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 ★...
Sep 29, 2015•25 min•Ep. 170
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 ★...
Sep 22, 2015•30 min•Ep. 169
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 ★...
Sep 15, 2015•23 min•Ep. 168
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 ★...
Sep 09, 2015•30 min•Ep. 167
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 ★...
Sep 01, 2015•21 min•Ep. 166
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 Bi...
Aug 25, 2015•21 min•Ep. 165
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 ★...
Aug 18, 2015•23 min•Ep. 164
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...
Aug 11, 2015•21 min•Ep. 163
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 ★...
Aug 04, 2015•20 min•Ep. 162
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 ★...
Jul 28, 2015•24 min•Ep. 161
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...
Jul 21, 2015•22 min•Ep. 160
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 ★...
Jul 14, 2015•21 min•Ep. 159
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 ★...
Jul 07, 2015•24 min•Ep. 158
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 ★...
Jun 30, 2015•17 min•Ep. 157
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 ★...
Jun 23, 2015•18 min•Ep. 156
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 ★...
Jun 16, 2015•19 min•Ep. 155
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 ★...
Jun 09, 2015•25 min•Ep. 154
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 ★...
Jun 02, 2015•24 min•Ep. 153
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 ★...
May 26, 2015•25 min•Ep. 152
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 ★...
May 19, 2015•22 min•Ep. 151
This week, we are focusing on security concerns for community networks. Community networks tend to be small, with limited staff to keep track of the many challenges of running a network. Our guest this week on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] is Weston Hecker, Senior Systems Security Analyst and Pen Tester for KLJ. After defining what penetration … Continue reading "Ensuring Security on Community Networks – Community Broadband Bits Episode 150" ★ Support this podcast ★...
May 12, 2015•17 min•Ep. 150
Our second episode of Community Broadband Bits featured an interview with Monica Webb, Chair of the Wired West Board and Spokesperson. Three years later, we are excited to have Monica on the show again to update us on their recent progress. As we recently noted, the state has decided to contribute significantly to the capital … Continue reading "The Latest on Wired West Rural Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 149" ★ Support this podcast ★...
May 05, 2015•28 min•Ep. 149
In the aftermath of the Comcast/TWC merger being effectively denied by the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, we thought it was a key moment to focus on antitrust/anti-monopoly policy in DC. To discuss this topic, we talk this week with Teddy Downey, Executive Editor and CEO of the Capitol Forum as well as … Continue reading "Comcast Merger Wrap-up and Anti-Monopoly Policy – Community Broadband Bits Episode 148" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Apr 28, 2015•24 min•Ep. 148
The first gigabit city in Wisconsin, Reedsburg, has a municipal fiber network operated by the city-owned electric utility. This week, we talk with General Manager of the Utility Commission, Brett Schuppner. Reedsburg fiber goes back to 2003, which makes it one of the oldest FTTH networks in the nation. Located about an hour outside of … Continue reading "In Reedsburg, Expansion Weighed After Muni Fiber Success – Community Broadband Bits Episode 147" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Apr 21, 2015•14 min•Ep. 147
When we last wrote about the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative, it was a coop focused on open access middle mile connections. Now it has become the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation and is starting to work on some plans to expand open access last mile access. This week, we speak with MBC President and CEO Tad Deriso … Continue reading "Improving Mid-Atlantic Internet Access – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 146" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Apr 14, 2015•22 min•Ep. 146
As more communities become service providers in order to provide a needed service to local businesses and residents, they are taking on an important responsibility to safeguard the data and privacy of subscribers. Unlike big providers like AT&T or big cable companies, municipal providers tend not to engage in data mining or violating their users' … Continue reading "Muni Networks, Digital Liberty, and Surveillance – Community Broadband Bits Episode 145" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Apr 08, 2015•18 min•Ep. 145
After we heard that Lafayette's LUS Fiber was considering expanding to some nearby communities, we knew we had to set up an interview with Terry Huval, Director of the Lafayette Utilities System in Louisiana. In our interview this week, Terry and I discuss Lafayette's success, the legacy of the law creating special barriers that only … Continue reading "Opportunities and Challenges as Lafayette Considers Muni Fiber Expansion – Community Broadband Bits Episode 144" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Mar 31, 2015•28 min•Ep. 144
After anticipating this moment for many months, we have a ruling from the FCC that has restored local authority to build and expand networks in North Carolina and Tennessee. Though we have already pulled out the key passages for readers, we wanted to discuss the decision with Jim Baller of Baller, Herbst, Stokes, & Lide. … Continue reading "Explaining the FCC Muni Order Removing State Barriers – Community Broadband Bits Episode 143" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Mar 24, 2015•31 min•Ep. 143
In Montana, local businesses and the city of Bozeman have been working on a public-private partnership approach to expanding Internet access that is likely to involve the city building an open access fiber network. We discuss their approach this week with Brit Fontenot, Economic Development Director for the city of Bozeman; David Fine, Bozeman Economic … Continue reading "Bozeman's Public-Private Approach In-Depth – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 142" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Mar 17, 2015•22 min•Ep. 142
After the FCC decisions to remove barriers to community networks and to reclassify Internet access as a Title II service to enforce network neutrality rules, Lisa and I spend some time discussing the decision and reactions to it. We also discuss my presentation at Freedom to Connect, where I offer some thoughts on what communities … Continue reading "Reaction to the FCC Decisions, Dissent, and Next Steps – Community Broadband Bits Episode 141" ★ Support this podcast ★...
Mar 10, 2015•16 min•Ep. 141
