Becket Broadband offers two primary services over our town-owned fiber-optic network:
There are two Internet connection speed options:
For current pricing information, please see our Pricing page.
25 Mbps meets the minimum requirements of the FCC’s definition of broadband and is suitable for most basic tasks (email, web browsing, basic video streaming).
Gigabit service provides for faster file uploads and downloads as well as other activities like high-resolution video streaming—and is quickly becoming the standard connection speed across the globe.
A Wi-Fi router is included with your residential Internet service to provide wireless access for computers, tablets, smartphones, gaming systems, and other devices in your home. You should expect speeds over your Wi-Fi connection to be as fast as 450 Mbps or so for a Gigabit subscription, and close to 25 Mbps for a 25 Mbps subscription.
WiredWest offers Digital Phone Service, which in use is just like that of a traditional telephone. This technology connects phone calls over the Internet, rather than using traditional copper wiring. Digital Phone Service includes free long-distance calling in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; 911 service; call blocking; voicemail and more. Digital Phone Service is available both bundled with broadband Internet service and as a stand-alone service.
Digital telephone service may not be appropriate for use with medical devices or alarm systems.
As with broadband Internet service, digital telephone service will not be available during power outages unless you have installed a battery backup (uninterruptible power supply) or other backup system.
Yes. Digital Phone Service includes the option to transfer your current phone number to your new service. If you do wish to retain your current phone number, it is critical that your telephone service remain active with your current provider until you are notified by Whip City Fiber that your number has been successfully transferred to your new Digital Phone Service. If you cancel your existing phone service before the transfer has occurred, you will lose your current phone number forever.
5G works great with high-density populations in a limited-obstruction environment. Becket is neither. The hilltowns, generally, are not well suited for this technology, and so we don’t anticipate wireless companies making the infrastructure investment in our area any time soon, if ever.
In most cases you can simply plug in your existing devices just as you did with your landline and have no issues. There may be some older units that are not compatible with our newer technology for technical reasons, but most anything produced in recent decades should be fine. You do not need to use the special filters that are used on DSL landlines, either.
For helpful information on how to use a fax machine with your Digital Phone Service, visit https://support.ooma.com/home/faxing-with-ooma/.
Offering cable- or satellite-style TV service over our network would be prohibitively expensive. The good news is that with all the TV and movie content being offered over the Internet through free or subscription services, many have found that there is no need for separate cable or satellite service. In fact we expect the volume of available content to continue to increase.
Using any of several available streaming services, you could save hundreds of dollars a year by transitioning from satellite TV to online streaming video, sometimes called OTT (over-the-top) media service.
You can watch on-demand programs and movies—even live television—without additional hardware on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. There are also third-party devices (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon FireStick) that will allow you to watch streaming content from the Internet on your TV. Some TVs, called Smart TVs, even have video streaming capability via Ethernet or Wi-Fi (wireless) built-in.
Many local channels are available through streaming service providers. Refer to each service’s website to review availability. The website https://www.suppose.tv/tv allows you to search for the best available packages that include your choice of channels. These are usually much cheaper than equivalent satellite or cable TV packages.
One highly regarded option is YouTube TV, which has all the local channels, including NESN (New England Sports Network): https://tv.youtube.com/welcome. There are others, of course.
For more information and options visit https://wiredwest.net/for-customers/can-i-get-tv.
Depending on your location and elevation you may also be able to receive several local broadcast TV channels over the air for free with an HD digital antenna. Signal strength will vary depending on your home’s geographic specifics and installed antenna height above ground.
We encourage you to do some research, decide on your preferred approach, and complete your initial streaming setup before your WiredWest installation so that they can best assist you in getting things going right away.
You can check your potential signal strength and receivable TV channels at https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps. Enter your home’s full address and click “Go!” to see a list of your potentially receivable TV stations in order of estimated signal strength. Scroll down to the topographical map to check the location pin for accuracy. If necessary, using the zoom feature, drag the location pin to your home’s exact location. For the best accuracy, if you zoom in sufficiently, you may see your home’s outline. After relocating the pin (if necessary), scroll back up to see the results.
There are similar tools at http://www.tvfool.com and elsewhere. Using several such tools may help you get the best practical outlook for broadcast TV reception for your home.
Digital antennas range in price from $10 to $150, depending upon how many channels you hope to receive. You can purchase them at department stores or online. As you may suspect there’s plenty of digital TV antenna information to be found online, like here:
https://www.techhive.com/article/3214772/which-tv-antenna-should-i-buy.html.
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