WRENTHAM - About half the town is now able to choose between cable TV providers Comcast and Verizon. Verizon has strung fiber optic cable in town, but residents in newer subdivisions with no overhead utility wires are not yet served by Verizon, officials say.

Also, some sections of town - mostly the west end - aren't able to connect with Verizon because of a different telephone exchange, 883 near the Rhode Island line, instead of 384 found in most of town.

All local homes should be able to hook up with Verizon and its FiOS service within the next few years, officials said. Both cable companies offer Internet and phone service, besides cable TV.

Four local cable access program channels for the Verizon service are about ready, Frank Whitehead, station manager for local cable access, said.

"It is working quite well," Whitehead told selectmen, adding not all town buildings are ready yet for live meetings to be shown on the channels. Because the service goes by telephone areas, Wrentham residents will be able to get some area communities on the access channels. "Already people have been calling the station. They are seeing these weird people" on a town board, Whitehead said. "I tell them you are watching Millis."

Selectmen approved a contract with Verizon in June that had been negotiated by the cable advisory committee. The contracts for Verizon and Comcast are almost identical. Both call for $250,000 worth of local cable access equipment that is beyond the 5 percent surcharge on customer cable bills that pays for local cable access operating costs.

Verizon serves more than 100 towns and cities in Massachusetts, including North Attleboro, Norfolk and Franklin, where it has a service center. To check on Verizon availability in your neighborhood, go to the Verizon Web site at www22.verizon.com/Content/FiOSTV/. Enter your home phone number and address.

If FiOS is not available, you will be able to enter your contact information in a Future Notification Form. Another source is www.wrenthamcableaccess.com, then enter your phone number.

STEPHEN PETERSON covers Wrentham for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0377 or at speterson@thesunchronicle.com.