"Leverett, Mass. Fed Up With Poor Broadband; Town Wants Its Own Gigabit Network"

More communities are realizing that they don't have to depend or wait on big telecom to get a high-speed internet connection. The citizens of Leverett, Mass are proving that this problem can be fixed at the local level. A method proven very effective lately in the United States, after constantly hearing the same old excuses that rural areas "aren't worth investing in". The citizens and town officials of Leverett, Mass. should be extremely proud of themselves for what they're about to make happen. This is something that we need to happen everywhere!

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"Now the town is considering building its own fiber-to-the-home network to reach every home in Leverett starting in 2014. The proposed $3.6 million network will also offer residents cable television and phone service"

"Town officials will introduce their plans for the new municipal broadband network at a public meeting April 28. The community would borrow the money to construct the network, paying it off over 20 years and outsourcing its construction and maintenance to outside companies."

“It will be a little more on their tax bill and a lot less on their Internet bill, so overall they will pay less,” d’Errico told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

d’Errico added the local community is done waiting for private companies to deliver modern telecommunications services in Leverett. Those companies have repeatedly told town officials there isn’t enough profit or return on investment to justify expanding broadband in rural communities.

Leverett hopes to serve as a template to more than 40 other western Massachusetts communities who belong to WiredWest, a consortium of similarly-situated towns working together to build a regional broadband network. Leverett’s network would leverage the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s 1,300 “middle mile” fiber backbone network that is working its way through 123 western and central Massachusetts towns."

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