Community Broadband Bits

Maryland may be home to our nation’s bustling, urban capital, but on the other side of the state are the Appalachians and many rural communities that struggle with poor Internet access. One of those communities is Garrett County. Residents, businesses, and institutions have limped along for years using outdated connections.  Some people don’t have any … Continue reading "Garrett County Builds Better Connections By Combining Technologies in Rural Maryland – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 275" ★ Support this podcast ★

Mason County Public Utility District 3 covers a large area with a lot of people that have poor Internet access. If “PUD” didn't give it away, it is located in Washington State on the Olympic Peninsula and had already been investing in fiber as an electric utility for monitoring its internal systems.Mason PUD 3 Telecommunications & … Continue reading "Mason PUD 3 Responds to Muni Fiber Demand with Fiberhoods – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 274" ★ Support this podcast ★

Back in June, Louisville had a close call with missing a key opportunity to build municipal fiber to local anchor institutions at a substantially reduced cost. An anti-muni broadband group pushed hard to disrupt the project but city staff educated metro council-members and moved forward with a unanimous vote. Louisville Chief of Civic Innovation Grace Simrall and … Continue reading "Louisville To Save Big With Embattled Anchor Network – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 273" ★ Support this podcast ★

Michigan's Lyndon Township set a local election turnout record in August when voters supported a measure to build a municipal fiber network by 2:1 margin. The initiative was largely organized and supported by the Michigan Broadband Cooperative, a local effort to improve Internet access in the community. To better understand their approach, organizing, and future plans, we … Continue reading "Referendum Lights Up Lyndon Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 272" ★ Support this podcast ★

After a friendly coup in the offices of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Hannah has taken the podcast host chair from Christopher for episode 271 of the Community Broadband Bits. Hannah grills Christopher on where he has recently traveled, interesting lessons, and recent news around community broadband. (Christopher mentions a great event in Pittsfield – … Continue reading "Fiber For All and More – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 271" ★ Support this podcast ★

The modern fight over network neutrality isn't a few years old. It is well over 1,000 years old across a variety of infrastructures and is totally wrapped up in a legal concept known as common carriage that has governed many kinds of “carriers” over the years. Few, if any, are as conversant in this subject … Continue reading "Uncommon Knowledge of Common Carriage – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 270" ★ Support this podcast ★

Holland is expanding its pilot area for municipal Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) services in Michigan's Dutch outpost. To explain the past, present, and expected future of muni fiber in Holland, Broadband Services Manager Pete Hoffswell for the Board of Public Works, joins us in episode 269 of the Broadband Bits podcast.The city has some 25 years of … Continue reading "Holland's Muni Fiber Pilot Expands in Michigan – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 269" ★ Support this podcast ★

Jon Chambers, a partner at Conexon, returns to visit us this week to talk about rural connectivity and the approaching Connect America Fund (CAF) auction. Conexon works with electric cooperatives to establish high-quality Internet networks for members, typically in rural areas where national providers don’t offer the kinds of services communities need.Having spent time at the … Continue reading "Jon Chambers: Rethinking The Rules on The Connect America Fund – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 268" ★ Support this podcast ★

With the right policies and local investment, Spiral Internet could bring high quality Internet access to much of northern California. Spiral is a small private company and its CIO, Michael Anderson, talks with us today for episode 267 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. We discuss Spiral's enthusiasm for open access fiber networks and how the … Continue reading "Spiral Investing in Rural California While AT&T Invests in Sacramento – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 267" ★ Support this podcast ★

When policy and decision makers discuss how to improve connectivity in the U.S., they often compare Internet access in other parts of the world to connectivity in America. We can learn from efforts in other places.Benoit Felten, CEO of Diffraction Analysis, has analyzed business models, approaches, and infrastructure development all across the globe. His company has … Continue reading "Benoit Felten of Diffraction Analysis Talks Global Strategies – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 266" ★ Support this podcast ★

