Four Towns Broadband Project Archive

Here is the latest for Hawley on our broadband buildout.

Effectively immediately the Hawley Grove building is no longer heated. It is now locked. The wi-fi signal is still strong but now you need to sit in your car. This change is for two reasons. The first is that use of the building has dropped to almost zero and it costs about $1500 to heat it all winter long.

People still come but they stay in their cars.

Most of the people in and around the eastern half of Hawley already have broadband if they want it. Those people located between the Plainfield pole and the pole near Elvira Scott’s will eventually have a new pole located somewhere near the meetinghouse. I expect that pole to go in this spring.

When we started planning for this broadband five plus years ago, we had a consistent 90-93 people who wanted broadband. We now have 105 customers and I am working my way through Hawley by contacting all those homes which my software tells me should be able to get service. If your house is a candidate but you DON’T want service, I will be asking if we can install the hardware and make it operational anyway.

WiValley’s contract is based on their being able to deliver service to at least 95% of residents in all four towns. So even if you don’t TAKE service, we need to demonstrate that your house can GET service.

If you want service, please reach out to me so I can get it for you, if at all possible, with existing infrastructure. My phone is 413 339-0124 and my email is kthwingjr@gmail.com.

With Borden Mountain’s temporary short antenna up and operating WiValley has been making tweaks to the system, changing over people, who were connected to “whatever signal was available”, to the BEST signal now available. Workarounds are being tried where straight-forward installations don’t seem to be working, CBRS is being added where it was originally called for, signal links are being optimized.

All these changes are being done to make the network more redundant, more resilient, faster and easier to service.

We all know that lots of broadband money is in the new infrastructure bill just passed by Congress. We are getting in line for some of it but have been told it could be 3-4 years before we see any of it at the local level.

I will say it again-if you want service or are having problems with your service, and cannot get a response from Otelco or WiValley, call or email me. I have been pretty successful at getting attention where it is needed. If you are happy with your broadband service provided by the FHMS Broadband network, let me know and spread the good word.

Thanks and stay happy, safe and healthy this winter.

Kirby (Lark) Thwing
15 Pond Road
Hawley, MA 01339
Flight’s End, Owner
Town of Hawley Finance Committee, Chair
FHMS Broadband Network Committee, Chair
kthwingjr@gmail.com

Borden Mountain Final Approvals Still Pending

Happy Holidays to All of You.

It has been a busy year pursuing the Borden Mountain site.  In late  October we got final approval from DCR for the temporary site. In mid-December, the temp site at Borden went live with a 35 ft mast and antenna array. We can access the Whitcomb Hill Summit site and the Chapel Loop site.

 The Article 97 legislation (which would give us final approval to construct poles and towers and equipment) stalled just before being approved and sent to the governor for signature. It will get completed as soon as the legislature returns in January. Once the snow is off the mountain in spring, WiValley will get the permanent site up and operating.

Because of the shorter mast of the temporary site, we don’t expect to be able to connect too many homes to Borden before late spring.  The antennas are CBRS only. The plan is to connect to Borden those who were connected elsewhere and have very poor service but would have great service from the current Borden site. Those who are now getting 12/2 will be left for now. Those who have not been able to be connected anywhere but would be good candidates for the temp Borden site, will be connected. Lastly WiValley will be connecting homes that should be served by Borden, but service will not be turned on until the permanent site is active.

At present we have 324 connected customers. Some have great service, some have fair service and some have poor service. WiValley is working to bring poor service customers to at least fair and hopefully great service.

MBI has notified us that the free hotspots in each town will continue until at least June 30, 2022.

At present I have no plan to hold an online meeting, preferring these emails. If you feel we need an online meeting please let me know.

Again, Happy Holidays to you all.

Kirby (Lark) Thwing
15 Pond Road
Hawley, MA 01339
Flight’s End, Owner
Town of Hawley Finance Committee, Chair
FHMS Broadband Network Committee, Chair
kthwingjr@gmail.com

Project Committee Chairman Lark Thwing wrote:

Hello everyone.

