No forum...but broadband is on the way

Weather 1, Broadband 0. The snow has led to the indefinite postponement of today's forum on broadband solutions for Western Mass that I blogged about yesterday. So get those shovels and snowblowers going, read a few plain-text stories online, or just go with a good book.

But wait! One of those stories to read is about the very solution some non-broadband towns are seeking. Verizon has just announced plans to make broadband available in a lot of the Hilltowns, plus Valley communities such as Westhampton and Leverett, with broadband availability within the year. I assume this is the fiber-optic FiOS initiative that Verizon has been rolling out in a big way in the eastern half of the state, so that would leave consumers in those towns in good shape (although they will take out your existing copper-line connections when they replace them with fiber). Don't expect this to be universal within the towns, given the note near the bottom of the story that communities with existing Verizon coverage won't see any expansion of that. And, of course, do expect a monopoly. But still, this is a leap forward for a lot of frustrated communities in these parts. Score one for the private market.