High Speed Internet – see town news & announcements or click on the link in the 1st line below for all the current updates
PROJECT INFORMATION 
For a complete list of current (late 2020 & beyond) project updates click on High Speed Internet postings in Town News & Announcements.
Click here for the poster on broadband status included in the street census listing mailed at the end of 2020: High Speed Internet 2020-12 POSTER
Click here for the poster on broadband status presented at the Annual Town Meeting of 2020-07-25: Poster presented 2020-07-25 at the Annual Town Meeting.
Historical Project Timelines in descending order by year from 2020-2017.
Goshen FTTH Network Fiber Route Completed Design Visual
Follow the instructions below for an interactive map where users can drill down to the finer details of the fiber routes and homes for the Town of Goshen:
- Click on this link to install a free diagram viewer on your computer.
- Select the appropriate installation file for your computer (Windows or Mac). The installation file will automatically download to your computer. When the download is complete double click on the file to install it on your computer and accept all the installation default settings. The application will create a program on your computer named DWGSeePro.exe.
- Copy this file Goshen Fiber Strand Map network design.dwg located below to a location on your computer and use the installed application from Step 2 above to open it and view the network route in more detail.
Motion to vote in favor of proceeding with a town owned network with consideration to the following conditions:
- We pursue both a 15 year and a 20 year term and if 20 year is the preferred method of borrowing, this would be accomplished either via 20 1-year state house notes [These will require special legislation voted on by the Town and then passed by the Massachusetts legislature & signed by the Governor] – OR – Massachusetts Qualified Bonds [this option has not yet been made available] –OR- another 20 year method not yet known but that would need approval of the Select Board.
- The Select Board acknowledges that this borrowing will have a material and possibly substantial impact on the timing of Capital purchases and the availability of monies for capital purchases for the duration of the borrowing for this project.
- We need to set up an appropriate structure for management of the Goshen MLP including an MLP board.
- The Select Board will pursue additional fees for use by the Town to cover what the Select Board deems as appropriate expenses.
- The Select Board will utilize a good portion any excess revenues returned to the town to pay down the debt resulting from the borrowing.
The Town of Goshen will now submit a grant request to the Office Executive and Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) in order to secure $770,000 in funding that’s been set aside by the state for the design and construction of the network. A portion of these funds will be used to survey over 1,300 utility poles in town – the first phase of the process. Over the coming months, the Town of Goshen expects to enter into an agreement with Westfield Gas & Electric (WG&E) to design, build and light up the network in 18-24 months.
INFORMATIONAL TOWN MEETING MATERIALS
The Town of Goshen currently has two proposals it is seriously considering to bring broadband to our community. The first proposal is a Town owned fiber optic network that could be built by Westfield Gas & Electric (not yet decided) and operated by WiredWest. The second proposal would have Comcast build a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network paid for in large part by incentives provided to Comcast by the State.
The results of the preference ballots turned in at the 4/29 presentation are as follows:
45 votes for town owned network
17 votes for private partner network with Comcast
1 vote for other.
Listed below are materials that were made available to help us start to understand the choices before us.
The best place to start is the Plan Comparison file. There, you will get a comprehensive overview of the two proposals that were discussed at Saturday’s presentation.
1) PlanCompareForGoshenInfoMtgV2
2) Advantages of a Regional Network
3) Comcast Price Listing 11.2016
4) Comcast – RFP for Last Mile Grants 1-10-2017 All Pages
5) Debt Service Payment and Interest Comparison
6) Property Tax Impact Comparison