This morning DCR (Mass. Division of Conservation and Recreation) issued us a permit to install a temporary shelter and collapsible 35-foot mast on Borden Mountain, overlooking the Town of Savoy. I expect Brian will remove the 8 trees that need removal and then will set the temporary shelter in place, anchor it, bring in power, set up the electronics inside and erect the mast and attach antennas. With luck this temporary installation will be operational by the end of November and before heavy snows close the mountain to vehicular traffic.

Representative Paul Mark tells me that the legislature hopes to approve the Article 97 (legislation by which the Borden Mountain segment of our Broadband project will be authorized to be completed) by midnight, Wednesday, November 17th, when they adjourn for the rest of this year. In all likelihood we won’t get to install the permanent Borden Mountain site until after the snows melt in April, 2022.

The temporary installation on Borden Mountain will allow WiValley to connect SOME of the 200 plus customers who are scheduled to  get their service from Borden.  Remember, the temporary tower is 35 feet and the permanent one is to be 75 feet tall.

On another note, Savoy has approved a pole location on Tilton Rd in Savoy and WiValley will be installing that shortly. All of a sudden, they have lots to do.

I do not expect to hold another FHMS meeting until the temporary Borden site is operational.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Kirby (Lark) Thwing
FHMS Broadband Network Committee, Chair
413 339-0124 Home; 413 588-6922 Cell;
kthwingjr@gmail.com

Project Committee Chairman Lark Thwing wrote:
Hello everyone,

Here is where the FHMS Broadband Network stands as of today, 7/17/21. All infrastructure in the original proposal is up with the exception of Borden Mountain. The access pole near the Savoy Highway Garage (sav-mhd) is waiting for Eversource to install the meter then that will go live.

The Borden Mountain site eventually required that we hire a consultant to prepare an Environmental Notification Form (ENF). It also required we submit an Article 97 to the state legislature because we are taking conserved land out of conservation for our project. We are requesting about 1500 sqft for our project. The easement from the state will be to the Town of Savoy on behalf of the FHMS Broadband Network. We hope to have interim authorization by October.  This site alone is expected to provide service to 200+ customers in Savoy and Florida.

As of yesterday we had 289 customers (Florida 71, Hawley 92, Monroe 29, Savoy 97). Of those customers, Florida has had the greatest number of problems. Some of these problems are due to interference to people who have a 900 mb signal from Bliss (flo-bli), another problem has been down near the river at Whitcomb Hill extension (flo-wht).  Most of these problems have been corrected by adding an additional 15 feet to the two poles that get the signal to flo-wht.

Florida has also been affected because all of the Florida sites used to get their signal from Savoy (sav-cha).  As of about 2 weeks ago, the PoP at Florida town hall has been activated with an additional 500 mb of capacity so the network now has 1 gb of capacity and this is improving conditions in Florida.

For six months or more we have been talking about rolling out CBRS in selected areas to address problems of service quality. The CBRS radios specified in the original design were not even available in the market until just a few months ago. We are now just beginning to deploy the newer, faster, higher capacity radios and the results look  very promising.

Back in April we activated the pole on South County Road in Florida (flo-scr). So far no one in that area has signed up and we believe there are at least 15-20 customers who can get very good service without the issues that have plagued other parts of Florida. If you want service call or email Kate Albert at  WiValley (1-603-546-7204 or at kate@wivalley.net).

We were unsuccessful in getting a pole in Heath to serve an unreachable part of northeast Hawley. WiValley is beginning to look at low or no service areas to determine if additional poles would increase our coverage. If you want broadband and have been told it is not available, let Kate know you want to be notified if and when it does become available.

We appreciate everyone’s patience as we built the network and we hope you will remain patient as we resolve quality and capacity issues.  If you have billing or outage issues, please contact Otelco. If you have technical issues please notify Kate at WiValley as well and she will get the ball rolling.

Please copy me if you are NOT getting your problems resolved to your satisfaction,  Lark Thwing (423-339-0124 or kthwingjr@gmail.com).

