HILLTOWNS — In 2022, the town of Westerlo got arguably the best news a rural town could get: the federal government would invest nearly $1.7 million into expanding broadband to virtually every household there.

It was the culmination of an enormous effort by townsfolk with plenty of suspense in the meantime, and set the standard for what could be achieved in the fight for small communities like theirs to get what is now considered as essential a service as electricity. 

But nearly three years later, the project has yet to begin, as bureaucratic hurdle after bureaucratic hurdle is cleared — the points of which can sometimes be unclear. 

Town supervisor Matthew Kryzak — who was a board member when the funding was being fought for and became supervisor shortly before it was awarded — told The Enterprise that the project has felt “like a war of attrition.” 

“The red tape is frustrating and I’ve had to fill out multiple environmental impact questionnaires even though I have repeatedly stated that the fiber is being installed on existing utility poles,” he said. “There are no utilities being placed underground except for individual hookups where the property owner is requesting it.”

But that underground connection, he said, is not under the town’s installation contract with the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the grant.

Kryzak joked that he had “no idea that there were 16 types of grasshoppers to be concerned about here in Westerlo.” 

At the moment, the town is waiting on pole licensing agreements to be made, which Kryzak said could take “as long as a year.” 

Once that’s done, construction can begin. 

“We are one of the few municipalities that have actually made it to the licensing phase of the project under this particular grant structure,” Kryzak said. “I was told that there are several rural municipalities that have thrown in the towel … We refuse to give up. We will get this project across the finish line one way or another. We will crawl across the finish line if we have to.” 

Funding struggles 

Knox and Rensselaerville meanwhile have struggled to get funding, despite the work being put in by their respective broadband committees. 

The effort to be competitive for broadband is a major lift all on its own, with towns often required to create their own maps or a list of unserved households that show the level of need more precisely than the maps created by the federal government.

As The Enterprise has previously reported, when the government assesses need, it does so on a census-block by census-block basis, where if just one household in a block has broadband it means that block is “served,” in the eyes of the government. This puts rural communities at a disadvantage because their low population densities mean their blocks cover a larger geographic area. 

Knox had put together its list of unserved households by the end of 2023, but is still without a solid source of funding. 

Broadband committee member Laura Murphy told The Enterprise the town has been hoping to secure a portion of the $42 billion federal Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding introduced under President Joe Biden, and now under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been keen to slash funding. 

While BEAD is unaffected as of now, it is currently under review, and Trump’s proximity to Elon Musk — founder of Starlink, a satellite-internet service and, for a time, the one in charge of eliminating or reducing government programs — was enough to prompt former BEAD Director Evan Feinman to warn other government officials that the program could be sabotaged to benefit Musk. 

While Musk has been heavily critical of the broadband expansion program, the administration-proper has instead focused on the lethargy of the program which, to date, has not yet connected a single household to broadband service. 

According to the BEAD progress dashboard, which tracks where states are in the process of using the money they’ve been allocated, the furthest level of progress is releasing a project for public comment, which has been accomplished by just three states. Before that can happen, states have to have an initial proposal approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, get through a challenge process, and begin and finalize the selection of a service provider. 

New York State has begun picking out a service provider but has not finalized one yet, according to the dashboard. 

Rensselaerville is similar to Knox in that it has determined its level of need, but is searching for a funding source, working closely with Albany County and local internet-service providers for access to grant opportunities. 

Rensselaerville’s committee chairman, Hans Soderquist, told The Enterprise that it is hopeful about a broadband program announced by Albany County last October, which The Enterprise previously reported on, but “has not received confirmation of work starting or detail on which addresses would be covered.”

The county program is itself partly reliant on state funding to deliver more than $7 million to Mid-Tel, Mid-Hudson Cable, Archtop, and Spectrum Cable to build out broadband infrastructure to 1,142 homes in Coeymans, Berne, Westerlo, Rensselaerville, Knox, New Scotland, and Bethlehem.

It also has $2.9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act that it intends to give to Mid-Tel and Mid-Hudson Cable regardless so that they can build out in Coeymans and Rensselaerville, connecting 591 homes. 

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy told The Enterprise that the county is “working diligently” with New York state to “finalize the details” of the expansion plan.

“It’s the fourth quarter, we’re on the first-yard line,” he said, lamenting how long the process has taken. “It’s been a couple years, but we’re not giving up trying to get the Hilltowns connected.” 

Meanwhile, Berne has made the least amount of progress toward improving broadband, with no local broadband committee of its own. 

A non-town-affiliated citizens group called the Community Hilltown Action Team, or CHAT, had discussed the need for broadband, and invited Hilltown Tech owner Kerwin Lovell to explain Starlink at a meeting as an alternative, but the town board has not taken any action on these concerns. The group is now on pause. 

As The Enterprise previously reported, Berne Supervisor Dennis Palow and Deputy Supervisor Tom Doolin, both Republicans, attempted last month to renew a contract with Spectrum Cable under new terms that no longer require the company to build infrastructure in areas of the town that meet certain density requirements, but was unable to after board members Joe Giebelhaus and Melanie laCour, both Democrats, voted against it, with no fifth member to break the tie. 

Berne Democratic Committee spokesman Jeff Marden told The Enterprise, “This provision is essential for ensuring broadband access as our town develops. Without it, Spectrum has no obligation to extend service by laying cable in residential areas, regardless of house density. It would have significantly worsened Berne and New York’s rural broadband access, hurt residents of the town, and left Berne with no recourse.”

Starlink

For those without broadband access, Starlink remains the most viable alternative, though it has limitations that would likely prevent it from being an all-out replacement of broadband. 

The main obstacle is cost, though Starlink has recently unveiled a more affordable tier of service. The cost of the full residential tier is $120 per month, while their “Residential Lite” tier costs $80 per month. 

The Enterprise has heard from several Hilltown residents over the years who say the service is much better than other satellite options, which were typically seen as a last resort. 

Starlink is indeed faster and more reliable than other satellite options, according to CNET as of May 2025, but is slower than the wired internet that broadband offers. 

And while the service offers “unlimited data,” users will have their data throttled when the network is congested, with the Residential Lite users throttled first. Users can pay an additional fee for “priority data” to get around the throttling, but prices range from $65 a month to $540. 

“Starlink is an exciting and much-needed addition to rural internet's long-limited landscape,” the review summary reads. “Although service is slower and more expensive than many other providers and connection types, the relatively high-speed potential, low latency, unlimited data and no contract requirements boost its value as a rural internet provider.”

A subsidiary of Amazon, Project Kuiper, is planning to compete with Starlink. The Federal Communications Commission in 2020 gave Amazon approval to put over 3,000 satellites into low Earth orbit with more to come.