EDC welcomes call for strong community involvement
By Kurt Steele

Following Kim Maxwell’s May briefing of the Economic Development Commission (EDC) about the benefits of installing a fiber optic network in Norfolk, Maxwell now believes that a significant dividend would be a vast improvement in the town’s cell phone coverage.
Maxwell, who has a distinguished background in data communications and is the prime organizer of a proposed community-sponsored fiber optic network, cites a recent technology called “microcells” that could be deployed in Norfolk. “A small antenna mounted on a telephone pole and connected through a controller to a fiber optic line,” he says, “would receive and transmit cell signals within a mile of the pole. Anyone within a half mile of a roadway should have three-bar or better service.”
In his May EDC presentation and later talks with community groups, Maxwell testified that fiber optic’s big advantage is speed, with fiber transmitting 200 times faster than DSL and 50 to 100 faster than cable. As the chairman of the Federal Communications System noted in a recent call for residential fiber networks in every state by 2015, fiber is the future for video, growing data files, and many new applications.
Maxwell is hopeful that a community-lead effort could put Norfolk in the early wave of installations so that a fiber optic network could attract new economic development and new residents to a region still waiting for its first fiber-to-the-home optic network.
“The issue is not whether Norfolk gets fiber optic cable, but when,” Maxwell explains. “Eventually, much of the country will be wired with fiber optic cable. If we move soon, we can be among the first and have the benefits of that. If not, we are likely to be last, since Comcast and AT&T have no financial incentive to install fiber optic in small rural towns.”
Maxwell is counting on strong community participation to get the network off the ground. “We could try to raise money now and hire consultants to do some of the work, but Norfolk’s small size suggests we could do a lot of the preliminary work ourselves, counting poles and houses, surveying people for interest in possible services, understanding local and state political and legal issues, and getting a handle on how bad cell phone service really is now.”
“Very little of this requires much technical knowledge,” he added. “We should be able to talk with almost everyone in Norfolk. If we learn as I think we will that there is significant interest in a fiber optic network for both a resident’s own use and what it might contribute to the town’s economic development, we have a much stronger case for financing and implementation.”
Libby Borden, chair of the EDC, was particularly pleased with Maxwell’s focus on community participation. “We are a small town where residents like to have a say in proposed developments,” she said. “How nice to go a step further and offer a chance to participate in the actual organizational work.”