The Town of Long Island Broadband Exploratory Committee was set up by the a vote of the Board of Selectmen on December 3rd 2015. The purpose of this committee is:
“To explore the options for and feasibility of creating a broadband high speed internet access system for Long Island”.
Committee Members
Mark Greene
Ralph Sweet
Pierre Avignon
Doug Grant
Curt Murley
After working for 2 years the committee put together a detailed broadband plan for the island and got a preliminary cost from Axiom Technologies for implementing it. About the time we published the plan Consolidated Communications (formerly Fairpoint) upgraded their DSL internet service on Long Island. With the Consolidated DSL upgrades most Long Islanders were satisfied with their internet service making the need to improve internet access less urgent.
The pandemic renewed interest broadband and the committee went back to work. In early 2020 the town entered into negotiations with Consolidated Communications to build a fiber to the home network for Long Island. Thanks to the voters of Long Island who supported a bond issue to help pay for the network, the negotiations, although lengthy, were successful. The result was that Consolidated, with the availability State grants, agreed to build a fiber to the home, without any help from the town.