Community Broadband Bits

Like many states, Minnesota has a major metro area that generally has higher quality Internet access than non-metro communities. The Greater Minnesota Partnership, a coalition of businesses, chambers, nonprofits, and cities from across the state, have made improving Internet access a major priority in their efforts to influence the state legislature. This week, we talk … Continue reading "Greater Minnesota Partnership Focuses on Non-Metro Need – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 136" ★ Support this podcast ★

OneCommunity is a nonprofit organization in northeastern Ohio that has connected thousands of community anchor institutions with high capacity connections. Created as OneCleveland before expanding, it has remained a rather unique approach to expanding high quality Internet access. This week, CEO Lev Gonick joins us to talk about OneCommunity and its contributions to the region. … Continue reading "OneCommunity's Middle Way – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 135" ★ Support this podcast ★

In recent weeks, we have been excited to see announcements from Ting, a company long known for being a great wireless provider (both Lisa and I are customers), that is now getting into FTTH deployments. The first announcement was from Charlottesville where it acquired another company. Last week they announced a partnership with Westminster, Maryland. … Continue reading "Ting Delivering FTTH Is Great News for Community Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Episode 134" ★ Support this podcast ★

While at the Broadband Communities Economic Development conference in Springfield last year, I had the good fortune to catch a panel with Chris Merdon, the CIO of Howard County, Maryland. Howard County has become an Internet Service Provider, not just to itself, but to private firms as well. To improve Internet access for businesses, it … Continue reading "Howard County Fiber Encourages New Jobs, Competition in Maryland – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 133" ★ Support this podcast ★

Ever since the last time I spoke with Blair Levin on Episode 37, I have wanted to have him back for a friendly discussion about public or private ownership of next generation networks. Though Blair and I entirely agree that local governments should be free to decide locally whether a community broadband network investment is … Continue reading "Public or Private Ownership? Community Broadband Bits Episode 132" ★ Support this podcast ★

For our final Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] episode of 2014, we review some of the notable events and news we covered and we discuss some predictions for 2015. Lisa Gonzalez and Rebecca Toews join me in this discussion. Read the transcript from this call here. We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please … Continue reading "Year in Review, Expectations for 2015 – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 131" ★ Support this podcast ★

Given all the horrible experiences people have had over the telephone with massive cable companies, it isn't clear that one can design a skit to parody such a conversation. Each time someone calls one of these companies is a parody in and of itself. However, given that this is a holiday week, we decided to … Continue reading "Can you Satirize Poor Customer Service from Big Cable Companies – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 130" ★ Support this podcast ★

We have seen a lot of claims about Kansas City – whether Google Fiber's approach is increasing digital inclusion, having no impact, or possibly even increasing the digital divide. This week on our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we are excited to have Michael Liimatta, President of a Kansas City nonprofit called Connecting for Good, that … Continue reading "Connecting For Good in Kansas City – Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 129" ★ Support this podcast ★

The open access approach, which generally refers to multiple service providers offering services across the same physical network, remains a challenge for those who want to implement it. Though many communities would prefer to focus on the infrastructure rather than selling services directly in competition with existing providers, most find the approach is not feasible. … Continue reading "Open Access and Incumbent Challenges – Community Broadband Bits Episode 128" ★ Support this podcast ★

I was recently invited to speak in Brussels on the experience of U.S. cities and fiber optic investment. Videos from the seminar are available here. I took some extra time around the seminar to visit Amsterdam and then Bruges in Belgium. On this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, Lisa and I discuss broadband in the … Continue reading "Reflections on European Broadband – Community Broadband Bits Episode 127" ★ Support this podcast ★

The small village of Sebewaing has become the first gigabit village in the state of Michigan. Superintendent of Sebewaing Light and Water utility Melanie McCoy joins us to discuss the project on episode 126 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. With approximately 1,800 people, Sebewaing has cracked the code for a small local government to … Continue reading "Michigan's First Gigabit Village – Community Broadband Bits Episode 126" ★ Support this podcast ★

Susan Crawford, author of Captive Audience and now co-author of The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance joins us for Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] #125. We discuss the idea of a Responsive City. Susan contrasts her visions of a Responsive City with more traditional notions of a “smart” city and notes that having fiber throughout … Continue reading "Susan Crawford on the Responsive City – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 125" ★ Support this podcast ★

We first became aware of the Media Mobilizing Project through our work with the ★ Support this podcast ★

Aurora, Illinois, has been named one of the “Smart 21” most intelligent communities of 2015 according to the Intelligent Community Forum. We have been tracking Aurora for a few years and wrote about OnLight, its nonprofit ISP, that we wrote about earlier this year. With some 200,000 people, it is the second largest city in … Continue reading "Aurora's Nonprofit Approach with Muni Fiber – Community Broadband Bits Episode 123" ★ Support this podcast ★

For this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we are excited to have Bob Frankston back on the show. Frankston has spent a long time thinking about connectivity and we previously explored his thoughts on episode 14. In this episode, we talk a lot about how to think about what he terms “connectivity” rather than telecommunications. … Continue reading "Bob Frankston Returns to Community Broadband Bits Podcast – Episode 122" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week, we helped to launch Next Century Cities, a collaborative effort of local governments that are making smart investments and partnerships to ensure their communities have fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access. Deb Socia is the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, coming to it from a nonprofit organization she developed in Boston called … Continue reading "Next Century Cities – Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 121" ★ Support this podcast ★

Lisa Gonzalez and I have been wading though all kinds of crazy talk since the cities of Wilson and Chattanooga filed petitions with the FCC to strike down state laws that prevent them from offering Internet access to their neighbors. In our first episode of Crazy Talk since way back in episode 72, we deal … Continue reading "Responding to Crazy Talk: Arguments Against FCC Restoring Local Authority – Community Broadband Bits Episode 120" ★ Support this podcast ★

Earlier, this year, the Minnesota Legislature established a “Border to Border” Broadband fund to expand Internet access to the least connected in the state. Senator Matt Schmit and Representative Erik Simonson led the effort to establish the fund that is now administered by Danna Mackenzie. All three of them join us this week to discuss … Continue reading "State of Minnesota's Border to Border Broadband Fund – Community Broadband Bits Episode 119" ★ Support this podcast ★

While in Springfield, Massachusetts for the Broadband Communities Municipal Broadband and Economic Development event, I met several of the people that have been working on an initiative that aims to bring better Internet access to many in Connecticut. Two of them, Connecticut Consumer Counsel Elin Katz and Broadband Policy Coordinator Bill Vallee join me this … Continue reading "Connecticut Communities Want Better Internet Access – Community Broadband Bits Episode 118" ★ Support this podcast ★

Calls for “dig once” policies have resonated for years. The general idea is that we can more fiber and conduit in the ground at lower prices if we coordinate to include them in various projects that already disturb the ground. In the south Twin Cities metro in Minnesota, Dakota County has been tweaking its dig … Continue reading "Dakota County is Fiber Rich Thanks to Dig Once Approach – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 117" ★ Support this podcast ★