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Dear Plainfield Broadband supporter:

Hurrah for progress! This is a long email because there is so much to say. Thank you for reading through to the end.

Construction of our town-owned broadband network is complete in the southeast part of town (to Ashfield and Cummington borders) and crews have moved to the west part of town (to Windsor and Savoy borders), and will then proceed to the south central and northeast parts of town. Our municipal fiber ring (connecting every town building) is finished, as is installation of all the racking and electronics in the hub. The entire network is expected to be complete—with all customers receiving gigabit service—by April 2020.

We are now working with two different construction crews: the network builders who are stringing the fiber-optic cables down every road and the drop installers who will bring fiber from the road to your home and complete the interior installations.

Customer installations will begin the week of October 21 and continue into early 2020. We are prioritizing the customers who have signed up for Internet service. Those who have signed up for a “cold drop” will be completed at the end of the project. See the sequence and rough schedule at the end of this email. Weather will affect the crews' pace and the actual project completion dates.

Here’s what you can expect:

  1. Whip City Fiber will contact you directly to set up an appointment. An adult must be home as the installation includes ensuring any devices you want to connect to the Internet (e.g., computers, television) are configured and working properly.

  2. Whip City Fiber customer service members will explain the process when they set up the appointment and will ask you some questions about your basement, electrical outlets, etc. Equipment needs to be installed on the outside and the inside of the home.

  3. Appointments will be offered Monday through Saturday at two time slots, 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Drop contractors expect to complete two installations per day per crew.

  4. Whip City Fiber will adhere to the network design and customer installation budget the town has adopted. Any deviations from this plan (e.g., additional interior wiring, missed appointments requiring a return trip, or extensive customer service to configure devices) will require homeowners to pay the difference. You will be informed of any additional charges and billed directly by Whip City Fiber.

  5. If you signed up for the VOIP telephone service, Whip City Fiber will port your existing phone number to the new phone system. This process takes 3–5 days. Do not cancel your Verizon phone service until after Whip City Fiber confirms your number has been successfully ported; otherwise you risk losing your number.

  6. You will be required to set up an account for billing and payment purposes. You will be billed monthly via email. Payment is due upon receipt of bill, with a 15-day grace period. Whip City Fiber accepts credit cards and electronic transfer from your checking account. Plainfield Broadband strongly urges you to use the checking account option as it saves the town money on processing fees, which helps us keep our prices as low as possible. No cash or paper checks can be accepted.

If your home requires an underground installation, two trips are required for the drop crews: one to visit the site and assess the conduit location/site conditions and a second to complete the installation. No matter where your home is located in town, if you have an underground installation, you will be contacted for the consultation beginning the week of October 21, as we are trying to stay ahead of impending winter weather. 

If you have any questions—including what services you have signed up for—please contact Whip City Fiber customer service directly. Laura, Andrea, and their team are very helpful. You can reach them at (413) 485-1251 or customerservice@wgeld.org

We are very excited that our community is finally crossing the digital divide and that we will have truly world-class high-speed Internet throughout town in just a matter of months.

As always, thanks for your support!

Kimberly Longey (manager)
Rebecca Coletta, Brian Hawthorne, Michal Lumsden, Sally Silberberg

P.S. You can still submit an application for the $85/month broadband service while construction crews are in town. Do so at www.whipcityfiber.com/plainfield or call (833) 923-2255 (M-F 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Once crews leave town there will be an additional mobilization fee to have them return, which we will pass on to you. We urge all Plainfield homeowners to apply for the service by December 31, 2019, to avoid additional charges.

P.P.S: If you signed up for a cold drop (connection to outside of house only) and now want to have full Internet service ($85/month, plus optional phone for $12.95/month), there is still time to be included in this year’s installation schedule. Please contact Whip City Fiber directly to amend your application to include broadband service (and phone, if desired). 
Sequence & Approximate Timeline
for Our Town Network


Please note: We’re working as fast as we can and will accelerate as possible;
keep in mind weather delays will affect the schedule.

  • FSA03: Southeast part of town (to Ashfield and Cummington borders) Network built by October 8. Customer installations begin October 21 and will take approximately 4 weeks.
  • FSA01: West part of town (to Windsor and Savoy borders)
    Network built by November 30. Customer installations begin December 2 and will take approximately 3 weeks.
  • FSA02: South central part of town (to Cummington border)
    Network built by January 11. Customer installations begin December 2 and will take approximately 2 weeks.
  • FSA04: Northeast part of town (to Hawley and Ashfield border)
    Network built by February 22. Customer installations begin February 24 and will take approximately 2 weeks.
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Plainfield Broadband · 304 Main Street · Plainfield, MA 01070 · USA

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