As Comcast comes to Sharon, Frontier re-enters conversation

SHARON — On Aug. 8, the Sharon Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance approved the last payment to Comcast for the $1.6 million broadband rollout.

In an interview Aug. 11, Jill Drew of the Sharon Connect Task Force confirmed the decision to pay the second $800,000 installment with the town’s undesignated fund. She said Treasurer Tina Pitcher sent the check on Aug. 9. The town did not qualify for the ConneCTed Communities Grant from CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Office of Telecommunications and Broadband.

The Comcast project partners the town with the cable company for a new network of high-speed internet, ensuring faster service in town.

Frontier Communications, an alternate provider, lost on the town’s bid for the internet deal met by Comcast. Still, competition in Sharon is felt as Frontier recently began soliciting customers to join its network.

Frontier wants homeowners to replace copper landlines with its new fiber network in the Northwest Corner. Frontier offers Wi-Fi calling as an alternative to landlines; however, for many this service is insufficient when power outages or other natural disasters leave Wi-Fi calling unusable, whereas landlines would work through outages.

Drew said, “They’re old. This is the nation’s original phone system. But they’re kind of amazing because they work when the power is out.”

Frontier’s offer has been appealing to some due to the affordable pricing of Wi-fi calling. But others are hesitant to give up their landlines.

“It’s true,” said Drew, “It’s less expensive if you do the fiber network for everybody, at least for right now. As the consumer, we have no way to know what we’re going to be charged a year or two from now. The copper phone wire charges are regulated.”

Drew also noted that the people that hold onto landlines tend to be seniors.

She said, “Sharon skews older. There’s a lot of people here who want to keep their landline phones.”

Drew said residents started complaining to Sharon Connect Task Force about Frontier’s tactics. She emphasized that it was a fault of the company, not the actual workers on the line.

Sharon is not the only town experiencing issues with Frontier, as exemplified by recent filings in Connecticut. On July 11, PURA (Public Utilities Regulatory Authority) fined Frontier 2.5 million dollars for “lapses in quality services of standard.”