Fiber Connect of the Berkshires is dedicated to providing its subscribers with safe, reliable service.

On occasions when you experience disruption with your broadband service, please check here for the area affected and the restoration of service.

11/21/2023 to 11/25/2023: Issue Affecting Egremont Network Upload Speed

On Friday afternoon, November 24, 2023, Fiber Connect saw Egremont's upload issue resolved. Also resolved was the garbled audio some phone subscribers experienced.

Ahead of a post-mortem from the state's Middle Mile operator, Fiber Connect can report the following.

On November 21, at 12:09 PM, when Fiber Connect first observed the issue, they immediately began troubleshooting and realized the trouble was upstream of Egremont's network. FC contacted their aggregation provider in Springfield and the state Middle Mile operator. The aggregate provider promptly responded but could not discover the cause; however, they continued to test and monitor the network. The state operator's response was to insist that everything remained unchanged and that they could not find any issues. They insisted that the cause was on FC's side. FC spent the following days replacing equipment, isolating circuits, running test equipment, and exhausting every possible means to isolate the cause or prove it could not be their network.

Now able to prove to the state operator that FC's Egremont network was operating correctly, the state operator agreed to rebuild their circuit in Great Barrington and move FC's fiber to the new circuit (FC had requested this action on the 21st). On Nov. 24, a Middle Mile technician arrived in Great Barrington, inserted a new optical module into a new port on their network equipment, and moved FC's fiber to the new port. FC saw an immediate correction with Egremont's upload speed. After an hour of close monitoring by Fiber Connect and their Springfield provider, no further errors or issues appeared.

Fiber Connect's plan for going forward: Over the past year, Fiber Connect has invested in miles of new fiber and switching and routing hardware, complementing two new uplink paths to the North and West. Testing and turning this up is slow and complicated; however, Fiber Connect is anxious to bring these investments online in the coming months, starting in 2024. FC will detail these improvements in the near future. In short, FC is bringing more diverse paths to its Berkshire networks and increasing our upstream backhaul by almost 10x to start.

11/09/2023 to 11/10/2023: Outage Affecting Entire Fiber Connect Footprint

Nov. 9. 2023, 3:46 PM Fiber Connect became aware of a service issue throughout its footprint that began around 3:30 PM. Fiber Connect confirmed the problem was with its upstream provider, MBI's Middle Mile. With the problem and its solution in the hands of the Middle Mile, Fiber Connect began to monitor the situation and await an estimated restoration of its upstream service.

4:22 PM Fiber Connect learned from the State Middle Mile that a physical fiber break had occurred within their network. An outside plant team had been dispatched to locate and assess the damage and provide a repair plan.

6:09 PM, Fiber Connect received a further update that a fiber segment was damaged in Granville, MA, on Route 57. Fiber repair crews had been dispatched.

8:43 PM Repair crews were expected to arrive on site around 9 PM. Fiber Connect hoped for an estimated repair time once the splice crews assessed the damage.

10.02 PM The Middle Mile provider informed Fiber Connect of the splice crews' presence on the scene, and they had begun to repair the mangled cable. An estimated repair and service restoration time was unavailable.

Nov. 10, 2023, 2:10 AM Fiber Connect was informed that the fiber crews were still working to restore service, but no estimated repair time was given.

5:31 AM Fiber Connect learned from the Middle Mile provider that the start of repairs had been delayed pending police access to the site and that the provider could offer 7:30 AM to complete repairs.

5:59 AM Fiber Connect saw its upstream link online, though the Middle Mile provider had not officially confirmed repairs.

10/24/2023 - 10/25/2023: Outage Affecting Egremont Network

Oct. 24, 2023, 6:38 PM Fiber Connect became aware of service issues in Egremont and Monterey due to a post-upgrade cleanup by their hardware vendor that damaged a system database. As a result, Fiber Connect began restoration from a backup, which taxed the system as all ONTs started to reconnect and establish network connections. Egremont's network was overwhelmed, which caused the core to crash and reboot. With the reboot, Fiber Connect had to force down all customer ports and then bring them back online, 64 units at a time, not to overwhelm the system, a slow but safe process.

10:14 PM Fiber Connect continued collaborating with its hardware vendor to repair the system. Periodic system reboots occurred as Fiber Connect continued to work through all the ports on the system.

11:51 PM Modem database repair completed. Fiber Connect began bringing customer ports online one at a time. Fiber Connect advised customers to expect possible drops in service until they could confirm total stability.

Oct. 25, 2023, 12:39 AM Fiber Connect finished bringing all customer ports online without error and was awaiting system normalization. Fiber Connect advised customers operating WiFi systems, such as Orbi or Google WiFi, that they may need to reboot them to establish a connection to their ONT (fiber modem). Note: Fiber Connect reported that customers near the intersection of Mt. Washington Road and Jug End Road were without power due to an automobile accident damaging a utility pole and that Fiber Connect service would resume upon power restoration.

