Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript to the episode 154 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Michael Calabrese on the wireless future. Listen to this episode here. 00:05: Michael Calabrese: These new trends toward opening far larger bands for unlicensed shared public access, as well as these dynamically-shared bands, such as the … Read More
Consolidated Electric Cooperative, a nonprofit, member-owned cooperative, will soon offer gigabit broadband in rural North Central Ohio. They intend to first offer the gigabit to local schools and then to businesses. According to eSchoolNews, Consolidated Electric Cooperative will provide 15 school districts with gigabit connectivity. The school districts will then have greater access to online resources … Read More
When we talk to municipal network leaders about lessons learned, they often tell us that marketing is an area where they feel a particularly vulnerability. Whenever we see a great piece of marketing from a municipal network, we like to share it. When Longmont rebranded its FTTH network under the name NextLight, they released this awesome … Read More
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 bit of a shock that Georgia Public Web has been helping many municipal … Read More
35 Mayors and Elected Officials Call for Accessible Broadband Performance Information Following GAO Investigation, Next Century Cities To help our communities access these critical opportunities, we have joined the city-to-city collaborative Next Century Cities, which supports local efforts to provide these networks. We are working to provide the high-quality Internet that is essential to thriving communities … Read More
As we have learned, communities with municipal networks have tended to be politically conservative. Nevertheless, conservative state level politicians have often supported measures to revoke local authority to encourage local Internet choice. Recently, Alabama State Senator Tom Whatley, a Republican from Auburn, expressed his support for local authority in AL.com. Whatley introduced SB 438, which would remove … Read More
As a major metropolitan community, New York City has found a way to establish a link between connectivity and real estate for potential commercial tenants. WiredNYC, a certification program launched in 2013, provides broadband ratings for “Class A” office buildings in the city. The program provides a simple survey online at WiredScore.com that analyzes a variety … Read More
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 between … Read More
Athens, Tennessee, has struck a deal with Chattanooga’s EPB and the Volunteer Energy Cooperative (VEC) that could facilitate the city’s interest in a municipal fiber network. According to the Times Free Press, the Athens Utility Board (AUB) hammered out the final agreement earlier this month. AUB is leasing fiber from VEC that carries a gigabit signal … Read More
