Community Broadband Bits

Jon Chambers, a partner at Conexon, returns to visit us this week to talk about rural connectivity and the approaching Connect America Fund (CAF) auction. Conexon works with electric cooperatives to establish high-quality Internet networks for members, typically in rural areas where national providers don’t offer the kinds of services communities need.Having spent time at the … Continue reading "Jon Chambers: Rethinking The Rules on The Connect America Fund – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 268" ★ Support this podcast ★

With the right policies and local investment, Spiral Internet could bring high quality Internet access to much of northern California. Spiral is a small private company and its CIO, Michael Anderson, talks with us today for episode 267 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. We discuss Spiral's enthusiasm for open access fiber networks and how the … Continue reading "Spiral Investing in Rural California While AT&T Invests in Sacramento – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 267" ★ Support this podcast ★

When policy and decision makers discuss how to improve connectivity in the U.S., they often compare Internet access in other parts of the world to connectivity in America. We can learn from efforts in other places.Benoit Felten, CEO of Diffraction Analysis, has analyzed business models, approaches, and infrastructure development all across the globe. His company has … Continue reading "Benoit Felten of Diffraction Analysis Talks Global Strategies – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 266" ★ Support this podcast ★

It shouldn't be surprising that the city that is home to CalTech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory needs high-quality connectivity. Those institutions are part of the reason Pasadena began investing in its own fiber network.To learn the other reasons and how they went about it, Pasadena's Telecom & Regulatory Administrator Lori Sandoval joins us on Community Broadband … Continue reading "Pasadena Benefits From Municipal Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 265" ★ Support this podcast ★

After we saw April Glaser's article on a local San Francisco ISP connecting low-income housing to high-quality Internet access, we knew we wanted to learn more. Preston Rhea is the Senior Field Engineer for Monkey Brains and someone we knew from his work with the Open Technology Institute at New America. He joins us with … Continue reading "Connecting San Francisco Low-Income Housing with Monkey Brains – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 264" ★ Support this podcast ★

Eugene is a good example of recent public-public partnerships developing to expand fiber optic Internet access. The city of 166,000 in Oregon helped finance a downtown dark fiber network by the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB), which is publicly owned but has an independent governing board from the city. Eugene's Economic Development Planner Anne Fifield … Continue reading "Dark Fiber Brightens Downtown Business Climate in Eugene – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 263" ★ Support this podcast ★

After a recent announcement from Microsoft committing to building rural networks using TV white spaces [NYT, Ars Technica stories], we asked Public Knowledge Senior Vice President and long-time TVWS enthusiast Harold Feld to explain the significance. We discuss what TVWS are and why this announcement is such a big deal given that we have previously covered multiple … Continue reading "Microsoft Supercharges TV White Spaces – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 262" ★ Support this podcast ★

Sonic is one of the best ISPs in the nation – well beloved by its California subscribers and policy geeks like us in part because of its CEO and Co-Founder, Dane Jasper. Dane combines a tremendous amount of technical and business knowledge in a thoughtful and friendly personality. And while we don't always agree, we are always … Continue reading "Sonic Suggests Dark Fiber for Munis – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 261" ★ Support this podcast ★

Just what does it take to have a market? It may be more complicated than you think — and in large part because of the things most of us don't notice that governments do. We discuss this and the role of broadband planners with Alex Marshall on Community Broadband Bits podcast 260. Alex is the author … Continue reading "Broadband Planning and How Government Creates Markets – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 260" ★ Support this podcast ★

For episode 259 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, we are going back to the well in Ammon, Idaho – one of the most creative and forward-thinking fiber network deployments in the country. Strategic Networks Group has completed a study examining the impact of Ammon's open muni fiber network on local businesses and residents.To discuss … Continue reading "Ammon Examines Muni Fiber Impact – Community Broadband Bits 259" ★ Support this podcast ★