1:22 AM Fiber Connect completed cleaning up the equipment database of the harmful entries that caused the equipment to tailspin into a continuous reboot. After an hour of observing very low CPU utilization, Fiber Connect deemed the system stabilized and operating normally. Fiber Connect recommended that customers who were still experiencing issues power cycle their external WiFi equipment and ONT (fiber modem), and for persistent issues, to email support@bfcma.com.

3/11/2023: Outage Affecting Entire Fiber Connect Footprint

At approximately 8:00 AM on Saturday, March 11, 2023, Fiber Connect became aware of an issue with the State's Middle Mile distribution hub in Great Barrington, which affected the upstream internet connection. Fiber Connect subscribers received notice of the issue by email at 8:06 AM.

Fiber Connect sent a second email notification at 9:51 AM stating the State was in the process of isolating the root cause for the upstream traffic failure.

At 10:14 AM, Fiber Connect sent a third notification to report that the State' had determined that a physical fiber break feeding the Great Barrington distribution hub had occurred and expected a crew to be on the scene at approx. 10:30 AM to assess the damage and needed repairs and establish an estimated repair time.

With more information from the State, Fiber Connect sent a fourth notification at 12:30 PM that the fiber break had occurred in two places across several utility poles in Grandville, MA. Crews were on the scene and commencing repairs. An estimated time for repair was not provided.

At 4:18 PM, Fiber Connect's fifth notification reported repairs were still underway, and no time for completion was provided.

By 7:12 PM. Fiber Connect could report in their sixth notification to subscribers that the estimated time for repair was 10:30 PM.

Fiber Connect's seventh and last notification at 10:30 PM reported that the State was completing repairs and upstream traffic was starting to come back. It further noted that propagation delays could be expected over the next hour as the network equipment re-established itself. However, Fiber Connect was assured that the State had repaired the damaged fiber segment.

8/13/2021 Outage Affecting Entire Fiber Connect Footprint

At approximately 5:15 AM, a service outage occurred taking Egremont, Monterey, parts of both New Marlborough and downtown Great Barrington offline. Both MBI (the State’s fiber infrastructure operator) and our upstream provider acknowledged an issue disrupting service to the Berkshires. Fiber Connect’s own equipment looked to be functioning normally. No ETR (estimated time of restoration) was given.

At 8:36 AM Fiber Connect learned from its upstream provider that there was a fiber break in the Tolland area which knocked out transport services to 75 endpoints in Western MA. A repair crew was dispatch to assess damage and estimate repair time.

At 9:12 AM Fiber Connect received news that an accident involving a utility pole caused damage to a major fiber trunk. The repair crew was told they could not access the scene until 11 AM. ETR was forecast for 2 to 3 PM.

At approximately 3:17 PM, the repair crew was able to restore the damaged fiber and to begin to roll out service to Western MA. Fiber Connect saw sporadic signs of network life as traffic began to pass. Fiber Connect’s networks began syncing up.

At 4:35 PM Fiber Connect saw floods of traffic causing some routing issues on headend equipment. Fiber Connect downed all equipment in Egremont and then began to bring ports back online one at a time in 5 minute increments to ease the system back to capacity.

At 4:57 PM Fiber Connect saw all systems stabilized and running normally.

In a post-incidence report from our upstream provider more details were provided. A tree falling on a utility pole took down all wires - power, MBI, CaTV and Verizon. The lines were intact so no service was disrupted. However, when electrical provider Eversource arrived on the scene, they cut all lines to remove them from blocking traffic on the roadway. No other utility had been notified of their lines being downed.

3/14/2021 Outage Affecting Entire Egremont Footprint

At 10:26 PM during a wind storm bringing short bursts of damaging high-speed winds to the southern Berkshires, Fiber Connect became aware of a service outage affecting the entire Egremont footprint when remote communication with the head-end was lost. A truck was dispatched to the head-end atop Baldwin Hill to investigate the cause.

At 11:50 PM Fiber Connect informed subscribers that the high winds had blown down an enclosure near the head-end, blown it across the road and a vehicle had subsequently hit the cable and damaged it. Working against the still gusting high winds, the crew began splicing the broken cable together and issued an ETA of 2-3 hours for full repair.

At approximately 1 AM, the first fiber feeding into the head-end was patched and system verification was begun. Shortly after, the south side of Egremont came back online. Over the next two hours the crew spliced the remaining fibers feeding various neighborhoods on the north side of Egremont bringing back service to blocks of roughly 30 subscribers each.

At 3:58 AM, the crew finished repairing the distribution cable and, with all systems testing OK, service was fully restored to Egremont’s entire footprint.

3/2/2021 Outages on Shun Toll Rd & Baldwin Hill, No. Egremont

A highly unlikely coincidence greeted Fiber Connect’s crew on Tuesday when weather delivered high wind gusts and frigid temperatures. A downed tree on Shun Toll Rd, No. Egremont, MA took out power and with it subscribers’ internet service. With power restored, internet service came back for these subscribers but in minutes it went down. Turns out as power returned a gust of wind on Baldwin Hill, which was miles away, knocked an enclosure off a utility pole near our head end sending it crashing to the ground. The crash broke a single fiber - the very fiber that fed the port for this network of subscribers. Service was restored in approximately two hours. Click here to watch Fiber Connect’s crew battle the wind to make necessary repairs.

