PITTSFIELD, Mass. — AccessPlus Fiber plans to expand into the city, providing residents, businesses, and schools with another option for internet service. 

Last week, the City Council supported AccessPlus' plan to build an underground fiber broadband network in Pittsfield.  The company offers plans that start at $65 per month for 1 Gbps and has a "soft three-year plan" for full expansion into the city. 

"We are a local voice and data provider proudly serving over 7,000 customers throughout the Northeast, many of which are within a couple of miles of City Hall. From lnterprint to Lulu's Kitchen, Pittsfield school district to MCLA, we're not just a nationwide provider looking for new markets; we have routes that have been built here for decades," representative Chaz Garrity explained.

"What we're building is the fastest, most reliable fiber optic network in the United States. Today, if you do your research across most providers, the bandwidth speeds that folks are offering, we're bringing to Pittsfield an unprecedented speed of 100 [Gbps]. Nobody's ever done that today." 

Construction will be done underground, first through trenching or utilizing existing Verizon conduit. Work will be gone in phases between the windows of April 2 and Nov. 15. AccessPlus has been awarded funding through the Massachusetts Broadband Institute's Residential Retrofit Program to connect 16 public and affordable housing addresses in the city. 

This is where the expansion will begin, reaching a total of 832 housing units. Programs will be available for low-income rebates through the Community Eligibility Provision, Supplemental Security Income, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

Garrity said, "It's not just connectivity. What I'm getting after here, this is a foundational piece for 21st century governance, education, health care, and economic growth." 

Several residents spoke at the public hearing after receiving an abutter notice. There was a mixture of support for new competitors in the local market and concerns about construction impacts. 

William Garrity, a member of the School Committee, was glad to hear about the company's commitment to net neutrality and data privacy.  

"I think one thing that I want to stress the importance of is that the speed we currently get from Spectrum is divided between your upload and download speed," he said. 

"… With AccessPlus and fiber infrastructure, you get the same upload and download speed of one gigabit per second. That's a lot faster than what Spectrum currently is offering, so I'm really excited to see you guys come to Pittsfield." 

Leah Copperman, a Brooklyn, N.Y., transplant who works in technology, saod, "New York has gotten far too expensive for these people to live in, and they're looking to relocate in the Hudson River Valley. I think that Pittsfield would be a perfect destination, and that this fiber optic would be a real change to the attractiveness of the city to younger technical people." 

Teresa Carlo, who lives off South Street, said the main route has been torn up countless times and disrupted her family for generations. 

"I'm really upset about it. That finally looks good," she said about South Street. 

"If anybody lives near there, we've been woken up every morning at 3:15 pretty much while they put the lines in, one line at a time, and it's been disruptive. I can't tell you how many times the road's been paved, like I said, and I think this needs to be considered, and I don't understand why you're even considering something like this when it's going to tear up a road that you just did." 

Copperman also pointed to frequent road work over the last five years and said it doesn't seem like there is central planning around it. 

Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales explained that the goal is to minimize the impact on city infrastructure and coordinate future work. 

"For example, anything going on on South Street will have a five-year moratorium, and beyond that, we would like to keep that intact for as long as possible, except for emergencies, of course," he said. 

"So what we'd be looking for from a company like AccessPlus is to install outside of the pavement, and there's plenty of right of way on South Street, for example, to do that, so we would be preferring that alternative over others." 

Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey recalled the city's research on becoming its own fiber network years ago and the $63 million price tag. 

"Obviously we're not going to spend $63 million on something like this, so I'm happy to see that a company is bringing this into the city," he said. 

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant, the lone vote against, said there was a lack of communication up to this point. 

"Here, we are talking about a mega project in this community, and we're having one open public hearing right here, right now. We don't know where you're going, we don't know what you're going to use. We don't know how you're going to do it," he said. 

"… As chairman of the Pittsfield Conservation Commission, I have no idea what you're doing. I find that appalling. I will not be supporting this until you go through and reach out with all these people and answer all their questions." 

Ward 2 Councilor Kenneth Warren pointed out that the city will be able to "micromanage" the project through permits, and Morales will work with the company to coordinate roadwork. 

"Tonight's meeting vote that you're expecting from us is a general vote. It's a vote to be able to work in the city, correct?" Warren asked, and was answered in the affirmative. 

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