Broadband Expansion in Essex

January 12, 2024 - The Town will be working with Tectonic Engineering out of Latham, who was recently hired by the Lake Champlain Lake George Regional Planning Board to provide mapping services to Essex, Essex County and Clinton, Warren, Washington and Hamilton Counties to support federal funding dollars for broadband expansion. Supervisor Hughes is fully aware of all areas of Essex where fiber or fixed wireless is not available and will work with Tectonic to ensure accurate data flows to the FCC.

July 9, 2023 - The Town received word from Charter Spectrum that they have interest in expanding their service past Whallons Bay. They are currently reviewing and considering options for expansion along Albee Lane and south along Lakeshore Road up Couchey Hill to the town line. The Town has no authority over Charter Spectrum’s decision-making process, but Supervisor Hughes is working with their representative to support their process as much as possible.

February 3, 2023 - WCAX produces this segment on CVWireless, an Essex fixed-wireless business and the challenges they face in providing wireless internet to residents of Whallonsburg.

August 11, 2022 - Charter Spectrum has largely completed their work to turn on their service to local customers in the Cablecom/Willex corridor. Minor disruptions are being resolved as they crop up. Broadband speeds for residents are now in the area of 100Mbps/10Mpbs, a dramatic increase from the previous standard of 25Mbps/3Mbps.

July 23, 2022 - Charter Spectrum has begin converting Cablecom/Willex connections to Spectrum connections. Modems have been shipped to Willex residents with service anticipated to be turned on on or around July 25.

May 31, 2022 - The Town received a letter from Charter Communications stating that Spectrum Northeast, LLC will begin transitioning customers in our community to Spectrum products and services from June 28, 2022 through August 10, 2022.

No additional details were provided. Most likely, this transition will affect customers currently on the Cablecom/Willex connection.

April 15, 2022 - The Town of Essex has been informed that SLIC (St. Lawrence Internet Connect) has been awarded $1 million in funding from FCC Rural Development Opportunity Fund to build out fiber to FCC-selected census blocks in Essex. Below is a map where we expect these build-outs to take place. Makeready and route planning are anticipated to take place in 2022. The Town remains committed to those roads in Essex (Couchey Hill, Cross Road, Clark Road, Angier Hill Road and areas of Whallonsburg) not affected by this build-out. We are making slow but consistent progress. If you are curious whether your address is eligible for this service, contact SLIC.

April 12, 2022 - Thank you SLIC for connecting Daniels Road (between the four corners Reber intersection and Mason Road) residents to high speed fiber opportunities.

February 13, 2022 - Informative article about broadband progress and potential funding in Essex County


Broadband expansion in Essex is happening at a very slow, but steady pace. This page intends to educate you about what is currently known, what is currently being done and what we hope to experience in the near future. Please reach out to Supervisor Hughes with any questions that you may have. Thank you.

  • Question: Who are the current internet service providers in Essex?

    • Cablecom/Willex (based in Willsboro) currently serves the eastern side of Essex, along Route 22 and Lakeshore Road down to Whallons Bay. Cablecom/Willex as a company is being purchased by Charter/Spectrum.

      • Question: Will Charter/Spectrum expand their services to other areas of Essex?

        • It remains unclear as to what Charter/Spectrum will provide in the future. They will take over operations of what is currently provided by Cablecom/Willex and make their own judgements as to what improvements are necessary for their newly acquired system.

    • St. Lawrence Internet Connect (SLIC) (based in Nicolville, NY) has expanded their services (through grant funding) to the northwestern part of Essex (Jersey Street west of Brookfield Road). Additional expansion may be possible, depending on grant funding municipalities, or their company directly receives.

    • Westelcom (based in Chazy and Westport) has expanded their services (through grant funding) to the western part of Essex (Daniels Road, Reynolds Road, Brookfield Road, Route 22 from the Town line to the Essex County Home/Cemetery), Powers and Sayre Roads, Alden Road.)

    • CV Wireless (based in Essex) is a microwave line-of-sight wireless internet provider that provides service throughout Essex where the cable/fiber lines do no currently go. Some areas of installation include Leaning Road, Clark Road and Albee Lane.

    • HughesNet and Exede/Viasat also provide satellite-based internet services to those in Essex who have no other option.

    • Starlink has become an emerging success story for many in our community who reside in the last mile area.


  • Question: What is the definition of broadband?

