Month: March 2019

Results of Woodstock Chamber Survey

Broadband, IFMC-Org-Related

IFMC has been coordinating with the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and Industry to gather marketing data to assess the need for community-fiber. On an annual basis, the Woodstock Chamber conducts a membership survey to gather a variety of data on how the chamber is doing. IFMC was able to insert five questions as part of that survey.

The survey was advertised by e-mail and during the month of January 2019. For the questions below, there was 21 respondents out of 273 members.

While the survey is not perfect, it does give us some insights into what the business community wants, which is more reliable, high quality, and cost-effective broadband. This definitely leads to more questions, which we’ll be following up with a broadband survey to dig deeper.

Question: Do you think having reliable, high quality and cost-effective broadband internet service is essential for your business and a factor in fostering economic development in our community?
Question: How satisfied are you with your current internet service at your business?
Which of the following issues do you experience with your business internet service? (Choose one)
Approximately how much do you pay per month for Internet service at your business?
Would you like to see the Chamber advocate for reliable, high quality and cost effective broadband Internet in our community?

Greenwood Township Presentation – In Review

Greenwood Township

Last night, our Public Interest Director, David Gutowsky, gave a presentation to Greenwood Township advocating for the Board to explore community-fiber as a solution to our Internet woes. The Board was receptive and asked many great questions. The Board, in general, agreed that Greenwood Township does have a connectivity issue. Some of the Trustees expressed frustration with their fixed-wireless or cellular for their connectivity. The Board seemed surprised to see smaller and more rural communities than Greenwood Township implementing community-fiber, like Rock Falls, Illinois or Lyndon Township, Michigan.

We asked the Broad to talk with township constituents to see if there is a problems and to help us with our drafted Broadband Survey. If you are a resident of Greenwood Township or any other township, we encourage you to contact your Trustees and tell them what problems you are having with your Internet. It might be that it goes down all the time, or it is too expensive. They will not know if you do not contact them.

Want to see what we gave the Township to review? Click here.

Woodstock Fire/Rescue District not hooked up to the Consortium’s Fiber Network

Consortium, Local Agencies

Our Public Interest Director, David Gutowsky, spoke with the Chief Michael Hill of the Woodstock Fire/Rescue District at the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chamber Mixer on Wednesday, February 20th, 2019. Chief Hill delivered a presentation on the need for the upcoming referendum. At the end of the Mixer, David had asked Chief Hill if the District had been hooked up to the Consortium’s Network because the one branch of fiber network on Raffel Road goes right past Station 3 at 2900 N. Raffel Road to Woodstock North High School. Chief Hill said that the District had not been hooked up to the Consortium’s fiber network. Chief Hill explained while that the fiber network does go by Station 3, the fiber network does not go near Station 1 on Judd Street and Station 2 on Dean Street.

Chief Hill said “It is one of our long term goals to connect all the stations together. The telephone bills have been going up over the years. I would like to see all the stations hooked up, which would improve public safety and help with reducing our costs by eliminating expensive leased lines.”

When asked if Chief Hill had recalled why the District was not hooked up to the Consortium’s Network, he said “Discussions about hooking up the District to the Consortium’s network occurred before I became Chief. Best to ask the City Manager of Woodstock, Roscoe Stelford for some historical information.” When asked for comment, Mr. Stelford replied “The District participated when the project was in the exploratory phase. After the costs were determined for the public partners, the District was unable to move forward due to the upfront costs to build the fiber network laterals to both Stations 1 and 2. However, Station 3 is ready when the District is able to build laterals to connect either of the remaining stations. The Consortium supports the District’s future participation, when they are able to fund these associated costs.”

Woodstock Police Department and the McHenry County Emergency Telephone Board were connected to the Consortium’s fiber network back in 2015.