By building a fiber line to allow some local businesses to get next-generation Internet access, Rockport became the first municipal fiber network in the state of Maine. Town Manager Richard Bates joins us for episode 115 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. We discuss the financing behind the network and their partnership with local Internet Service … Read More
Chairman Wheeler chose the 1776 start-up incubator office as the backdrop for his comments Thursday that outline a new agenda for big telecom: Competition, Competition, Competition. IDG News Service Grant Gross reported on the chairman’s comments. “At the low end of throughput … the majority of Americans have a choice of only two providers,” Wheeler said. … Read More
“When private industry does not answer the call because of market failures or other obstacles, it is appropriate and even commendable, for the people acting through their local governments to improve their lives by investing in their own future.” ~ John McCain, 2005 Wait. What? Brendan Sasso from The National Journal brought up some excellent points … Read More
The New York Times, September 6, 2014 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A team of computer programmers here set out to learn how many cute kitten photos can be downloaded in one second on their Internet network, one of the fastest in the country. The answer: 612. A trivial pursuit? Perhaps. But when your city has Internet … Read More
The Center for Public Integrity recently published an excellent article worth sharing. In “How big telecom smothers city-run broadband,” Allan Holmes describes the money-for-infleunce machine at the state level, connects the dollars, and reveals bedfellows. The article is part of a series investigating the political power of big cable and telecom companies. If you are a … Read More
On October 2nd in Washington, D.C., the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) will be hosting a symposium on “School-Library Partnerships and Other Anchor Institution Broadband Strategies.” Speakers will include FCC representatives, Obama Administration officials, and service providers such as One Community, among others. The SHLB Coalition is a group of public, nonprofit, and commercial … Read More
Last week, we noted some comments made by Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner indicating her interest in a municipal broadband network and her promise to develop a plan for how to build it. Now it appears others in Syracuse are picking up her refrain. Two columns appearing recently in the Syracuse Post-Standard offered support for Miner’s idea: … Read More
Last year, we covered this central Washington city’s first foray into publicly owned fiber optics. The local incumbent, Charter Communications, began charging the city $10,000 per month for services it had been providing for free for a decade as part of its franchise agreement. Ellensburg officials did some quick math and realized that they could save … Read More
Sallisaw is one of many small municipal FTTH networks that most people are not familiar with. For a decade, they have been quietly meeting their community’s needs with DiamondNet. For this week’s Community Broadband Bits, we learn more about it in a conversation with Assistant City Manager Keith Skelton and Network Communications Supervisor Danny Keith. Sallisaw … Read More
