Questions and Answers about the Westport Fiber Plans
Q 1: What was voted on in the May 2, 2023 Town Meeting?
A: There were two articles on the Town Meeting Warrant.
· A vote to establish a municipal utility (called a Municipal Light Plant). to manage a new Town-owned fiber optic high speed internet system. This is an administrative action requiring no funding. This is the second of two Town Meeting Votes that are required by Massachusetts statute. The first vote was taken at last year’s Town meeting.
· A vote that requests our State Representatives to sponsor a bill that would authorize the Westport Municipal Light Plant to manage its finances including borrowing, spending, and collecting payments from customers for the internet services it will be providing. This article will be passed over at Town Meeting.
[A decision has been made by the Select Board and the Internet Advisory Committee (12 Apr. 2023) to pass over this article to provide more opportunities to consider alternative ways of structuring and financing the Municipal Light Plant and its operations. Ongoing discussions with the Town's consultants and neighboring communities have opened up new possibilities for management and financing these systems that many eliminate or significantly alter the need for the powers and authorities that were being requested by this article.]
Q 2: Why was the town proposing this?
A: Reliable affordable access to high-speed internet has become a necessity in our daily lives for education, work, paying bills, shopping and entertainment. A survey conducted in 2021 of Westport residents and businesses indicated that the offerings currently available to Westport residents and businesses are unsatisfactory.
Q 3: How does internet service in Westport work now?
A: Spectrum and Verizon are the main service providers. They own the infrastructure that brings the internet to our homes and businesses. They have little incentive, in our sparsely populated rural town, to invest in powerful fiber optic technology and customer service. Given their monopoly powers and the lack of alternative service providers, they can keep raising prices for the substandard services they provide while posting many ads on their TV channels claiming that their high-speed services are really low cost. They can also arbitrarily stop providing selected cable services to their subscribers when it serves their interests and increases thie profits.
Q 4: How would a municipal utility be different?
A: The new Municipal Light Plant would build and maintain a fiber optic network. Internet service providers (ISPs) would be invited to compete for your business over that platform rather than enjoying their current monopoly powers.
● Fiber optic networks carry information much more quickly than other means, and over much greater distances without degrading. Because all subscribers would have a dedicated connection, performance will not be diminished by other users in the area.
● Having this infrastructure available to all ISPs would encourage competition thereby providing subscribers with more choices tailored to their needs and at lower costs.
Q 5: Will the quality of the service change?
A: Yes. The quality of service will be greatly enhanced. The chart below compares the speed of the proposed fiber network with what is available now.
Q 6: Won’t it cost more?
A: A fiber optic system provides a very much higher level of service than that of the current providers, The ultimate cost to customers of the fiber service will depend on the number of subscribers - the "take rate." . If there are many subscribers who ultimately join the fiber network, they will share in paying for the new fiber system and the cost for all subscribers will go down probably to less than the cost for current services. But the quality of service will be greatly improved over current services.
Q 7: Would Westport be starting from scratch?
A: No. Westport has already provided funding for the backbone of a fiber network that can eventually support service for residents and businesses and throughout the Town. The 2021 Town meeting authorized funds to establish a fiber optic network connecting all the town’s offices (including the Fire and Police Departments), schools and radio towers. Construction of this system began in July 2022 and was completed in December of 2022. This Town network became operational early in 2023. This system was designed with future growth in mind and is capable of providing a fiber backbone to support fiber to homes and businesses throughout the Town.
The Town also applied for a Municipal Fiber Grant and was awarded a grant of $241,500 to install security cameras in two Town offices buildings and to fund the first two of six fiber rings that will provide the basis for extending fiber optic services throughout the Town. These first two rings are in the northern part of the Town where residences and businesses are densely located.
A map of the backbone and future rings that will eventually bring fiber service to all parts of the Town is below:
Q 8: Have other towns done this successfully?
A: Yes. Nationwide, 265 municipal fiber optic networks have already been established. Sixteen of the 265 fiber optic networks are in Massachusetts including Taunton and Quincy. Fairhaven, Dartmouth and New Bedford are beginning to move on establishing high speed internet services. With the convergence of the availability of powerful fiber optic technology, the explosion of demand for connectivity and the unprecedented amount of federal funding available for infrastructure, an increasing number of towns and cities are pursuing this objective.
Thirteen of the Massachusetts towns that are in the process of establishing fiber optic networks have recently formed a coalition to exchange information and help each other. The Town of Fairhaven has been especially helpful to Westport by providing examples of approaches and documents for us to follow. The head of the Fairhaven Broadband Study Committee has been the prime organizer of the Massachusetts Broadband Coalition.
One of the best examples of another small rural town establishing its own high speed fiber optic system is the town of Ammon, Idaho. The following link provides a description of their system and how it was implemented
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSQVvFY4lPI
Q 9. Will the Municipal fiber network provide cable television, streaming and phone service?
A. No. The network will provide internet access only. Users can keep the cable TV service that they have and/or use 3rd party streaming services. Similarly, telephone service can remain with your current provider or be provided by a 3rd party using "voice over IP" technology.
Q 10. Will I need a new modem and router or other equipment?
A. You will need a new modem, but most ISPs provide this when you sign up. If you own your own WIFI router (as opposed to renting it from your internet provider), or have other means of distributing the internet signal within your property, it will be compatible with the fiber internet service.
Q 11. Will I be responsible for hooking up the service from the street?
A: The service will be brought to the home or business by the MLP.
Q 12: Where can I obtain more information on Westport’s high-speed internet plans?
A. The High Speed Internet Master Plan is available on the website of the Internet Advisory Committee at https://www.westport-ma.com/internet-advisory-committee/news/high-speed-internet-master-plan . More information will soon become available on this website: <westportfiber.com> .
What Do Westporters Think About Their Existing Internet?
During the months of July and August 2021, two surveys were conducted of Westport residents and busines-owners to learn their views on current internet services and future needs and desires. A total of 543 residents and 54 businesses completed the surveys which were conducted on a purely voluntary basis. In each case the number of responses represents approximately a 10% sample of the estimated total population.
The major findings from these two surveys are that there is considerable unhappiness with current internet services for many reasons but especially for unreliability and cost, and also for lack of choice as to the providers. Most respondents indicate that they depend heavily on the internet, that their dependence has increased significantly during the pandemic, and many expect that will continue in the post-pandemic era.
The survey of business owners indicated that internet speed is very important for their business and that 80% would welcome access to a higher speed, fiber optic network. As one business respondent commented: “Guest requirements for speed and connectivity have grown exponentially and higher speed is needed.”
The survey of residents indicated very high reliance on the internet for a diverse range of uses such as entertainment – 94%, banking/bill paying – 92%, shopping – 91%, socializing – 83%, education – 82%, work – 72% and telehealth – 67%. Internet use has increased during the pandemic and a high rate of use is expected to continue in the future.
For those residents who rely on the internet for work, almost half indicated that they use it for more than 6 hours a day. 79% of those residents who use the internet for work from home said that higher speed internet service would be very helpful for their work.
Over half of the residents who responded to the survey rated their current service provider as poor or fair in terms of “reliability, speed, customer service and cost.” The individual comments contain many references to these same problems and high levels of dissatisfaction with current services. Many urged the adoption of high-speed fiber optic systems.
