event of questions about the filing. Text responses should be formatted as either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF compatible files. Data or spreadsheet responses should be compatible with Microsoft Excel. All comments submitted in electronic format will be posted on the Department’s web site: http://www.mass.gov/dtc.

Any person desiring further information regarding this notice may contact: Kalun Lee, Hearing Officer, Department of Telecommunications and Cable, Two South Station 4th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts, 02110, e-mail alun.Lee@state.ma.us.

By Order of the Department
/s/ Catrice C. Williams
Catrice C. Williams, Secretary

Announcing a western Massachusetts Broadband Community Meeting in Berkshire County with with Sharon Gillett, Massachusetts Broadband Institute Director, staff from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), WesternMA Connect, and Senator Ben Downing, Rep. Smitty Pignatelli and Rep. Denis Guyer.

Please attend this public forum about expanding broadband internet access in western Massachusetts.  MBI will conduct a presentation about its latest efforts and offer an opportunity to participate in discussion on this important issue.

Friday, June 19, 2009
3:00-4:30 PM
Berkshire South Regional Community Center
Robbins Meeting Room
15 Crissey Road
Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Please email broadband@masstech.org or call (508) 870-0312 x 1645 to indicate your attendance.

The Southern Berkshire Technology Committee (SBTC) was created earlier this year to further the development of broadband Internet capability in 11 member South County towns. Chaired by Charlie Flynn of Egremont, each town has one representative; Larry Chernicoff is Alford’s representative, but while he’s been otherwise occupied, Robert Lichter has attended the meetings in his stead. The main focus has been on developing a strategy to ensure that our region is positioned to benefit from the planed $40 million bond issue enacted by the Commonwealth to support the development of infrastructure that will bring high-speed Internet capability to unserved areas.

The SBTC has been meeting monthly in each of the member towns. The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 7, 2009, at 7 PM at the Alford Town Hall. The meeting is open to the public and is a good opportunity for residents to learn about what is happening and to ask questions. We hope that many residents will attend this meeting.

Happy New Year to you and your families! We’re looking forward to a truly hopeful 2009 of real change.

WiSpring recently completed construction and testing of their second service tower in Alford, MA. They expect that the second tower will expand their service, to provide broadband internet to 80% or more of the town’s residents. This doubles the service area since Alford’s first WiSpring tower was erected in November 2007. Both of WiSpring’s towers in Alford repeat signal from their primary antenna, atop Catamount Ski Area. WiSpring currently covers most of Egremont, parts of Great Barrington, and now most of Alford. Stay tuned, as they’ve been working on expanding their service into other areas as well.

WiSpring offers a broad range of speed options for both home and business customers, including static (dedicated) IP services. I personally use WiSpring’s service for my home and business, it’s data packet response is equal to (and sometimes better than) Alford’s T-1 line in the Town Offices. I’ve even switched from Verizon telephone service over to Vonage, because Vonage’s VoIP service works great on my WiSpring connection.

I recommend WiSpring to my customers, because its performance far surpasses satellite internet, and I don’t lose my internet connection during storms the way I used to when I was on satellite internet service. Also, after running my own speed tests, I’ve found that WiSpring is at least 35 times faster than average local dial-up internet connections.

WiSpring is a wireless Internet Service provider (WISP) in Southern Berkshire County. They offer high-speed broadband connectivity to businesses and residential customers. They provide Internet access to the un-served and under-served communities beyond the reach of existing cable and telecommunications infrastructure. WiSpring is committed to providing the connectivity to support learning, the local economy and the creation of quality jobs. For more information on WiSpring, visit http://www.wispring.com

Sincerely,
Arthur Dellea
Webmaster

Alford has generously provided a high-speed wireless broadband hotspot at the Town Hall, powered by WiSpring’s wireless service. Use of the hotspot is available at no charge, to anyone who has a suitably equipped laptop computer with wireless capability. No computer equipment is available at Town Hall. It is an open network, and no password is required. The building is open for this use between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Users MUST park across the street at the cemetery, not on the Town Hall side. The town will evaluate response to the service and may adjust the policy at some time in the future.

For more information on the expansion of high-speed internet availability in Alford, please visit the Alford Technology Blog. The blog is maintained by the Broadband Committee, which is a group of concerned citizens who have been working hard to bring high-speed into the town.