GREENSBORO — The town has seen a flurry of activity related to high speed broadband internet service since spring. Residents became used to flaggers directing traffic as Hardwick Electric Dept. crews replaced telephone poles to make room for the new infrastructure. Now the fiber optic cables through which connections to the World Wide Web will be made are being installed.
Comcast and NEK Broadband have been working in the area. Both companies have contracted with Eustice Cable Enterprises of Brookfield, Vt., to do the work. Its vehicles are often labeled “ECE.”
NEK Broadband’s Executive Director, Christa Shute reports, “NEK Broadband is building out in parts of Greensboro.”
She recently said, “Fiber is in the air from the town line of Craftsbury toward Caspian Lake,” and, “We will be providing service at the end of 2024 to roughly 425 addresses.” On Friday she said service is coming to “North Shore Road, Lake Shore Road, East Craftsbury Road, Breezy Avenue and Edsal Hill Road.” She urges those interested in NEK Broadband’s service to view a map of the areas that will soon have service, learn more and sign up for a package at get.nekbroadband.org
Shute adds, “The advantage to NEK Broadband is that, as your communications union district, we invest all our profits back into the network and into reducing future pricing. The support of customers in purchasing our product helps all of the unserved throughout the Kingdom get access to high speed internet.”
In mid-September an ECE crew member on Breezy Avenue reported they were finishing up the final testing of Comcast’s fiber optic infrastructure. More recently Comcast’s Xfinity crews have been knocking on doors in Greensboro and leaving door hangers with information about service options when residents haven’t been home. The company has been unavailable for comment about its specific plans. Information is available at xfinity.com
Broadband internet has been available to business customers in some parts of Greensboro through Consolidated Communications for some time, but that service has not been made widely available to residential users. Both the Greensboro Free Library and Spark at the United Church of Christ are utilizing that service.
Gazette Editor Paul Fixx serves as the Town of Hardwick’s representative to the board of NEKCV, parent company of NEK Broadband.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
