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Seeking the Commonwealth of Connection: How Small-Town Volunteers and Public Partnerships Transformed Internet Access in Western Massachusetts

Fifteen years ago, Western Massachusetts residents in the small hill towns were stuck on aging broadband infrastructure. While their neighbors in the eastern part of the state were seeing new investment and expanding coverage, they were not. But instead of giving a handout to the regional monopoly, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. The result? Between 2018 and 2022, 19 very small towns in Western Massachusetts built fiber-to-the-home (ftth) networks and transformed their telecommunications future forever.

Seeking the Commonwealth of Connection: How Small-Town Volunteers and Public Partnerships Transformed Internet Access in Western Massachusetts [pdf] tells the story of how this came to be, and the impact it is had for residents, businesses, and community anchor institutions in the region. The 8,000 people who live there pay less for their broadband service than those living in most major metro areas around the country, and know their customer service representatives by name. The real estate market has gotten a boost, not only keeping people of all ages in the areas, but bringing in working professionals from New York City and transforming local business’ ability to process credit card transactions and stay competitive. Internet service outages are measured in minutes or hours instead of days. And the money they pay for that service stays in their communities, helping them plan for the future and build new revenue streams to further improve the lives of their citizens.

Public-public partnerships like these not only bring direct benefits to communities, but they strengthen the ties within and between them. Far-flung neighbors are more likely to know each other by name. The stacking effects of the gains will be felt for generations.

Ry Marcattilio

on Tue Nov 18, 2025

Fifteen years ago, Western Massachusetts residents in the small hill towns that dotted the most rural parts of the state were faced with an increasingly stark choice. To stay where they and their family had always lived, they had to accept that they would always have second-class broadband service. The full breadth and depth of the Internet would probably be inaccessible to them, because the monopoly Internet Service Providers (ISPs) decided that even though there was profit to be had in the region, it wasn't enough to upgrade or expand those networks. Or, residents could move east, where new investment was happening but where they would have to start over.

Western Massachusetts report communities

Instead, they charted a third path. Over the course of a decade, towns came together, building a grassroots movement. Leading the charge was a cadre of champions that drove thousands of miles, held hundreds of meetings, and inspired dozens of voting campaigns to partner together and build their own broadband networks. Such was the weight of their determination that the state's will was bent their way. Between 2018 and 2022, 19 very small towns built fiber-to-the-home (ftth) networks and transformed their telecommunications future forever. And the special nature of that change comes in no small part because of the public partnerships that have been established, both among themselves and with neighboring community Westfield - itself a municipal provider who today operates these new networks on behalf of the communities.

ETEX Communications employees in Harrison County TX

Karl Bode

on Wed Sep 4, 2024

Harrison County, Texas officials say they’re poised to use the county’s remaining Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds to strike a fiber expansion partnership with Etex Communications, a subsidiary of the locally-owned Etex Telephone Cooperative.

The Harrison County Commissioners Court says it’s putting the finishing touches on a $4.5 million public-public partnership with Etex that will help deliver fiber access to the Western end of the heavily underserved Texas county with the help of $1.5 million in federal ARPA funds.

ARPA Funds To The Rescue

Etex Telephone Cooperative was originally formed in 1952 to meet the communication needs of people living in rural northeast Texas. Beginning with 743 members when the co-op was first created, the provider now services more than 12,600 members scattered across a service territory of 710 square miles of rural East Texas.

“Internet is a big issue. It’s almost as fundamental as water and electricity. You gotta have it,” Harrison County Judge Chad Sims tells The Marshall News Messenger. “It is an essential thing. So we’re happy to partner with ETEX.”

Karl Bode

on Wed Apr 24, 2024

Construction on a new city-owned fiber network in Cabot, Arkansas will soon bring affordable broadband access to every city resident and business in the state’s “Strawberry Capital.”

The network comes courtesy of a partnership with Connect2First, the broadband subsidiary of local power company First Electric Cooperative Corporation, which continues to build on its significant presence across Arkansas.

According to a city announcement, the $20 million network will deliver fiber access at symmetrical speeds of up to 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) via an XGS-PON network passing all 26,000 residents and businesses of Cabot using 220 miles of fiber.

The network, which is expected to take several years to complete, will be built on the back of resident-approved bonds, and won’t utilize state or federal funding.

Construction has already begun in this suburb of Little Rock where city officials say hundreds of residents have already been connected.

In announcing the beginning of construction, Cabot Mayor Ken Kincade said:

“This unique project is the first of its kind in the state of Arkansas where a municipality has built its own fiber network and partnered with a local ISP to provide high speed fiber optic internet services to its constituents. The City of Cabot is thrilled to be able to leverage the proven expertise of Connect2First, who already had a presence in the city and was currently serving surrounding areas.”

Newark, New Jersey (pop. 307k) has been operating a dark fiber network for more than a decade. In recent years, the city has expanded its efforts to leverage those assets in an incremental effort to improve connectivity and competition for local business and residents, while also building out a robust Wi-Fi network. The goal: build a portfolio of approaches to connect the last twenty percent of the city that doesn't have access today.

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Aaron Meyerson, Chief Innovation Economy Officer and Director of Broadband, and Anthony Avent, Technical Operations for City of Newark, to talk about the project. From reinvigorating the city's infrastructure with a new public-private partnership, to connecting almost a hundred large business locations, to enabling innovative smart-city applications to fight heat and pollution, to supporting more than 7,200 active Wi-Fi users every day, Newark isn't just sitting around waiting for someone to help solve local challenges. They're stepping up to the plate and tackling them themselves.

