On Saturday, February 6, 2010, Ashfield residents David Kulp, Betty Stewart and Select Board member Dave DeHerdt were among the fifty people who attended a meeting in Northampton to discuss a grassroots effort to establish a municipal utility district to serve approximately 22 Western Massachusetts towns with a fiber optic cable network to municipalities, homes and local businesses.
There is a tremendous momentum behind this effort with the goal of getting all participating towns to put forward a motion at each town's upcoming annual town meeting to advise each Select Board to participate in this effort. David Kulp and Andy Smith of Conway joined the steering committee.
Fiberoptic technology is a mature, proven technology that sends data packets at the speed of light, and nothing travels faster than light. Fiber is relatively economical to install and has an almost infinite capacity. The life span of such a system is anywhere between 30 and 100 years. The proposed network would provide high-speed internet, telephone, and television access for a cost of between $125 and $150 dollars per month.
On February 23, 2010 David Kulp, Mike Levine and Andy Smith plan to visit Crocker Communications in Greenfield to learn more about the technical and political issues involved in expanding DSL.
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