Community Broadband Bits

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 ★

The Spanish Fork Community Network has long been among the most successful community broadband projects. And now that the community has finished paying off the debt of the network, they are using the net income to upgrade to a fiber network that will be capable of delivering a symmetrical gigabit to anyone in town. John … Continue reading "Spanish Fork Building Gig Fiber over Cable Network – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 170" ★ Support this podcast ★

For this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary], we are delving into an area of law and practice that is quite important for Internet network deployment but tends to be dry and confusing. Not for us today though, we have Sean Stokes, a Principal at Baller Herbst Stokes & Lide, joining us to explain Right-of-Way basics. We … Continue reading "Explaining Right-of-Way Basics – Community Broadband Bits Episode 169" ★ Support this podcast ★

Salisbury's municipal FTTH network, Fibrant is the first citywide 10 Gbps network in the nation. Located in North Carolina, Salisbury is also one of very few municipal citywide fiber networks that was built by a city without a municipal electric plant. This week, Salisbury Director of Broadband and Infrastructure, Kent Winrich, joins us for Episode … Continue reading "Salisbury Fibrant Launches 10 Gbps Citywide – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 168" ★ Support this podcast ★

Two of the stars from our video on SandyNet in Oregon, join us this week for Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] episode 167. Sandy City Council President Jeremy Pietzold and IT Director Joe Knapp (also SandyNet General Manager) tell us more about the network and recent developments as they finish connecting the majority of the City to … Continue reading "The Benefits of, Lessons From, SandyNet – Community Broadband Bits Episode 167" ★ Support this podcast ★

Danville, Virginia, has long been one of the municipal network approaches that we like to highlight. Built in a region hard hit by the transition away from tobacco and manufacturing economies, the open access fiber network called nDanville has led to many new employers coming to town and has shown the benefits of a low-risk, … Continue reading "Danville's Incremental Strategy Pays Off – Community Broadband Bits Episode 166" ★ Support this podcast ★

Back in July, Next Century Cities released a short report, Connecting 21st Century Communities: A Policy Agenda for Broadband Stakeholders, exploring various policies and approaches that will improve Internet access. The brief is organized into sections on local government, state government, federal government, philanthropy, and community. For this week on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary], Lisa Gonzalez … Continue reading "Policies for Better Broadband – Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 165" ★ Support this podcast ★

Just a few short weeks ago, we interviewed Dave Spencer, the Chief Operating Officer for the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) in Washington. We offered a good overview, but got some requests for more details so Dave returns this week for a more focused discussion in episode 164. We discuss the specific services that are … Continue reading "More Details on the Northwest Open Access Network – Community Broadband Bits Episode 164" ★ Support this podcast ★

When Steamboat Springs resolved to improve Internet access for key community anchor institutions and businesses, they decided to make an economical investment in a carrier neutral facility to allow multiple ISPs to invest and compete with each other. In episode 163 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast, Tim Miles explains what that means and how … Continue reading "Modest Investment Yields Results in Steamboat Springs – Community Broadband Bits Episode 163" ★ Support this podcast ★

A few weeks back, we noted an excellent new report on Holyoke Municipal Light Plant in Massachusetts published by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. This week, we discuss the report and lessons learned from it with David Talbot, Fellow at the Berkman Center. David gives us some of the key takeaways from the … Continue reading "Holyoke Success Spurs Interest in Mass Muni Networks – Community Broadband Bits Episode 162" ★ Support this podcast ★