WARWICK — With a May 2021 contract signed between the town and Charter Communications, Warwick residents were expecting to finally receive fiber-optic internet service in one of the county’s most rural communities.

Since then, the company has brought high-speed internet service to the majority of town, but nearly four years after the contract was inked, a handful of off-the-grid residences are still waiting to be connected.

After working with a company representative over the last several months, the Selectboard’s frustration has grown, as the town was informed the installations would be complete by 2028.

“We just wanted to get these last houses done,” Selectboard Chair Keith Ross said, noting the board has reached out to Charter for a conversation to be held at the April 28 Selectboard meeting, but has yet to receive a response.

Charter Communications, which operates under the trade name of Spectrum, seemed to indicate it was preparing to connect the remaining households in April 2024, as town officials and residents said contractors were on site, Dig Safe had been contacted and flags were planted. But work had suddenly stopped, according to Beech Hill Road resident Brad Compton, who is still waiting for connection to his off-the-grid home powered by solar panels.

The Highway Department also prepared the sites at the request of contractors, according to a letter sent by the Selectboard to the company.

“They were kind of ready to go, but someone higher up at Spectrum apparently pulled the plug,” Compton said.

Funding for the work in Warwick comes from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a $20.4 billion Federal Communications Commission initiative designed to bridge the digital divide by bringing high-speed internet to residents in rural communities, including many unserved and underserved municipalities that do not have internet service with speeds of at least 25/3 megabits per second. Charter’s webpage states it has undertaken work in nearly half of the U.S. states. The company received its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund authorizations in the middle of 2022 and has six years to finish the work.

“This is a multi-year project across 24 states and as a result there are no firm completion dates at this time. Construction is scheduled to begin in some states by late 2021,” the page reads. “The entire buildout is estimated to be completed by 2027 with some states finalizing construction into early 2028.”

A company spokesperson confirmed the work is scheduled for completion in 2028.

“Charter has completed 99% of its rural expansion in Warwick — well ahead of the 2028 target,” the spokesperson said, “and is continuing to invest in Massachusetts to bring broadband to currently unserved and underserved residents in the commonwealth.”

The Selectboard, through its letter on April 7, said town counsel “advised us that there is nothing in the contract that specifies a 2028 deadline.”

“The opportunity to achieve a higher-quality experience as advertised by your company was a strong selling point,” the letter states.

Compton, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said he and the other residents who have yet to be connected rely on the internet for their jobs.

“The town broadband is way better than nothing … and I wonder, with Spectrum coming, what the long-term prospects of the town’s broadband is,” Compton said.

He said he is grateful the Selectboard, as well as state Sen. Jo Comerford and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s offices, have been working closely with him and other residents affected, as their work on behalf of a small subset of people in a town of roughly 800 is an example of a government dedicated to its citizens.

“The Selectboard is really going to bat for us, our state senator’s office has been [involved], Sen. Warren’s office has been getting involved,” Compton said. “As aggravated as I am with Spectrum, I’m really impressed my local government is standing up for us. It would have been real easy for them to say, ‘It’s not our problem.’”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.