December 2008 BROADBAND COMMITTEE UPDATE - Miryam Williamson 

	We're getting ever closer to hooking up the first users of the
town's broadband internet system. These will be people working in the
town hall, police station, and highway department.
 
	The system we are building will handle 200 subscribers. We have the
equipment on hand. To accommodate this many users, we made some design
changes, including more and different antennas and a wireless link to
Springfield to make our connection to the Internet.
 
	Because of these changes, we need additional state approval, which
we expect without difficulty within a month's time.
 
	We've hired local electricians to provide the electrical service to
the tower location. This work is almost complete. Our contractor, Access
Plus Communications, has been to town buildings and mapped out the
wiring diagram and location of radios that will bring the Internet to
workers' desktops.
 
	As to the American Tower site, we're on our way to signing a lease
for tower space, which will be ours at no cost to the town.
 
	We're on budget and satisfied with our progress.  An invitation to
residents to subscribe is in the offing, but don't give up your present
internet arrangement yet; it will take a while. No worries about missing
out; with the ability to serve 200 users, we'll be able to accommodate
you. When the time comes, you'll read about in the newsletter, and on
The L. [Editor: and on this site!]
 
Stay tuned. We'll report again next month,
Reva Reck, chair; Les Goodman; Miryam Williamson