Recent FCC discussions have made one thing abundantly clear – towns should have the freedom to develop their own internet services. Well a month after the FCC makes that statement – we have WiredWest – a group of 22 Massachusetts towns who have come together to bring a modern broadband infrastructure to Western Massachusetts.
The aim is to offer Internet services that can compete with the pricing of what is currently offered by local ISPs while providing higher quality service. Granted this isn’t going to be the cheapest option – however you will get exceptionally faster speeds than the existing DSL, fixed wireless and satellite data services offer in the area. Pricing is set to start at $49 per month for 25Mbps speeds and no caps, with 100Mbps and a lightning-quick 1Gbps respectively available for $79 and $109 per month.
Chattanooga, TN had done something similar in 2010 by building their own Internet infrastructure. What happened next? Amazon opened a new office there and created 400+ new jobs for the community. Clearly there’s a huge benefit to a modern and updated Internet infrastructure.
Currently WiredWest have collected $34.5 million of the necessary $79 million in funding. Granted 10 more towns are set to join shortly. Here’s to hoping the WiredWest project succeeds. Good luck guys!