Community Broadband Bits

If you are paying close attention to discussions about broadband policy, you may have come across Fred Pilot's reminders that competition is not a cure-all for our Internet access woes across the United States. The blogger and author joins us for episode 196 of Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary]. Fred Pilot's new book, Service Unavailable: America's Telecommunications … Continue reading "Service Unavailable: The Failure of Competition – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 196" ★ Support this podcast ★

In a partnership with the Department of Defense, the city of Montgomery has created Alabama's first Internet Exchange. This week, project manager for Montgomery Cyber Connection, Ben Venable, joins us to discuss this project and the gains the community is already seeing from it. The effort is a true partnership between General Steven Kwast at … Continue reading "Montgomery Sees Job Gains in Alabama After Establishing Internet Exchange – Community Broadband Bits Episode 195" ★ Support this podcast ★

In Minneapolis, a small and privately owned ISP has been steadily building fiber across the city and developing a stunning reputation for great customer service, low and predictable pricing, and generally being a great company to do business with. Co-founder Travis Carter of US Internet joins us for episode 194 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] … Continue reading "ISP US Internet Gets More Respect Than Rodney Dangerfield – Community Broadband Bits 194" ★ Support this podcast ★

When we asked Ted Smith, Chief Innovation Officer of Louisville, Kentucky, to join us for episode 193 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Bits podcast, we expected to talk about the one touch make ready policy they had enacted (and AT&T has since sued to stop). We did, but we ended with a focus on how … Continue reading "One Touch Make Ready and Wireless Innovation in Louisville – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 193" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week we welcome Gigi Sohn, Counselor to Chairman Wheeler of the Federal Communications Commission, to Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] for episode 192. Before joining the FCC, Gigi was a founder of Public Knowledge. Gigi discusses the pro-competition agenda that Chairman Wheeler has advanced, including the efforts to ensure communities can decide locally whether to build … Continue reading "The FCC's Pro-Competition Agenda – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 192" ★ Support this podcast ★

Last week, we were excited at the announcement from Huntsville Utilities in Alabama. Huntsville is building a municipal dark fiber network to every premise in its territory that will be open to multiple service providers. Google has already committed to using it to bring real connectivity to the community. In this week's episode, 191, we … Continue reading "Exploring the Huntsville Fiber Model – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 191" ★ Support this podcast ★

For years, many rural communities suffered from a broadband donut hole problem – the investment in better-than-dial-up was in the population center, leaving a donut of poor access around it. Now policy to reverse that in places like Minnesota is perversely creating the opposite problem, to the detriment of the entire community. This week on … Continue reading "Rural Broadband Expansion Ignores Economic Development Potential in Minnesota – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 190" ★ Support this podcast ★

We cover a lot of Tennessee ground in this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast – episode 189 – from a cable network to muni Fiber-to-the-Home; Columbia to Pulaski. Wes Kelley, the Executive Director of the Columbia Power and Water Systems is our guest to talk about Columbia's cable and Pulaski's fiber. He cut his teeth … Continue reading "Muni Fiber Tennessee Twofer: Columbia and Pulaski – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 189" ★ Support this podcast ★

North Carolina is increasingly split between those in urban areas, where some private sector providers are investing in next-generation gigabit networks, and rural areas where the big providers have no plans to invest in modern networks. But coming out of Wilkes County, a cooperative ISP called Wilkes Communications and River Street Networks is taking fiber … Continue reading "North Carolina Coop Fibers Up Rural Counties and More – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 188" ★ Support this podcast ★

We head directly into the Internet this week with Andrew Blum, author of the book Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. We wrote about it when it was published back in 2012. It is as relevant today as then – buy it from your local bookstore. In our discussion, we talk about … Continue reading "Andrew Blum Decides to Visit the Internet – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 187" ★ Support this podcast ★

The St Vrain Valley School District, north of Denver and including the Longmont area, is transitioning from a shared gigabit network to dedicated 10 Gbps links for schools. Just what does it do with all that bandwidth? School District Chief Technology Officer Joe McBreen tells us this week in Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast episode 186. … Continue reading "Why Schools Need Big Bandwidth – Community Broadband Bits Episode 186" ★ Support this podcast ★

For this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we are trying a discussion/debate format between myself, Christopher Mitchell, and Ryan Radia, Associate Director of Technology Studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We have debated previously and prefer a style of seeking to flesh out the argument rather than merely trying to win it. We start by … Continue reading "Local Governments and Internet Access Debate – Community Broadband Bits Episode 185" ★ Support this podcast ★

The Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) has its first local chapter with the formation of CLIC-NC. Catharine Rice, who is both part of CLIC-NC and the Project Director for CLIC, explains what is happening on episode 184 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast. We remind listeners what CLIC is and the goals of CLIC-NC … Continue reading "North Carolina Organizes for Local Internet Choice – Community Broadband Bits Episode 184" ★ Support this podcast ★

Given all the exciting events of 2015 and our hopes for 2016, we decided to do another year end / year beginning show that looks both backward and forward. Unfortunately, our timing did not allow for Lisa to join us in the recording, but Christopher Mitchell is joined by communications staff at the Institute for … Continue reading "Thoughts on 2015, Predictions for 2016 – Community Broadband Bits Episode 183" ★ Support this podcast ★

As we noted in a preliminary story last week, the city of Lincoln has crafted a collection of conduits allowing greater competition for advanced telecommunications services. As we discuss this week in episode 182 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, they have also crafted a smart policy to continue expanding the conduit system. To better … Continue reading "Conduits Lead to Competition – Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 182" ★ Support this podcast ★

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 ★