Way back in 2005 we profiled the Massachusetts towns of Shutesbury and Leverett, two shining examples of the kinds of U.S. towns that have fallen into broadband connectivity black holes. Large regional providers like Verizon didn’t want to upgrade the markets (Boston still hasn’t been upgraded to FiOS), and could barely be bothered to keep aging copper in the region fully functional.
A decade later and Leverett last Friday formally launchedLeverettNet, a new network that will deliver gigabit speeds to the town’s previously-underserved masses.
LeverettNet is the first ‘Last Mile’ project fed by the MassBroadband 123 fiber-optic ‘middle mile’ network, a project backed by state and federal governments which brought fiber-optic connectivity into the town of 1,876 residents early in 2014.
Voters approved borrowing $3.6 million in 2012 — or roughly $1,900 per resident — to deliver fiber to 800 premises and connect to the MassBroadband 123 network. Leverett contracts a private local ISP by the name of Crocker Communications to provide broadband service, which will cost subscribers $65 a month.