Progress Report – Lark Thwing

Hello everyone,

I am sending this update to a few select people who I hope can help circulate it to people in their communities. Please post to your website, email to town email lists, post it to your facebook groups, post it at town offices etc. We want to get the latest word out to as many people in our four towns as possible. So here is the update.
By April 8, 2021, the date of our next FHMS online meeting, we should have all the infrastructure operational except for Borden Mountain. The last three poles to become operational will be one on South County Road in Florida and two on Rt 116 just west of the Savoy Highway garage.  We are just waiting for electric meters to be installed.

As of March 26th we have 242 connected customers. 66 in Florida, 68 in Hawley, 25 in Monroe and 83 in Savoy. We are able to connect 5-7 new customers in a good week. We have difficulty connecting homes that are in a “hole”, terrain-wise and it is difficult to get a good signal where there is heavy foliage between the home and the signal pole, especially if the foliage is evergreens rather than deciduous trees.

We want to remind everyone that we are still in the development stage of this wireless network and will be for some time. This is WiValley’s biggest wireless network project so there is a learning curve for them.

As a reminder, our four towns chose wireless because we could not afford fiber. We have no tax burden, a low monthly cost and download speeds are mostly in the 12-28 mbps range for 3/4 of our customers.

With assistance from MBI and the lieutenant governor, DCR is giving us a high priority to get the Borden Mountain site permitted. We had an onsite meeting with the DCR team on Wednesday April 7th. We hope to have the site operational sometime this summer. The Borden Mountain site is expected to serve more than 200 customers.

We are just now beginning to deploy CBRS where it fits into our network. CBRS can give a realistic 25-50 Mbps offering at an economic distance, while not a head-to-head with Fiber, for rural and suburban cases CBRS is a very viable option.

Anyone in our four towns who does not have broadband currently and would like to be connected should contact Kate Albert at WiValley. Her phone number is 1-603-546-7204. Her email is kate@wivalley.net.

Billing and service issues should be directed to OTELCO. New service requests and questions should be directed to Kate at WiValley. She is very bus, so an email is often better than a phone call and both is best.

Updated January 10, 2021- FHMS Broadband for Hawley.

Friday, December 18 (2020) we completed the Phase 3 sites including the Stetson Road site, the site on West Hawley Road near Savoy Road, the site near Shrimpton’s on Forge Hollow Road and the site near 129 East Hawley Road (which is temporarily powered by an extension cord from the Sisum house).

If you want broadband, I encourage you to contact Kate Albert at WiValley. Her email is kate@wivalley.net and her phone is 603-546-7204. Provide her with your name, address, city, phone and email address. She will reach out to you.

Phase 4 sites are in the works. Poles are already up at the Hawley Town Hall and the East Hawley Rd site near Yates/Scott. By January 15, we expect to have poles installed on Plainfield Rd near the Scott farm and at the Lawless site, the big house on the cliff overlooking West Hawley. We expect these Phase 4 sites to be configured by the end of January, waiting only for power from National Grid at the Plainfield Road site and the existing pole near Yates/Scott.

As of January 7, Hawley currently has 41 customers connected and the entire network has 196 homes connected.

Once Phase 4 infrastructure is all up, we will be focusing on the Borden Mountain site. The permitting is much more complicated. We are also seeking permission from the Town of Heath to install a pole there to provide service to the northeastern corner of the Hawley-Dodge Corner area.

Once ALL planned infrastructure is up, we will focus on installations and system tweaking to maximize our service capability. Note: if you sign up for phone as well as internet, I encourage you to keep a Verizon landline unless you have dependable cell service. We are still in the development/ refinement stage and if you have phone and internet, it is possible a network failure could leave you with NO reliable means of communications. Eventually, you will be able to drop the Verizon service when you are confident your broadband service is very stable.

Thank you for your patience.

Project Committee Chairman Lark Thwing wrote that:

¨     The FHMS Broadband  committee will not be holding another FHMS Broadband meeting in person until after this pandemic is over.

¨     Brian will continue to work as he can with some restrictions . . . inside people’s homes.

¨     He’ll also continue building infrastructure and getting electricals hooked up.

¨     Lark will send an email every couple of weeks with a brief status update, so everyone knows how we’re progressing.

¨     The town certifications of completion final should be ready for Selectboard member signatures by the week of April 1.

