Peter’s Soapbox

Thank you, Fairpoint (FKA Verizon)

Today, unprompted by me, a technician from Fairpoint Communications (formerly known in these parts as Verizon) showed up, saying we had a “crossed pair” on our line.

I asked him if this could have anything to do with some issues we’ve been having on our line for quite some time, including

• Incoming calls not being answered (because we never heard them ring)
• Dropped calls
• Outgoing calls hanging up after one ring
• Noise on the line
• Incoming calls not rolling over to our second line on busy/no answer

He looked, nodded sagely, and said that all of those things could be caused by the crossed pair, which did not surprise me.

I’m glad to know that this was a) not our fault, b) not a problem with my Asterisk box, and c) something that he was able to fix. As he was leaving, he commented that he hadn’t worked in Bethel in many years, and that everything is “all messed up.” Again, this did not surprise me.

Now, the only remaining question I have is what have the other parties who’ve been getting my calls been doing with them? Thank goodness it wasn’t a competitor.

ECFiber Finds Underwriter

It was announced this evening at the regular ECFiber governing board meeting that the group, representing 23 towns in east central Vermont with an aim to build a municipal fiber-to-the-home network, is in negotiations with Oppenheimer & Company, Inc. to underwrite an $80M investment to create the network. Sovereign Bank has been hired as a financial advisor on the deal, and Greenberg and Traurig, LLP has been chosen as financial counsel to ECFiber and its member towns.

Bethel Signs on to EC Fiber

From this week’s Select Board Meeting Minutes:

With respect to the Town joining with others through the ECFiber Interlocal Contract to develop and implement a communications system, Chairman Fox stated that the Town appears to be in receipt of sufficient legal advice to confirm that the draft Interlocal Contract for formation of “ECFiber” should now be signed, it being anticipated that the initiative will move forward expeditiously, and that a final form of the contract will be available for consideration in the near future which, when executed, will perpetuate the association being formed at this time. He then made the motion to approve the subject contract, this motion being seconded by Joe De Freitas and unanimously carried. Justin McCoart asked if the Town had yet appointed an alternate representative to the ECFiber Board of Directors; Chairman Fox advised such has not yet been undertaken by the Board.

ECFiber Pre-Registation Campaign

In case you haven’t heard about it yet, The East-Central Vermont Community Fiber-Optic Network (ECFiber.net) is an association of 20 towns in East- Central Vermont formed to build a community-owned fiber-optic communications network for the purpose of making high-speed Internet, digital television and telephone services universally available to the approximately 23,000 homes and businesses in participating towns.

ECFiber.Net is working to increase pre-registrations. At present more than 3,000 future subscribers have pre-registered for the service. The most efficient way to pre-register is online at http://www.ecfiber.net/preregister. Pre-registering is not a binding commitment as it is understood that your needs may change. When service is available in your area, ECFiber will contact you see if you are still interested.

There are three reasons to pre-register:

1. A high pre-registration count indicates to the financial community that ECFiber already has a great deal of local community support.
2. The more subscribers connected in the first few years, the more successful the network will be. An early “take rate” is essential to the project.
3. Towns with the highest percentage of pre-registered customers will most likely see the line crews first.

Show your support for ECFiber by pre-registering. You can also help by encouraging your friends and neighbors to do the same. Watch for the yellow pre-registration cards in the local stores and businesses and encourage the ECFiber volunteers asking for your support. A sub-committee of ECFiber has been formed to work on increasing pre-registrations. There are many ways to help with this effort. If you would like get involved call 802-889-9602 or write to info@ecfiber.net

ECFiber/VTA Editorial in Today’s Valley News

See this editorial in today’s Valley News for a pretty good summary of the state of ECFiber with respect to the VTA.