The Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 2, 2013 David Lewis, owner of Lewis Electronics in Shaker Heights, is fed up with customers who ask why he charges sales tax on items they can buy tax-free over the Internet. Some will even show him on their smart phones how much cheaper the price is online. “As a brick-and-mortar … Read More
Government Technology, March 5, 2013 About 340 communities nationwide offer publicly-owned fiber-optic or cable networks, according to a new map from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. But as one expert told The Atlantic Cities, there are few big cities on the map. The largest city-owned broadband network serves about 170,000 households in Chattanooga, Tenn., with Lafayette, … Read More
Bloomberg News, March 4, 2013 Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke delivered upbeat news to the company’s semi-annual Sustainability Milestones Meeting in November 2009. The world’s largest retailer was on track to hit 36 of the 37 energy and environment goals Duke’s predecessor set for the company in 2005. Not everyone in the audience responded with glee. “When … Read More
The Atlantic Cities, March 4, 2013 The Institute for Local Self-Reliance recently compiled this map of all the communities in the country that control their own access to the Internet. At best count, there are about 340 of them with publicly owned fiber-optic or cable networks, serving either all or parts of town. In these places, … Read More
Democracy Now, March 4, 2013 As many as one in 10 Americans cannot get Internet connections fast enough for common online activities such as watching video. Many communities have responded to this digital divide by creating their own municipal broadband networks as an alternative to the slow services offered by cable and telephone companies in order … Read More
San Francisco Bay Guardian, February 28, 2013 There’s a fascinating new map that the Institute for Local Self Reliance has put together that shows how 342 communities around the United States are now offering publicly owned, cheap, reliable broadband and cable service to local residents and businesses. Check it out here. Then check out why the … Read More
Motherboard, February 28, 2013 Look outside of your window: if you see miles of farmland, chances are you have terrible internet service. That’s because major telecommunications companies don’t think it’s worth the investment to bring high-speed broadband to sparsely populated areas. But like most businesses, farms increasingly depend on the internet to pay bills, monitor the … Read More
Various Media Outlets, February 2013 ILSR’s annual Independent Business Survey gathers data from thousands of locally owned, independent businesses across the country. The 2013 Independent Business Survey, gathered data from 2,377 independent businesses across 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among its findings: Survey respondents reported revenue growth of 6.8% on average. More than two-thirds experienced … Read More
DSLReports, February 13, 2013 A new bill is being proposed in Georgia that would ban towns and cities from deploying their own broadband — if there’s at least one person with a 1.5 Mbps downstream connection anywhere in a census block. House Bill 282, or the inversely-named “Municipal Broadband Investment Act,” emerges after AT&T tried and … Read More