HAWLEY BROADBAND UPDATE – FEBRUARY 2020

By Lark Thwing

Communications Committee Chair and
Chairman, FHMS Four Town Broadband Committee

I’m sure it feels like Hawley’s broadband is never ever going to happen. But don’t lose hope.  It is happening slowly but surely. Infrastructure is being installed and once that is done people are being connected.

Here’s how the infrastructure process works. We started with a desktop model with the most likely locations for poles. Some of those locations must be confirmed with actual radio signals before the pole is put in place. But here’s the general procedure: install the pole; notify the utility company that we need electricity brought to the pole; install the hardware and antennas on the pole; have utility company come, and in most cases, install an electric utility pole on the same side of the road as our broadband pole, then run electricity to that new electric pole; then we run underground conduit from the new electric pole to our broadband pole. Before any pole can be put in we have to have a pole hearing in the local community.  We’ve had the pole hearing for Hawley’s poles but if we need to relocate a pole more than a hundred feet, we need a new pole hearing. The electric companies need pole hearings as well. All of these steps take time, and the process applies to all four towns.

The priority that the FHMS Four Town Broadband Committee set for our vendor, WiValley, is first and foremost to get the poles in while we have access to the ground, then to get the utilities brought to those poles, then to get the hardware installed on the poles, and then to get a signal link from our main pole location in Savoy on Chapel Hill Loop Road to the individual poles or whatever relay pole is necessary. Just having a pole up does not mean we’re getting a signal to it and therefore does not mean that it can be serving customers. Right now we can serve customers from the main pole in Savoy and we can serve customers from the pole established at Berkshire East which is linked to the main Savoy pole. By the end of January we expect to have poles at the Florida Town Hall and Bliss Hill in Florida linked to the main Savoy pole and able to serve customers. To be clear, we only connect customers when the WiValley crew(s) cannot build infrastructure.

We currently have 27 customers being served from the two locations- Chapel Hill in Savoy and Berkshire East. Eight of those customers are receiving 50 mbps down/10 mbps up (50/10 mbps), 13 customers are receiving 25/3 mbps, and 6 of those customers are receiving 12/2 mbps. We have to make sure that we can supply 96% of all customers with at least 25/3 mbps eventually.

Many people have queried us about the pole we needed on Legate Hill. As you know there was legal action related to that pole. When we finally tested that site with an actual signal, we determined it would not receive a signal and therefore Legate Hill is no longer a location we are looking at. Workarounds in Hawley are being planned.

For those of you who want to follow the progress of our Broadband build-out you can do so at the Town of Hawley website.

The status of poles in Hawley is as follows:

The pole at the top of West Hill Road is complete except for power connection and then signal linkage. Hope to have this complete by the end of February.

The pole at Berkshire East is fully operational and serving customers.

The pole near Doane cemetery and Sidehill Farm is installed but not configured, no electricity. Hope to have power and signal linkage by the end of February.

The pole at Hawley Town Hall is installed but not configured, no electricity.

Poles are scheduled for installation by the end of January at Forget Road near Grout Road, lower East Hawley Road, and Forge Hollow Road. We hope to have power and signal linkage complete between the end of February and mid-April.

The pole near Stetson Road needs a pole hearing.

Poles on Middle Road, West Hawley Road and Plainfield Road near the town line need further testing and evaluation before being located.

We expect to have all infrastructure completed by the end of June. If you want to be connected to the Broadband Network contact otelco.com/fhms and sign up to be notified when service is available in your area.

Please remember that this process is fluid and updates occur sometimes on a daily basis.  Thank you for your interest!

