GREENFIELD — Cheaper Internet may be just around the corner for Greenfield residents.

The Town Council will vote on a request to borrow $5 million to establish a telecommunication system during its meeting Wednesday, which would allow the town to move forward with plans to form its own Internet and telephone business, designated legally as a “Municipal Light Plant.”

Residents would be able to subscribe to the services for a relatively low cost.

Mayor William Martin said the loan for the system will be at no cost to the taxpayer, since it will be paid for by revenue derived from the service’s users. Since October 2015, the town has been piloting a free Wi-Fi program called GreenLight on Main Street, from Elm Street to High Street and up High Street to the police station.

Daniel Kelley, president of Kelley Management Group Inc. in Wilbraham, the town’s consultant for the project, said the pilot program has been very successful. On a recent day, he said the network had a total of 2,255 devices connected to it.

With Town Council approval, the town will be able to build out an 80- to 100-mile fiber-optic network throughout Greenfield with 750 to 1,000 access points so that residents, no matter where they live, will have Internet access. The service is projected to cost $9.95 per month for the mobile plan and $29.99 per month for home service, according to Kelley. It will offer customizable speeds from 25 megabits per second up to gigabit speeds.

If approved, Martin said it will take about 10 months to completely build out Greenfield.

“We hope to start from the center out or dense edges in, but we’ll have a nice map for everyone to view for the phases to complete the infrastructure,” he said.

According to Kelley, the service’s projected revenue stream for the first year is $1.8 million. With the cost of goods and debt service for the proposed bond factored in, he said the town will be left with a net income of $60,000.

When asked by Town Council President Brickett Allis at a recent Ways and Means Committee meeting how confident he is in the projected revenue, Martin said, “I feel confident … this would be very, very competitive in this market and the combination of price, the fact that the quality will greatly exceed what exists for our community now and we’ll be the only one with the carrot (for economic development).”

Kelley added the Internet will be different than what residents are used to because there will be no massaging of the data during its journey from source to customer.

With providers like Verizon or Comcast, he said, “There’s so many switches and routers and systems that everything goes through that it just degrades the signal, and we don’t do that. It’s pure fiber all the way up to Town Hall where our distribution system is now.”

Once the service is up and running, Kelley said the free Wi-Fi downtown will disappear, but, he added, the town is discussing different incentives such as providing a certain amount of free Internet time for those who shop locally.

Martin said he encourages those with similar marketing ideas to share them with the town.

You can reach Aviva Luttrell at: aluttrell@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 268
On Twitter: @AvivaLuttrell