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DANVILLE – A dream has come true for the little Cafe in the center of the village of Peacham. The new WiFi provided through NEK Broadband provides access to high-speed internet for customers and for those who don’t yet have it available at their home.
According to Cafe board member, Betsy McKay, “This Cafe exists because of community support to renovate the space. In addition, Friends of the Cafe supports it annually to keep the rent low, as well as pay monthly bills such as electricity, phone and internet. We are pleased to collaborate with NEK Broadband to provide reliable internet in our community space.”
The parallels between the community focus of the Peacham Cafe and NEK Broadband are strong. Every town in the Kingdom has a community representative on the Board of Governors. Ideas are discussed and decisions made, not just by staff, but by board members, as well.
For NEK Broadband, reaching this milestone of 500 customers in August, after the 400th customer came online in July, represents more than just numbers. It is a sign that the idea of Communication Union Districts in Vermont works. We’ve moved far beyond the initial planning stages begun a few short years ago. The organization is successfully partnering with the Vermont companies hanging the fiber-optic lines on utility poles and installing the routers in homes. We’ve also set up the business systems to make sign-up and billing easy to understand.
Expansion will continue through the fall and winter months, as usual. The next few years will see many, many more people throughout the Kingdom connected to the educational, business, information, and fun resources they need. Additional funding sources for the expansion of the network are available and actively being applied for. The warehouse lot is packed with reels of fiber-optic line ready to be hung on utility poles. There are hundreds and hundreds of miles left to build and all the pieces are in place to succeed.
The place to find out whether service is already available at your location is get.nekbroadband.org.