FairPoint upgrades broadband
To cover parts of Ashland, Chapman, Fort, Presque Isle
By Anthony Brino
Staff Writer
Hundreds of residents and businesses in several Aroostook County communities now have a choice to buy faster faster internet services, thanks to a broadband upgrade completed by FairPoint Communications.
New portions of Ashland, Chapman, Fort Fairfield, Houlton, Ludlow and Presque Isle all have broadband internet service through FairPoint, the company announced.
“Broadband access opens doors to the world for the residents and businesses in Maine and is fundamental to the state’s future economic growth,” said Mike Reed, FairPoint’s Maine state president, in a media release. “Internet access has transformed the way we live, and that is even more evident in rural states like Maine.”
The company’s upgrade brings broadband internet to some localities for the first time and adds to the gradually growing broadband availability off of Aroostook County’s major U.S. Route 1 and Route 11 corridors.
The state of Maine defines broadband as internet with upload and download speeds of at least 10 megabits per second – fast enough for music and video streaming, video conferencing, and a number of internet-based business apps.
In Ashland, where the Ashland Community Library recently adopted free public internet to meet the needs of patrons, the broadband upgrades were installed on all or parts of 44 roads and streets, including Routes 11, 163 and 227, and the Garfield and River roads.
In Fort Fairfield, a similarly wide swath of the community on the north side of the Aroostook River has been upgraded to broadband service, including portions of the Center Limestone, Limestone, Martin, McNamee, Old East and West Limestone roads. That adds to other recent high-speed internet expansion to about 90 homes in the southern side of Fort Fairfield, along the Maple Grove, Presque Isle and Houlton roads, made possible with a $250,000 grant from the state ConnectME Authority for Pioneer Broadband.
Led by town economic director Tim Goff – a young father and former TV journalist who believes internet is crucial to the future of The County – Fort Fairfield has been making a concerted effort to improve internet in town. Another major underserved corridor, the North Caribou Road, has not been expanded to broadband, but it’s an area that town officials are hoping to convince FairPoint to upgrade in the coming months, according to Goff.
Other areas in The County benefitting from FairPoint’s upgrades are parts of Chapman and Presque Isle, on portions of the Chapman, James and Lathrop roads, as well as Houlton and Ludlow.
FairPoint has made some of these upgrades as part of the federal Connect America Fund program that helps offset a company’s costs in bringing broadband to rural and “high-cost areas,” said Angelynne Beaudry, FairPoint’s communications director.