It shouldn't be surprising that the city that is home to CalTech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory needs high-quality connectivity. Those institutions are part of the reason Pasadena began investing in its own fiber network.To learn the other reasons and how they went about it, Pasadena's Telecom & Regulatory Administrator Lori Sandoval joins us on Community Broadband … Continue reading "Pasadena Benefits From Municipal Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 265" ★ Support this podcast ★

After we saw April Glaser's article on a local San Francisco ISP connecting low-income housing to high-quality Internet access, we knew we wanted to learn more. Preston Rhea is the Senior Field Engineer for Monkey Brains and someone we knew from his work with the Open Technology Institute at New America. He joins us with … Continue reading "Connecting San Francisco Low-Income Housing with Monkey Brains – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 264" ★ Support this podcast ★

Eugene is a good example of recent public-public partnerships developing to expand fiber optic Internet access. The city of 166,000 in Oregon helped finance a downtown dark fiber network by the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB), which is publicly owned but has an independent governing board from the city. Eugene's Economic Development Planner Anne Fifield … Continue reading "Dark Fiber Brightens Downtown Business Climate in Eugene – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 263" ★ Support this podcast ★

After a recent announcement from Microsoft committing to building rural networks using TV white spaces [NYT, Ars Technica stories], we asked Public Knowledge Senior Vice President and long-time TVWS enthusiast Harold Feld to explain the significance. We discuss what TVWS are and why this announcement is such a big deal given that we have previously covered multiple … Continue reading "Microsoft Supercharges TV White Spaces – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 262" ★ Support this podcast ★

Sonic is one of the best ISPs in the nation – well beloved by its California subscribers and policy geeks like us in part because of its CEO and Co-Founder, Dane Jasper. Dane combines a tremendous amount of technical and business knowledge in a thoughtful and friendly personality. And while we don't always agree, we are always … Continue reading "Sonic Suggests Dark Fiber for Munis – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 261" ★ Support this podcast ★

Just what does it take to have a market? It may be more complicated than you think — and in large part because of the things most of us don't notice that governments do. We discuss this and the role of broadband planners with Alex Marshall on Community Broadband Bits podcast 260. Alex is the author … Continue reading "Broadband Planning and How Government Creates Markets – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 260" ★ Support this podcast ★

For episode 259 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, we are going back to the well in Ammon, Idaho – one of the most creative and forward-thinking fiber network deployments in the country. Strategic Networks Group has completed a study examining the impact of Ammon's open muni fiber network on local businesses and residents.To discuss … Continue reading "Ammon Examines Muni Fiber Impact – Community Broadband Bits 259" ★ Support this podcast ★

As the telecommunications and broadband market has become more and more consolidated, it has drawn more attention, leading to more attention from people that actually care about functioning markets. Enter the Roosevelt Institute and their report, Crossed Lines: Why the AT&T-Time Warner Merger Demands a New Approach to Antitrust.Roosevelt Institute Senior Economist and Fellow Marshall … Continue reading "Roosevelt Institute Argues for Better Broadband Policy – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 258" ★ Support this podcast ★

One of the very many treats at Mountain Connect this year was a keynote from Chattanooga EPB's Director of Fiber Technology, Colman Keane. (Watch it here.) After discussing their remarkable successes, we snagged an interview with him (he was last on the show for episode 175).We discuss whether or not Chattanooga is an appropriate role … Continue reading "Chattanooga Fiber Surpasses Expectations, Offers Lessons – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 257" ★ Support this podcast ★

In an exciting milestone, this is podcast 100000000. Or 256 in decimal – you know, for the squares. While at the always-amazing Mountain Connect event in Colorado, I snagged an interview with Doug Seacat of Deeply Digital and Clearnetworx. They sought a grant from the Colorado Broadband Fund to deploy fiber and wireless to underserved Ridgway … Continue reading "Colorado Chooses to Subsidize DSL Rather than Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 256" ★ Support this podcast ★