ASHBURNHAM -- Comcast's senior manager of government and community relations stood firmly by the company's decision to not extend cable service to six homes Old Pierce Road and the adjacent portion of Rindge State Road at the Board of Selectmen meeting Tuesday night.
Timothy Kelly offered residents a cost of $94,000 if they wished to fund the project themselves.
According to Kelly, the reason it would be so expensive is because, rather than simply extending the line up Rindge State Road and onto Old Pierce Road, the company would also have to backtrack 2.5 miles to connect to the fiber bundle to make the extension possible.
"It's not just an extension, it's a new build," Kelly said.
Ashburnham, which entered into a 10-year contract with the cable provider in 2004, agreed that there must be a housing density of 15 homes per mile for Comcast to extend service, but according to Kelly, the area in question has only 7.6 homes per mile. Kelly said the housing-density rate the town is currently locked into is one of the lowest in the state, and that many locations require 30 or more homes per mile.
Kelly said Comcast will not fund the project at its sole cost because the company could not afford an investment of $94,000 to supply a mere six homes with cable service.
Selectman Gregory Fagan scoffed at the notion of the multibillion-dollar company -- the largest cable provider in the country -- not being able to afford the expense.
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Kelly suggested that residents use satellite or wireless providers, but frustrated residents in attendance griped about expensive, poor-quality service from such providers.
Some said the lack of cable and Internet service is negatively affecting the value of their homes.
All agreed they could not afford Kelly's proposition, which would require they pay more than $10,000 each to extend Comcast service to their homes.
"I'm not afraid to spend $400 to get out of a contract if I can have Internet when it's cloudy out," said James LeBlanc of Rindge State Road. "But I don't have $10,000 just sitting in my pocket."
"It's difficult when it's raining out, and we can't get online, and I have to tell my kids, sorry, you can't do your homework tonight," his wife, Wendy LeBlanc said. "My oldest goes to Overlook (Middle School) and I'm going to have to send in notes for any assignments that require Internet research to be done at school."
"It's a hardship for our family," said Brian Belliveau, of Old Pierce Road. "We don't have enough Internet service. We get into situations where we use all of our data within the first two weeks of the month and have to go without it the rest of the month. Our kids are in school with kids who have service all the time, and they don't understand why we don't. It's hard to explain."
According to Town Administrator Doug Briggs, Ashburnham isn't technically rural enough to benefit from the federal Broadband Initiatives Program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which is bringing service to the area to homes along Route 2, just out of reach of Ashburnham residents.
Chairman Ed Vitone suggested other grants may be available to fund the installation. He proposed to Kelly that the town would pay for the materials and installation, provided that Comcast would connect its service and maintain the lines. Kelly said it's possible, but would not offer a breakdown of the cost between materials and labor.
"If we want this to have any probability of success, we need to know what to ask for," Vitone said to Kelly. "Give us the answer that is most cost-effective so that when we go hat in hand to our reps, we're not asking for the world."
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