SHUTESBURY — As the buildout of the town’s broadband network continues, the installation costs for high-speed internet and phone service for a typical homeowner will depend on the outcome of a special Town Meeting vote Tuesday.
Shutesbury is holding the meeting at 7 p.m. at the Shutesbury Elementary School, with the lone warrant article seeking a $274,000 transfer from the capital stabilization fund.
If approved by voters, the money will subsidize the costs of bringing fiberoptic cables from the street to each home, and installing the associated electronics, including a router. The standard installation fee for the fiber-to-the-home project will be $200.
Should voters turn down the transfer of money, each homeowner will have to pay more for this installation.
The article is being recommended by the Select Board and Finance Committee.
Gayle Huntress, manager of the town’s Municipal Light Plant, said the mainline distribution network along the town’s roads is about 75 percent complete.
Work on the buildout of this network began in January with the installation of steel support cables and then the hanging of the fiberoptic cable by TriWire Engineering.
Huntress said the next phase is to bring the fiberoptic cable from the curb to the home, and do inside home installations, with completion likely by October.
Residents are being asked to sign up for internet and phone service by May 1.
Other progress on the network has included installing the hut to house all the electronics equipment to run the town’s network outside Town Hall, which occurred in February.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