11/17/2019 Service Outage Affecting Entire Egremont Network

At approximately 2:00 PM ET Fiber Connect remotely detected a service interruption in Egremont, Monterey and Great Barrington. Roughly 10 minutes later Monterey and Great Barrington restored themselves without intervention. Egremont did not restore itself.

After conducting a remote diagnosis, Fiber Connect was unable to determine a cause or restore service. A truck was dispatched to assess the problem on-site. After quickly dismissing the issue was not caused by downed and damaged fiber cables or closures, it was determined the issue existed with the head end’s electronics. The truck returned to Fiber Connect’s shop in Monterey to assemble all necessary replacement parts. Back at the head end, tests determined the optical transceiver had failed and needed replacement. Service was restored to all Egremont subscribers at approximately 4:30 PM ET on the same day.

Fiber Connect’s post review of the incidence assigned the origin of the head end’s electronics failure to an upstream carrier.

11/1/2019 Outage on Stretch of Rt. 23 (Hillsdale Rd) Egremont

Multiple trees fell at once and downed a utility pole and power lines in the early morning hours. By 8 AM ET National Grid allowed Fiber Connect’s crew access to the scene to begin their repairs. The lost of Fiber Connect’s closure (destroyed by the falling trees) disrupted service to 8 subscribers. To restore service, the crew pulled and lashed new fiber optic cable along the affected stretch of Rt. 23. A new closure was built and mounted to the replaced utility pole and provisioned on-site. Subscriber service was restored by 4 PM ET. Click here to watch a video of the repairs.

3/1/2019 Spotty Outages in Egremont and Monterey

Fiber Connect is aware of spotty service outages occurring in Egremont and Monterey. We are working through the issues and will keep all subscribers updated as to their resolution. When resolved we will be best able to provide an explanation for these outages. Please be patient and do not re-boot your ONT. We apologize for the service disruptions and appreciate everyone’s understanding.

Update: The problem has been isolated and a solution is being implemented.

Resolved 3/2/2019

2/25/2019 Major Pole Damage Shun Toll & Rt. 71, North Egremont

On Monday damaging winds developed over western New England. Winds in excess of 50 mph were common across areas of Egremont and Monterey. As a result numerous power outages and downed trees occurred across our network. Although Fiber Connect’s network suffered no major outages, several cables were in need of reattachment where poles were damaged and two customers had on-property cables severed due to fallen trees.

One of the hardest hit areas was Shun Toll and Rt. 71. The top of the pole carrying electrical wires to North Egremont premises South, East and West of Rowe Rd was sheared off by a large tree fallen by strong winds, closing Rt. 71 between Rowe and Boice. It took National Grid crews from midday Monday to Tuesday end-of-day to install a new pole and reattach electrical wires. Our crew was there waiting for clearance to reattach our intact fiber cable and enclosure. No interruption of service occurred. Click here to watch a video of the incident.

10/27/2018 North of Hupi Rd, Monterey. Multiple Poles Down.

High winds in the afternoon felled two trees taking out poles and causing power outages north of Hupi Rd. In both instances our fiber survived intact. In one of the instances, the felled tree ripped out 4 poles of electric and one pole snapped and shattered. Fiber Connect subscribers who have Uninterruptible Power Supply units attached to their ONT’s will be able to stay online. Once National Grid completes its repairs and it’s safe for our crew, we’ll lift our fiber onto the new pole. Incident fully resolved by Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018.

7/10/2018 Entire Network Down.

Around 4:30 PM ET, Fiber Connect became aware of a network-wide issue that caused the network to go down. The outage was caused by a hardware failure at our upstream carriers in Springfield, MA. Our network as well as several other provider networks in Western Massachusetts were affected. The issue was never on our network. We notified all subscribers via email when the outage was first detected plus sent an additional email when more information was available from our carrier. Throughout the outage we remained in constant touch with the carrier's technicians providing help with resolving the hardware failure. At approximately 4:18 AM ET the next morning, we started to see traffic passing from our network to our carrier. Although this issue was out of our physical network footprint, we felt an apology was owed to our subscribers for this interruption to their service. We have begun our own evaluation of what occurred and will undertake steps to avoid a similar situation in the future.

3/23/2018 Baldwin Hill East, Egremont. Pole Down.

In the early morning, a car hit a pole to avoid striking a deer. A Fiber Connect crew working in the area was able to arrive at the scene with the police and emergency vehicles. The crew waited until National Grid arrived to replace the downed pole and then reattached the fiber optic cable. Throughout the incident service was maintained to the Fiber Connect subscribers along Baldwin Hill East. Incident fully resolved by mid-day.