Community Broadband Bits

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 ★

The community reaction to Longmont's NextLight gigabit municipal fiber network in Colorado has been dramatic. They are seeing major take rates in the initial neighborhoods, driven in part by the opportunity for a $50/month gigabit connection if you take service within three months of it becoming available in the neighborhood. This week, Longmont Power & … Continue reading "Longmont Gig Finds Many Takers – Community Broadband Bits Episode 161" ★ Support this podcast ★

The southern Illinois cities of Urbana and Champaign joined the University of Illinois in seeking and winning a broadband stimulus award to build an open access urban FTTH network. After connecting some of the most underserved neighborhoods, the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (UC2B) network looked for a partner to expand the network to the entire community. … Continue reading "Illinois Munis Partner with Local ISP for Gigabit Network – Community Broadband Bits Episode 160" ★ Support this podcast ★

The Northwest Open Access Network in Washington has a long history of expanding high quality Internet access into rural areas and now reaches into every county in the state. NoaNet is a nonprofit organization originally formed by local governments and now operating over 2,000 miles of fiber. This week we talk with Dave Spencer, NoaNet … Continue reading "NoaNet Touches Every County in Washington State – Community Broadband Bits Episode 159" ★ Support this podcast ★

Rio Blanco County is a large, rural county in northwestern Colorado that has two population centers. The county has a sharp plan for building FTTH to the population centers and wireless across most of the county to improve Internet access in a region the national carriers have little interest in. In this week's episode, we … Continue reading "Rural Rio Blanco County Builds Open Access Fiber, Wireless – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 158" ★ Support this podcast ★

Every now and then, we stumble across something, read it twice, and then decide we need to verify it. In North Kansas City, a municipal fiber network operating in partnership with KC Fiber, is delivering a gig to residents at no ongoing charge after a reasonable one-time fee. To get the story, our interview this … Continue reading "KC Fiber Innovates in North Kansas City – Community Broadband Bits Episode 157" ★ Support this podcast ★

For years, we have urged municipal networks to cooperate in various ways to lower costs. For instance, by building a shared middle mile network to aggregate their bandwidth and get a better deal due to the higher volume. So it came as a [no-glossary]bit[/no-glossary] of a shock that Georgia Public Web has been helping many … Continue reading "Connecting Georgia's Munis – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 156" ★ Support this podcast ★

Many communities feel like they are an island without proper connectivity but Islesboro, Maine, is literally an island… without proper connectivity. This week, we talk with Page Clason, Manager of the Broadband Internet Working Group for the island that is moving toward a fiber solution to expand high quality Internet access. We discuss the differences … Continue reading "Maine Island Stranded Without Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 155" ★ Support this podcast ★

After reading “Amtrak's Lessons for Access to the Airwaves,” I knew we wanted to talk to Michael Calabrese and Patrick Lucey of the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation to discuss wireless policy. Unfortunately, scheduling challenges kept Patrick off the this show but we do have a great discussion for this week's Community … Continue reading "Recent Advances in the Wireless Future – Community Broadband Bits Episode 154" ★ Support this podcast ★

We were excited to begin writing about the Upgrade Seattle campaign back in January and this week we are presenting a discussion with several people behind the campaign for episode 153 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. We are joined by Sabrina Roach, Devin Glaser, and Karen Toering to discuss what motivates the Upgrade Seattle … Continue reading "Upgrade Seattle on Need For Better Access – Community Broadband Bits Episode 153" ★ Support this podcast ★

After Santa Fe found its residents and businesses were often paying the same rates for connections at half the speed of peers in Albuquerque, the City began investigating the local broadband market. This week on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary], Sean Moody joins us to discuss the situation and what Santa Fe is doing to spur more … Continue reading "Santa Fe's Targeted Fiber Investment – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 152" ★ Support this podcast ★

Back in March, I spoke at the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities Telecom conference, which is always an event with interesting people. While there, I met Doug Hammer and Krista Allen of Harlan Utilities. With just over 5,000 people, Harlan is small but they actually have better Internet and cable choices than most of us, … Continue reading "Small ISPs and Paperwork – Community Broadband Bits Episode 151" ★ Support this podcast ★