Minutes	16 people attended the January 9 meeting. All but one were concerned about delays in getting connected, even though some of them could actually see that a pole had been installed. Brian explained that most of the construction delays had been caused by supply delays, and not that these had been largely solved, the project’s priority must focus on building infrastructure first.
12/05/2019 Minutes	Subject of this meeting was how to respond to an Open Meeting Law complaint filed by Laury Wills of Charlemont and New Jersey.
11/21/2020 Minutes	¨     Brian handed out a detailed, color-coded progress chart showing the status of each pole in the network. ¨     He mentioned that acceptability tests had not gone well for the Legate Hill locations. ¨     He reported a very preliminary conversation about possible expansion of the network to Readsville, VT. ¨      30 minute executive session was held.
10/24/2019 Minutes	¨     Brian reported that most of the time has been devoted this month to prepping poles to accept electronics once installed. ¨     Lark reported that the Press Release developed by MBI/OTELCO/WiValley was approved with two minor changes. ¨     Request by DCR to allow Town of Plainfield to supply a fiber connection to the AmeriCorps campground is approved. Brian reported that Road Permits and Flagmen would be required for some locations.
10/08/2019 Press Release	MBI/OTELCO/WiValley develop a Press Release saying the project is on track for completion by Spring, 2020.
10/07/2019 Progress Pix	Entitled “Poles of Progress,” this presentation shows pole deliveries to WiValley finally enabling Four Towns Broadband Network construction. Several progress shots of poles being erected are included.
09/26/2019 Minutes	¨     All poles are finally here or in Boston. These poles are from East Coast suppliers. There are now enough to complete the project. ¨     Orders of West Coast (backup) poles are therefore being cancelled. Some adjustments are being made to pricing because of unexpected high costs. ¨     Press release sent back for two changes. Phase I of the project is now complete.
09/13/2019	As of this date, there are 25 customers on line.
08/22/2019 Minutes	This meeting included officials from MassTech/MBI, and so was longer and more detailed than most. Covered were: ¨     Overall Briefing on Project Status ¨     Risk Assessments ¨     Updated schedule ¨     Q/A ¨     Status of Poles, signed customers, Borden Mountain, etc. ¨     Handover of copies of various signed agreements ¨     Certificates of Compliance and Change Orders ¨     Need for Press Release was disxcussed.
07/25/2019	As of this date, there are 17 users up and running.
07/25/2019 Minutes	Brian Foucher emphasized eight major issues: ¨     Pole supply problems causing major delays, overruns. ¨     Berkshire East added to Phase 1. Temporary pole (20 ft), first. ¨     Network going from 75 MB to 250 MB capacity – to allow expansion without compromising existing users. ¨     Pole frequencies to begin @ 900 MHZ. ¨     Free install policy – free until 90 days after completion of network construction. ¨     Two signal sources @ Chapel – MBI Fiber and Access Plus. ¨     Borden Mountain tower capacity study – original vendor has been reengaged. ¨     17 users up and running. ¨     Other items: ¨     Rick Kean gave an initial report of customer impressions Legate Hill update.
04/11/2019 Minutes	Chapel monopole is up and in the process pf being connected to MBI Fiber: ¨     Initial customers will be offered free service for a defined period of time. Brian is working with Eversource, National Grid on unified power solution that will eliminate need for individual metering and permitting for each pole.
03/29/2019 Presentation	This Google Docs Presentation documents transport, preparation and installation of the first pole – the only metal monopole to be used for the project, a major signal transmission point on Chapel Road in Savoy.
03/21/2019 Minutes	Three items at this meeting: ¨     Paperwork: Collateral Agreement handed out; Network Services Agreement emailed to voting members. ¨     Marketing Name: Members indicated their strong preference for “FHMS Broadband.” ¨     Savoy Monopole: §  Guy wires recommended by Savoy inspector; 9’ X 16’ concrete electronics shed is being delivered to the Chapel Road location.