As the telecommunications and broadband market has become more and more consolidated, it has drawn more attention, leading to more attention from people that actually care about functioning markets. Enter the Roosevelt Institute and their report, Crossed Lines: Why the AT&T-Time Warner Merger Demands a New Approach to Antitrust.Roosevelt Institute Senior Economist and Fellow Marshall … Continue reading "Roosevelt Institute Argues for Better Broadband Policy – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 258" ★ Support this podcast ★

One of the very many treats at Mountain Connect this year was a keynote from Chattanooga EPB's Director of Fiber Technology, Colman Keane. (Watch it here.) After discussing their remarkable successes, we snagged an interview with him (he was last on the show for episode 175).We discuss whether or not Chattanooga is an appropriate role … Continue reading "Chattanooga Fiber Surpasses Expectations, Offers Lessons – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 257" ★ Support this podcast ★

In an exciting milestone, this is podcast 100000000. Or 256 in decimal – you know, for the squares. While at the always-amazing Mountain Connect event in Colorado, I snagged an interview with Doug Seacat of Deeply Digital and Clearnetworx. They sought a grant from the Colorado Broadband Fund to deploy fiber and wireless to underserved Ridgway … Continue reading "Colorado Chooses to Subsidize DSL Rather than Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 256" ★ Support this podcast ★

While attending the Broadband Communities Summit in Dallas, Christopher had the opportunity to interview some of the people he’s been wanting get on the show, including Kyle Hollifield, Senior Vice President from Magellan Advisors.Magellan and Kyle have been working with a growing list of communities across the country exploring opportunities to improve local connectivity. In addition … Continue reading "Considering PPPs, Marketing For Munis – Broadband Bits Podcast 255" ★ Support this podcast ★

Some time ago, when speaking with Joshua Breitbart, the Senior Advisor for Broadband to the New York City CTO Miguel Gamiño, he mentioned to me that any subset of the issues they face with regard to improving Internet access in New York City is itself a massive issue. Joshua joins us to elaborate on that … Continue reading "NYC Works With Grassroots for Low-Income Access – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 254" ★ Support this podcast ★

Bonus episode! We did several interviews while at the Broadband Communities Summit and Dallas, so we are publishing two episodes this week. Diane Kruse joined us for today's discussion, episode 253, with an update about progress around community broadband in Colorado and great advice for communities considering an investment.Diane is the CEO and President of … Continue reading "Great Community Advice and Colorado Update – Broadband Bits Podcast 253" ★ Support this podcast ★

If you picked up the Institute for Local Self-Reliance dictionary, under “public-private partnership,” it would say “See Westminster and Ting fiber-optic network.” We discussed it with Westminster City Council President Robert Wack in episode 100 of Community Broadband Bits and he rejoins us for episode 252 to update us on the progress they have made.We … Continue reading "Update on Westminster's High Profile PPP Network – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 252" ★ Support this podcast ★

We’ve been covering the East-Central Vermont Community Fiber-Optic Network (ECFiber) since 2009; it has come a long way from inception. ECFiber is a group of rural Vermont towns that are working together to deploy a regional network to offer high-quality Internet access to communities typically stuck with slow, unreliable connections such as DSL and dial-up. In … Continue reading "ECFiber Connecting Rural Vermonters To The Speed They Need – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 251" ★ Support this podcast ★

The larger focus of our work in the Community Broadband Networks Initiative is to ensure communities have the networks they need. Our guest for Community Broadband Bits episode 250 is an expert in how markets break and the policies that make them work. Gary Reback is a well known Silicon Valley lawyer and Of Counsel at … Continue reading "Policies to Make Markets Work – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 250" ★ Support this podcast ★

As we continue to cover the growing movement of rural electric cooperatives to bring high quality Internet networks to their members, we wanted to bring Alyssa Clemsen-Roberts back on the show. Alyssa was last on the show for episode 109 and has since moved from the Utilities Telecom Council to Pedernales Electric Co-op in Texas.Though Pedernales … Continue reading "Rural Electric Co-ops as Reluctant Warriors for Broadband – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 249" ★ Support this podcast ★