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Plainfield Broadband Update and Important Information about Maintenance Outages

You might be wondering about those “planned outage” messages you have been getting from Whip City Fiber, and you will soon be receiving another one. While our town-owned broadband network is substantially complete (see below), and we have all been enjoying the availability of amazing Internet, there are a few final touches that were included in our 2018 design that we are still working on. Some of these changes to the network require a brief service outage, and we have asked Whip City Fiber to notify you any time a change might cause even a brief network outage. So what are these changes? They are maintenance updates to networking software and hardware, installing new equipment, and configuring existing equipment to make the network more resilient.

We are excited that the next change will enable a system called MPLS. This will allow our town’s Internet connection to use automatic backup connections to the rest of the world. For example, if our fiber connection through Springfield to the rest of the Internet fails or has to be taken down for a maintenance outage, we will have an automatic backup through a different set of fibers to a connection in Greenfield.  As our neighboring towns of Ashfield, Cummington, and Windsor complete their network construction projects, we will be able to create additional pathways over the fibers that we have already built to our town borders. Our aim is to interconnect Plainfield’s network to these neighbors to limit our outages due to damage from wind, weather, falling trees or auto accidents involving utility poles. While we have crews on stand-by 24/7/365 to immediately respond to such emergencies, our goal is to contain and isolate emergency outages to the fewest and shortest possible.

There are a lot of moving parts in all of this, and we appreciate your understanding and patience. We know how important providing internet and phone service is to our community and don’t take any outage lightly. These planned outages are typically scheduled in the wee hours of the morning, and while they are planned for 2 or sometimes up to 6 hours, service is rarely interrupted for that long (and indeed sometimes is not interrupted at all). 

Plainfield Broadband network completion

After an 18-month construction phase that began July 2019, fiber optic cables now run down every road in town, passing 100% of 397 premises. 82% of premises are connected to the network, and we have 274 active subscribers.  While our project experienced construction delays due to weather and the COVID-19 pandemic, we are pleased that the total costs came in $85,000 below initial estimates. Visit our website for more information on the project timeline and sources and uses of funds.

Plainfield works through an intergovernmental agreement with Westfield’s Whip City Fiber (WCF) to deliver internet services and maintain our network. WCF offers gigabit internet service for $85 per month, and optional VOIP phone service for $12.95 per month (plus approximately $8 in taxes and fees). This service has proven invaluable for residents and businesses, especially as COVID-19 has required many to work, educate kids, and conduct town committee and board activities from home.

Not Connected Yet?

We will continue to accept applications for service. The more subscribers we have, the more financially resilient our town-owned network will be. Visit https://www.whipcityfiber.com/plainfield/ to apply.

Many thanks for your continued support. As always, we’re here to answer your questions
Kimberly Longey (Manager) and Brian Hawthorne (Assistant Manager)

Need Help?

For billing, payment, and installation scheduling questions, please contact Whip City Fiber Customer Service, M-F 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at
customerservice@wgeld.org or 1-413-485-1251.

If you are already connected and have technical support needs or questions, email Whip City Fiber tech support directly at:
techsupport@whipcityfiber.com or 1-413-485-1204.
Local tech support is available 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with a backup service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

If you would prefer not to stay up-to-date on this important town infrastructure project, simply unsubscribe.






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Plainfield Broadband · 304 Main Street · Plainfield, MA 01070 · USA

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