Community Broadband Bits

Nearly 20 years ago, a small community between Seattle and Bellingham, Washington, began building a fiber optic network to connect key municipal facilities. In the years since, Mt Vernon has expanded the network to many community anchor institutions and businesses locally, including in two nearby towns. Information Systems Director Kim Kleppe and Community & Economic … Continue reading "In Washington, Mt. Vernon Attracts Businesses with Open Access Network – Community Broadband Bits Episode 38" ★ Support this podcast ★

Blair Levin is Executive Director of Gig.U. Prior to that, he was in charge of developing the National Broadband Plan and long before that was Chief of Staff for the FCC during the Clinton Presidency. He's had a lot of experience in telecommunications policy but here we focus on what can be done to move … Continue reading "Blair Levin Discusses Gig.U and More for Community Broadband Bits Episode #37" ★ Support this podcast ★

The New Hampshire Fast Roads Initiative is bringing great Internet access to rural New Hampshire. Project CEO Carole Monroe joined us for this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. Fast Roads is the culmination of years of local organizing and several efforts to improve access to the Internet in the region. The project is already benefiting … Continue reading "Carole Monroe Explains New Hampshire's Fast Roads Initiative – Community Broadband Bits #36" ★ Support this podcast ★

Morristown, Tennessee, is one of very few communities where anyone in town can immediately get a gigabit delivered to their home and business. General Manager and CEO Jody Wigington of the municipal electric utility, Morristown Utility Systems, joins me to discuss why they built their network and how it is has benefited the community. The … Continue reading "Morristown Explains Why it Built a Fiber Network for Itself – Community Broadband Bits #35" ★ Support this podcast ★

Have you heard of the National Information Infrastructure, or the NII? Most of us either haven't, or have forgotten we once knew what it could be. Dewayne Hendricks joins us to remind us what it was and why we should care. It's “kind of a big thing.” Since we conducted this interview, unlicensed spectrum issues … Continue reading "Dewayne Hendricks Explains the Forgotten National Information Infrastructure – Community Broadband Bits #34" ★ Support this podcast ★

Glasgow was a true pioneer in community owned broadband networks, starting with its own cable plant in the 1980s. Billy Ray, CEO of Glasgow Electric Plant Board, has been an inspiration for municipal broadband networks — one can't dig into the early history of LUS Fiber in Louisiana without running into something from Billy Ray, … Continue reading "Billy Ray, Community Broadband Pioneer, Joins us For Community Broadband Bits #33" ★ Support this podcast ★

Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge, is back on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] to discuss five fundamental rules necessary to ensure we have a great telecommunications system that benefits everyone. Harold first appeared on our show in episode 23. Harold explains the Five Fundamentals here and includes a link to their full filing [pdf]. … Continue reading "The Five Fundamentals for Future Telecommunications – Community Broadband Bits Podcast #32" ★ Support this podcast ★

The Wired Road is an ambitious fiber optic and wireless project offering Internet access to several underserved areas in rural Virginia. For the 31st episode of our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Bits podcast, Scarlett McGrady joins me to discuss its history and impact on the region. McGrady is the Director of the Grant Community Computing Center … Continue reading "Scarlett McGrady Explains Virginia's Wired Road" ★ Support this podcast ★

Jason Bird is the Electrical Superintendent at the city of Princeton Utilities in Illinois. He joins us for the 30th episode of our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast to explain why Princeton built a rather unique network. Princeton has built a fiber network to connect some of the local businesses and uses broadband over power lines … Continue reading "Jason Bird Explains how Princeton Kept Jobs in Community with Publicly Owned Fiber Network" ★ Support this podcast ★

Susan Crawford, author of the just-released Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, is our guest for the 29th episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast. A former adviser to President Obama, she has been a leading figure in the struggle to preserve an open Internet. Susan has long … Continue reading "Susan Crawford, Captive Audience, and How to Kill the Cable Monopoly" ★ Support this podcast ★

If you think the United States cannot afford to take a fiber optic cable to just about every home in the country, you might be surprised to find out that we have already paid for it. We just haven't received it. Our first podcast guest in 2013, Bruce Kushnick of the New Networks Institute, explains … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 28 – Bruce Kushnick" ★ Support this podcast ★

I meant to post this over the Holiday Break but it fell through the cracks. So, at the beginning of 2013, here are some of our best moments from the 2012 Weekly Podcast, Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary]. Read the transcript from this episode here. We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail … Continue reading "Best of 2012 Community Broadband Bits" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week, Josh Wallace from the City of Palo Alto Utilities joins us to talk about the City's dark fiber network for episode 26 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast. Josh describes how the dark fiber network connects businesses, offering incredibly high capacity connections at affordable flat rate pricing. The utility charges an upfront fee … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 26 – Josh Wallace, Palo Alto" ★ Support this podcast ★

Dewayne Hendricks has returned for his second appearance on the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast, continuing our discussion about the potential for wireless technologies to improve how we access the Internet. We recommend listening to his first appearance in episode 18 before this one. Here, we take up the old wired vs. wireless debate, but quickly … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 25 – Dewayne Hendricks Returns" ★ Support this podcast ★

Dr Browder runs Bristol Tennessee Essential Services, the municipal utility on the southern side of Bristol's Virginia border. For our 24th Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, he tells us how they built a FTTH network and how it has helped the community. Like so many others, they started by seeking to ensure maximum reliability of the … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 24 – Dr Browder of Bristol, Tennessee" ★ Support this podcast ★

One hundred years after Teddy Roosevelt and AT&T agreed to the Kingsbury Commitment, Harold Feld joins us on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast to explain what the Kingsbury Commitment was and why it matters. In short, AT&T wants to change the way telecommunications networks are regulated and Harold is one of our best allies on this … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 23 – Harold Feld from Public Knowledge" ★ Support this podcast ★

While I was in Danville, Virginia, for the Broadband Community Magazine Economic Development Conference, I had a chance to sit down with Jason Grey, nDanville Network Manager. This interview is our 22nd episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. Jason and I met five years ago when I first visited Danville to learn about its … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 22 – Jason Grey from Danville, Virginia" ★ Support this podcast ★

For this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary], we venture outside the U.S. to interview Benoit Felten of Diffraction Analysis about the Stokab muni fiber network in Stockholm, Sweden. Stokab appears to be the most successful open access fiber network in the world. Benoit has just published a case study of Stokab and is an expert on … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 21 – Benoit Felten on Stokab" ★ Support this podcast ★

Amalia Deloney (follow on Twitter) joins us for our 20th Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast to discuss how her work with the Media Action Grassroots Network and the Center for Media Justice overlaps with our focus on community broadband networks. We talk about the digital divide, particularly in relation to the attempted merger between AT&T and … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 20 – Amalia Deloney" ★ Support this podcast ★

Today we invited John St. Julien, of Lafayette Pro Fiber fame, on episode 19 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. John was an essential piece of the organizing effort in Lafayette's efforts to build its own community fiber network. In many ways, he has worked to ensure the “community” piece is emphasized over the “fiber” … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 19 – John St. Julien from Lafayette" ★ Support this podcast ★