    • The FCC defines high-speed broadband as download speeds of up to 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 3 megabits per second (25/3 Mbps). ... The reason the definition matters is because the federal government has a goal to ensure that affordable, high-speed broadband is available to all.


  • Question: What is the Town doing to promote broadband expansion in Essex?

    • From a Town Council perspective (because broadband expansion is so expensive to “make-ready”, run the lines from poll to poll and then run connections to individuals residences), the most economically feasible opportunity is for the Town Council to support grant applications at State and Federal levels. The Town budget cannot support the kind of financial investment required to expand broadband in our town. The Town must continually advocate for, support and apply for grant funding from external agencies.


  • Question: What grant funding has the Town applied for?

    • Beginning in 2015, NYS announced a $500 million broadband expansion initiative to connect every home in NYS to broadband services, to be dispersed in phases. It was up to internet service provides (ISPs) to submit applications for funding. Cablecom/Willex received grant funding in Phase II which allowed for government subsidized expansion and connectivity rates for certain census blocks in Essex. In Essex, Middle Road, Catholic Church/Blockhouse Road, School Street and the north side of Whallons Bay Road were all funded and fiber optic connectivity was installed. Westelcom also was awarded a sizeable grant to expand internet to approved census blocks in the western part of Essex. This map from the FCC can help you better understand census blocks and which ISPs are approved to provide service in which areas. Satellite providers like HughesNet and ViaSat were allowed to apply for this grant funding (to fill in the gaps that local ISPs couldn’t afford to fill) which left many customers with monthly data caps and irregular connectivity during storms and cloudy days.

    • Essex County formed a Broadband Committee in 2017 (Supervisor Hughes is a member) that began working with regional partners in neighboring counties and ISPs to form the North Country Broadband Alliance (NCBA) (Supervisor Hughes is a member). This group continues to meet weekly to discuss what can be done to work together to provide strength in numbers for future State and Federal grant applications.

      • In August of 2021, this group applied for an NTIA Broadband Grant through the US Department of Commerce. News on the awarding of this grant is expected to take place in early 2022. Updates on this grant will be posted here when learned.

      • The USDA has recently announced a new round of funding for their ReConnect Loan and Grant Program. The Alliance is looking into participating in this grant opportunity.

      • ARPA (American Recovery Plan Act) funding to the Town in the amount of $64,615 has been received. The Town Council is currently deliberating how best they feel these funds should be spent to support the greatest number of Essex residents. As broadband infrastructure spending is so expensive, there is a general consensus that this money would not make a significant dent into broadband expansion in Essex. The monies could be used in other approved ways with a more direct and lasting impact.

      • H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contains broad spending opportunities to support broadband expansion throughout the United States. The official text of the bill is here. The Road to Enactment: The US Senate approved the infrastructure bill on August 10 by a 69-30 vote. The US House of Representatives approved the bill on November 5th by a 228-206 vote. President Biden signed the bill into law November 15th. Below are the highlights of the bill as they pertain to future broadband funding opportunities, as learned from a NCBA meeting on 11/12/21:

        • $42.45B for broadband deployment in all states, which is a formula based grant for deployment with a minimum standard of 100x20. Favored areas for deployment are areas that don’t have 25x3 terrestrial based services.

        • Each state is expected to receive at minimum $100M for broadband deployment. How each state will handle the money they receive is yet to be determined, but deployment must be within the guardrails of the federal program.

        • It’s unclear at this point whether the 2010 census or the 2020 census will be used to determine population density/need.

        • $600M is set aside for private activity bonds

        • $2B is set aside for ReConnect funding, but this funding has its own strings attached (municipal ownership, ability and infrastructure needs to support 100x100 synchronized service, administrative overhead)

        • $1B for middle mile fiber/microwave/tower construction, which all require a 5-year build out. Concerns related to towers and the Adirondacks exist for this funding.

        • $2.75B set aside for digital inclusion and $14.2B for affordability. Similar to the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program that allows Internet Service Providers to administer benefits, this provides for a permanent “Affordable Connectivity Benefit” to ensure low-income families can access the internet. The program provides a $30 per month voucher for low-income families to use toward any internet service plan of their choosing.

        • Our region is well positioning for future success because of our early work, but we are reliant on accurate mapping of on-served/under-served areas in our North Country counties by the FCC.

Credit: Justin Zagorski of ECC Technologies, the company hired by New York State to perform broadband mapping in all 62 counties.

Do you have an unanswered question? Email Supervisor Hughes for an answer.

Last updated: February 13, 2022