PUTNEY — Have our telecommunication industry leaders lost their sense of industrious problem-solving? Have our elected officials lost the power of their voices?
In 2010, FairPoint sent offers of high-speed Internet. When we called to “sign up now,” we were told “not available in your area.”
In 2011, in calls to the governor's office, we were told that the state was making an effort to have a plan to provide Internet to our address by the end of the year.
In 2012, elected officials encouraged a meeting with Karen Marshall, then-chief of Connect VT, at the Putney Fire Station, and we registered as unserved/underserved at BroadbandVT.org. Representatives at the state Division of Consumer Affairs & Public Information encouraged us to contact VTel.
In 2013, our governor assured us at Town Meeting, loud and clear, that by the end of the year we will have high-speed Internet to the end of Banning Road, Dusty Ridge Road, Putney Mountain Road, and other unserved/underserved areas in town.
The latest and greatest news from VTel is that the company won't have to finish the Putney project until 2015 - and that's wireless, not cable.
Just give us the cable, and we'll walk it up from the Aiken Road substation - pole by pole.