The sale of iProvo to Google Fiber means that Comcast now gets to compete against Google’s gig – Time Warner Cable is the incumbent cable company in Kansas City and Austin. Comcast wasted little time and has improved its bundle in Provo long before any new customers are turned on. The Free UTOPIA blog recently reported that Comcast, … Read More
Susan Crawford began rattling cages some time ago in telecom sects, but now big corporate providers are enlisting mercenaries in an online astroturf campaign. They are targeting her most recent book, Captive Audience, with fake Amazon reviews. Mike Masnick, who describes himself as “the curious sort,” wrote an article for Tech Dirt describing the results when he … Read More
Located in the northeast corner of Tennessee, Morristown Utility Systems (MUS) offers gigabit broadband throughout a region that covers 30,000 residents and businesses. I recently spoke with MUS General Manager and CEO, Jody Wigington, about FiberNET’s progress and he had much to report, starting with over $5 million in cost savings for local businesses, residents, and … Read More
The people of Centennial, Colorado, will have the opportunity to vote this fall on the option to allow their city to provide indirect telecommunications services. Located south of Denver in the metro area, Centennial has over 100,000 residents. Recently, the City Council unanimously approved the following ballot question for the upcoming elections. The city press release … Read More
The Prometheus Radio Project is an impressive grassroots organization that has successfully opened the radio airwaves to communities after big corporations had effectively locked up unused radio channel for years. Prometheus Policy Director Sanjay Jolly joins us for Episode #61 of our Community Broadband Bits podcast. Our conversation ranges from the recent history of pirate radio … Read More
It is no secret to our readers that communities throughout the country have transitioned from leasing services from big corporations to building their own fiber networks to save public dollars. Some create collaborations between various entities to reduce costs. Jacksonville is the latest to dabble in collaboration and has found a way to save $200,000 on … Read More
Shreveport Times, August 25, 2013 A few years ago, it took much longer to book a child into Caddo Parish’s juvenile detention system than it does today. That’s because officers frequently faced technical difficulties with the computer program used to process children into the system. And they would have to wait, sometimes for hours, director Clay … Read More
In 2011, Comcast commenced its Internet Essentials program with great fanfare from then FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. We looked at the program in detail and described Comcast’s decision to withhold the program for two years to use as a carrot in a bid to secure the NBC merger. In addition to acquiring NBC, Comcast received great … Read More
Longmont’s City Council and municipal power and communications utility are getting serious about bringing fiber to the people. We reported earlier this month about the decision to allow voters to decide how fast they want that next generation network. Longmont Power and Communications (LPC) already plan to expand the existing network to households and businesses but … Read More
