Submitted by Arthur McGuire, Taghkanic Broadband Committee
We are pleased to report that Gtel has placed every bit of mainline fiber in Taghkanic. The Company is now finishing up testing in the northeast quadrant of Town and is scheduling installations there now. That area encompasses County Route 11, Manor Rock Road, Craryville Road, Martindale Road, Rondale Road and Woodland Road.
There is only one cabinet left to splice in Taghkanic – at Taghkanic Churchtown Road and County Route 10. This serves Taghkanic Churchtown Road, Post Hill Road, Nostrand Road, County Route 27, Jasmon Road, Stone Jug Road, Hoyle Road, and Block Road. There are about three weeks of splicing and testing to finish in that area before Gtel will be fully ready for signups there. However, in late May Gtel was able to connect five customers on Snydertown Road from that cabinet. The Company’s commitment to the State Broadband Program office is to have all splicing complete by the end of June.
The following new customer data is available as of late May:
115 Installed 16 Scheduled 7 Waiting (customer signed up, but requested we wait) 137 Unfulfilled interests
Finally, Gtel has reached an agreement with six homeowners up in the Berkshire Lake Subdivision. Sam Hill Rd is a private road, ineligible for State funding. The homeowners have agreed to pay for the trenching and conduit cost; Gtel is burying the cable there and anticipates turning on the fiber by the middle of June.
In sum, substantial progress is being made on Broadband in Taghkanic. More than half the homes in Town now have Broadband. Gtel is connecting homes via self-install during the Coronavirus emergency. Once the splicing has been finished, Gtel will be in a position to connect more customers. That should take place in weeks or months, not the years we have been waiting.
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