03/07/2019 Minutes	Despite what was said in the December 10, 2018 Minutes, the next meeting was not held until March 7, 2019, this one a jumbo. Covered in it were: ¨     Received from MBI/Mass Tech, $116,000 in Professional Services monies; ¨     Almost all needed documents to create a “. . . legal environment that propels the project forward,” are now in place or in their final stages, according to Lark Thwing. ¨     Master plan is now ready for signatures. Then construction can begin. ¨     Network Services Agreement reviewed and signed by all parties present, either at this meeting or the next day. ¨     By way of motions, the FHMS Four Towns Broadband project issued formal requests which would: §  execute a grant agreement in accordance with the Action Plan; §  authorize issuance of a Notice to Proceed by Mass/Tech to WiValley; §  assume the risk for the Four Towns for material changes because of Legate Hill §  sign a “collateral agreement” helping to insure continuity of service on the network should WiValley be unable to provide those services. Monopole is ready for erection at the Chapel site.  Brian showed photos.
12/10/2018 Tour & Minutes	A Tour and then a Meeting: ¨     Jack Maytum and Sid Boswell of DesignNine toured a number of pole locations on December 10, 2018 accompanied by Brian Foucher and Tom Buttrick, Rick Kean, and others. ¨     Possible cost overrun at DCR fire tower (Borden Mountain) site. ¨     Brian reported that he and Fred Goldstein were working on alternatives to problematic sites. ¨     Brian reported that he is ready to begin construction with monopole @ Chapel site. Brian reported that changes are needed in project phases and scheduling because of obstacles encountered.
11/29/2018 Minutes	More Admin: ¨     Action Plan signature sheets all signed at meeting. ¨     Charlemont’s legal counsel has offered the Selectboard the opinion that it is the Selectboard, not the Planning Board, which should conduct any hearings regarding Broadband pole placement within the town. Mary Schaffer letter received and referred for further review.
11/15/2018 Minutes	This meeting was mainly about Administrative issues: ¨     Changes to amend Partnership Agreement; ¨     Action plan in “final touches” stage; ¨     Hawley’s pole hearing had some pushback, but all locations were approved by the Selectboard. WiValley is building a custom trailer with sensing equipment on a foldable mast for testing purposes.
11/1/2018 Minutes	All items in this meeting had to do with status of agreements, hearings and formal plans: ¨     Signed professional services Agreement; ¨     Action Plan: all issues revolved between WiValley and MBI; ¨     Partnership Agreement – still undergoing revision. ¨     Easement agreement format has been developed for use where necessary; Florida and Savoy pole hearings have both been conducted.
10/22/2018	Informational Meeting, Hawley Town Office: There will be an INFORMATIONAL FORUM Concerning the Proposed 4-Town Wireless Broadband System MONDAY, OCTOBER 22ND, 2018 @7:00PM at the HAWLEY TOWN OFFICE [It is] . . . a low powered, state of the art, system that will provide high speed Internet to the whole Town at a fraction of the cost of fiber.  The so-called “industrial towers” that have given rise to much recent conversation are actually just taller than usual utility poles, and the transmitters emit less energy than most handheld two-way radios. Meeting Handout — Putting the Poles into Visual Perspective:
09/27/2018 Minutes	Here’s a summary of the September 27, 2018 meeting: ¨     Jack Maytum of DesignNine is named Project Manager/Consultant for the project, per the Professional Services Agreement; receives CAFII go-ahead. ¨     Legatee Hill situation inconclusive without further objective data. No pole hearing set. ¨     In general, pole hearings are still in process of being arranged. Too many events pending to schedule next meeting yet.
09/06/2018 Minutes	At this time the Project members were still concerned with getting all of the legal paperwork in order so the project could begin. The new development was a meeting between Project representatives and the Charlemont Selectboard, members of the Broadband Committee and a member of the Planning Board about the prospect of putting a relay pole on a Charlemont right-of-way on Legate Hill. Impressions were positive. It was also emphasized at that time that Pole Hearings would have to be scheduled for each affected Town on a timely basis, as the permitting process took at least six weeks.
08/21/2018 Minutes	While the actions of a number of individuals and committees in Hawley and other Towns to secure the funding for the FHMS Four Towns Fixed Wireless Broadband project began several years beforehand [Here’s a report from 2015], the Project began as a formal organization on this date. At this meeting, two major agreements were in the process of being formalized — an Intermunicipal Agreement, to establish the basis for the Towns working together, and a Professional Services Agreement, for handling required outside consultants and legal expenses. As the last line in the Minutes for this date states for the first time, “Board will meet in Florida at 4:30 pm every two weeks if needed. Next Meeting will be September 6.”
04/03/2018 Press Release	This document was released by MBI at the conclusion of their funding decision process. It details the players and some of the history of the grant. Click Here.