Community Broadband Bits

For years, many rural communities suffered from a broadband donut hole problem – the investment in better-than-dial-up was in the population center, leaving a donut of poor access around it. Now policy to reverse that in places like Minnesota is perversely creating the opposite problem, to the detriment of the entire community. This week on … Continue reading "Rural Broadband Expansion Ignores Economic Development Potential in Minnesota – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 190" ★ Support this podcast ★

We cover a lot of Tennessee ground in this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast – episode 189 – from a cable network to muni Fiber-to-the-Home; Columbia to Pulaski. Wes Kelley, the Executive Director of the Columbia Power and Water Systems is our guest to talk about Columbia's cable and Pulaski's fiber. He cut his teeth … Continue reading "Muni Fiber Tennessee Twofer: Columbia and Pulaski – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 189" ★ Support this podcast ★

North Carolina is increasingly split between those in urban areas, where some private sector providers are investing in next-generation gigabit networks, and rural areas where the big providers have no plans to invest in modern networks. But coming out of Wilkes County, a cooperative ISP called Wilkes Communications and River Street Networks is taking fiber … Continue reading "North Carolina Coop Fibers Up Rural Counties and More – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 188" ★ Support this podcast ★

We head directly into the Internet this week with Andrew Blum, author of the book Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. We wrote about it when it was published back in 2012. It is as relevant today as then – buy it from your local bookstore. In our discussion, we talk about … Continue reading "Andrew Blum Decides to Visit the Internet – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 187" ★ Support this podcast ★

The St Vrain Valley School District, north of Denver and including the Longmont area, is transitioning from a shared gigabit network to dedicated 10 Gbps links for schools. Just what does it do with all that bandwidth? School District Chief Technology Officer Joe McBreen tells us this week in Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast episode 186. … Continue reading "Why Schools Need Big Bandwidth – Community Broadband Bits Episode 186" ★ Support this podcast ★

For this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we are trying a discussion/debate format between myself, Christopher Mitchell, and Ryan Radia, Associate Director of Technology Studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We have debated previously and prefer a style of seeking to flesh out the argument rather than merely trying to win it. We start by … Continue reading "Local Governments and Internet Access Debate – Community Broadband Bits Episode 185" ★ Support this podcast ★

The Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) has its first local chapter with the formation of CLIC-NC. Catharine Rice, who is both part of CLIC-NC and the Project Director for CLIC, explains what is happening on episode 184 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast. We remind listeners what CLIC is and the goals of CLIC-NC … Continue reading "North Carolina Organizes for Local Internet Choice – Community Broadband Bits Episode 184" ★ Support this podcast ★

Given all the exciting events of 2015 and our hopes for 2016, we decided to do another year end / year beginning show that looks both backward and forward. Unfortunately, our timing did not allow for Lisa to join us in the recording, but Christopher Mitchell is joined by communications staff at the Institute for … Continue reading "Thoughts on 2015, Predictions for 2016 – Community Broadband Bits Episode 183" ★ Support this podcast ★

As we noted in a preliminary story last week, the city of Lincoln has crafted a collection of conduits allowing greater competition for advanced telecommunications services. As we discuss this week in episode 182 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, they have also crafted a smart policy to continue expanding the conduit system. To better … Continue reading "Conduits Lead to Competition – Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 182" ★ Support this podcast ★

When Hudson, Ohio, businesses couldn't get the connectivity they needed from the incumbent cable and telephone companies, the local government stepped up to provide what it calls a “service” rather than a “utility.” Hudson City Manager Jane Howington joins me this week to explain their approach in Episode 181 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. … Continue reading "Hudson Adds Velocity to Help Local Businesses – Community Broadband Bits Episode 181" ★ Support this podcast ★

Eleven months ago, we noted the incredible energy in the Maine Legislature around improving Internet access. Maine State Representative Norm Higgins joins us this week for Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast episode 180. Rep. Norm Higgins, a newcomer to the Legislature, pushed hard for legislation to encourage municipal open access networks as well as removing barriers … Continue reading "Maine House Representative Pushes for Better Internet Access – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 180" ★ Support this podcast ★

Local governments in New Hampshire are quite limited in how they can use public financing to invest in fiber optic networks, but Hanover is exploring an approach to create voluntary special assessment districts that would finance open access fiber optic networks. Town Manager Julia Griffin joins us for Community Broadband Bits Episode 179 to explain … Continue reading "Local Internet Improvement Districts in New Hampshire – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 179" ★ Support this podcast ★

A few weeks back, Colorado voters overwhelmingly chose local authority and community networks over the status quo Internet connections. Approximately 50 local governments had referenda to reclaim authority lost under the anti-competition state law originally called SB 152 that CenturyLink's predecessor Qwest pushed into law in 2005. This week, Virgil Turner and Audrey Danner join … Continue reading "Colorado's Unique Environment of Local Collaboration – Community Broadband Bits Episode 178" ★ Support this podcast ★

Carole Monroe is back on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] for Episode 177 this week, to discuss the East Central Vermont Fiber network and its unique financing model. Carole is now the General Manager for EC Fiber. She previously joined us for episode 36 to discuss FastRoads in New Hampshire. And we previously discussed EC Fiber with … Continue reading "Self-Financed EC Fiber Continues to Grow – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 177" ★ Support this podcast ★

An interesting confluence in events in Maine have resulted in what some are calling the “Maine model” of fiber optic networks that are available to multiple Internet Service Providers to encourage competition and high quality services. The CEO of GWI, Fletcher Kittredge, joins us this week to explain this model and where it is currently … Continue reading "Maine Model for Muni Fiber – Dark and Open – Community Broadband Bits Episode 176" ★ Support this podcast ★

Chattanooga returns to the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast this week in episode 175 to talk about their 10 Gbps upgrade, the fibervention campaign, TN4Fiber, and having surpassed 75,000 subscribers. For so much content, we have three guests joining us from Chattanooga's Electric Power Board (the EPB in EPB Fiber): Danna Bailey is the VP of … Continue reading "Chattanooga Crushes It – Marketing, Technology, and Nearby Communities – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 175" ★ Support this podcast ★

When communities consider building their own network, they are often venturing outside their areas of expertise and have to get advice from consultants and industry experts. This week, we talk with two guests from Vantage Point, an employee owned engineering and consulting firm that works with a variety of clients, from private companies to municipalities … Continue reading "Exploring Early Stages of Building Municipal Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Episode 174" ★ Support this podcast ★

Ammon, Idaho, continues to quietly build a future-looking open access fiber network. Though the City won't be providing services directly to subscribers, the network it is building and the model it has created could revolutionize public safety. I just spent several days with them shooting our next video on community fiber networks (look for that … Continue reading "Muni Fiber in Idaho Helps 911 Dispatch and First Responders – Community Broadband Bits Episode 173" ★ Support this podcast ★

The holy grail of Internet access for many of us continues to be a situation in which multiple providers can compete on a level playing field, which should lower costs to subscribers and encourage innovation. Often called open access, this may involve a municipality building a fiber optic network and making it available on a … Continue reading "Open Access Engineering Options – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 172" ★ Support this podcast ★

When Wilson decided to build its municipal fiber network in North Carolina, it found a strong opponent in Tina Mooring, store manager of Computer Central. One of the local business' sources of revenue was connecting people to the Internet and they were fearful that they would lose customers to what became Greenlight, the municipal fiber … Continue reading "Wilson Business Thrives With Muni Fiber Network – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 171" ★ Support this podcast ★