This show is 28 minutes long and can be played on this page or using the podcast app of your choice with this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show: please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes here or see other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance here.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

The fading sound of holiday bells and soft stillness that comes with plunging temps can only mean one thing; it's January again, which means it's time to break out the crystal ball and have a conversation about the year to come. Joining Christopher in the recording booth are a slew of CBN staffers new and veteran to join in the collective task of putting words to feelings both foreboding and optimistic about the year to come.

Will we see the first BEAD-connected home this year? Will the Affordabel Connectivity Program get re-funded? How will the maps look in 11 more months, with slews of challenge data? How many new municipal ftth networks will we see founded in 2024? State preemption laws rolled back, or re-introduced? Tune in for answers to all these and more.

This show is 48 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

This week on the podcast, Christopher speaks with Deb Socia, President and CEO, and Geoff Millener, Chief Operating Officer, of the Enterprise Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Enterprise Center is a non-profit partner to the City of Chattanooga that unites people, organizations, and technology to build an advanced and inclusive future.

The group discusses the HCS ED Connect program, a transformative initiative providing free home Internet access to low-income students in Chattanooga, and its notable impact on parent engagement and student success.

Deb and Jeff also shed light on the Orchard Knob project, leveraging technology to better health outcomes in African-American neighborhoods, and the Tech Goes Home program, offering technology access and training for seniors and their underserved populations.

Throughout the conversation, the group underscores the vital role of partnerships and community engagement in successfully implementing these initiatives. They conclude by emphasizing the overarching need for universal broadband access as a driving force behind fostering positive change in communities.

This show is 38 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

A little more than three years ago, the city of West Des Moines, Iowa announced that it would build a citywide open access conduit system to lower the cost of new broadband deployment to facilitate better connections at lower costs for residents. GFiber (formerly Google Fiber), Mediacom, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), and local ISP Mi-Fiber have since signed on as providers.

This week on the podcast, Deputy City Manager Jamie Letzring and city Innovations Consultant Dave Lyons join Christopher to talk about overcoming design and legal challenges of building an infrastructure system that remains relatively unique, and the commitment the city has made to reach economically disadvantaged households to make sure everyone has a quality and affordable connection. Finally, they share a little about how the city has been taking steps to use the new conduit system to supplement its already-robust fiber network for government facilities, smart-city initiatives, and more.

This show is 36 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance here.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Naming groups of things is one of the few pure joys in life. But despite having a shiver of sharks, a thunder of hippopotami, a discovery of witches, and about a million others, as of yet we've got nothing to describe a group of Internet access and infrastructure who have forgotten more about the business of broadband than the average person is likely to ever see, smell, or hear. From the economics of building fiber networks to the technical challenges of different radio spectrum bands, they separate the signal from the noise every single day.

So how about a scattering of wonks?

This week on the podcast, we bring over the most recent conversation from our Connect This! Show, where for 80 episodes we've hosted broad discussions about broadband policy and infrastructure deployments and live by the mantra that the devil's in the details. Christopher is joined by Travis Carter (USI Fiber), Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber), and Heather Gold (Mears Group) to tackle a host of issues, including why we don't see more cities doing deals with entities like Google Fiber, what we can expect now that Anna Gomez has been confirmed to the FCC, what it means for BEAD grantees if the Affordable Connectivity Program goes away, and more.

Along the way, they hit on what we're seeing in Vermont's Communications Union Districts, a partnership in West Des Moines, Iowa, and whether there's renewed hope for the ACP as it nears the six-month mark from running dry.

This show is 79 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance here.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Sean Gonsalves

on Thu Aug 24, 2023

Loveland’s municipal broadband utility Pulse is a heartbeat away from expanding into a small neighboring Colorado town eager to offer its residents the same attractive, high-quality Internet access that can be found in Larimer County’s biggest cities.

Officials in Loveland and Timnath, Colorado (pop. 7,800) recently announced the ratification of an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) that greenlight’s a plan to bring ubiquitous, affordable high-speed Internet access to yet another community in the Centennial State, as an increasing number of Colorado cities and towns embrace municipal broadband after years of frustration with the inadequate, high-priced service from the region’s monopoly incumbents.

"The selection of Pulse as our broadband service provider reflects a thorough process of assessment and consideration,” Timnath Town Planner Brian Williamson said in a press statement after the agreement was approved. “We are excited to work together, leveraging their expertise to ensure our residents have access to reliable, high-speed Internet that will contribute to the growth and prosperity of Timnath."

Keeping Up With The Loveland’s

This week Williamson spoke to ILSR about the project and why a town-wide fiber network is such valuable and vital infrastructure.

“Timnath is an interesting place. We are predominantly a residential community and we are growing quickly,” he said, adding that in a post-pandemic world of distance learning, remote work, and telehealth, an important part of the mix when people decide where to live and work is whether that community has reliable and affordable high-speed Internet access.

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partnerships

Content tagged with "partnerships"

Seeking the Commonwealth of Connection: How Small-Town Volunteers and Public Partnerships Transformed Internet Access in Western Massachusetts

New Report: Public Partnerships Transform Internet Access in Western Massachusetts

Harrison County, Texas Strikes Partnership With Etex Telephone Cooperative

Cabot, AR Deploys 10 Gbps Capable City-Owned Fiber Network

Connecting the Last Twenty Percent in Newark - Episode 587 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Predictions for 2024 - Episode 585 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Chattanooga Leads with Innovative Services and Pioneering Programs for Low-Income Individuals - Episode 579 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

West Des Moines, Iowa is a Model for Open Access Conduit Networks - Episode 573 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

A Scattering of Wonks - Episode 569 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Timnath, Colorado and Loveland Team Up to Further Expand Celebrated Municipal Fiber Network