Google’s Super Fast Broadband Service Is Growing, But Not Everyone is Happy

Date: 21 Mar 2013 | posted in: Media Coverage, MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Motherboard, March 21, 2013 Google just announced that it plans on expanding its high-speed fiber-optic service beyond Kansas City, and into another fast-growing nearby city, Olathe, Kansas, home to some 120,000 people. “The Olathe City Council approved an agreement to bring Google Fiber to their city,” Google Fiber Community Manager Rachel Hack wrote in a blog … Read More

Open Access Network in Mount Vernon, Washington Created More Jobs and Government Savings

Date: 21 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Mount Vernon, Washington, started building their own fiber optic network in 1995 and over the past 18 years have continued to add incrementally. While the network started as a way to connect a few municipal facilities, it has since expanded to nearby Burlington and the Port of Skagit. The network now serves government, schools, hospitals and … Read More

Virginia Town Provides Free Wi-fi in City Park, Fiber to Community Anchors

Date: 20 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last summer, the city of Staunton, Virginia, sent out a press release about its new citywide free wi-fi service. Four hours later, a destructive storm ripped through Gypsy Hill Park knocking down trees and damaging buildings. Nevertheless, the equipment held on. Five days later, celebrants at the city’s July 4th party used the free service in … Read More

In Washington, Mt. Vernon Attracts Businesses with Open Access Network – Community Broadband Bits Episode 38

Date: 19 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks, Podcast | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Nearly 20 years ago, a small community between Seattle and Bellingham, Washington, began building a fiber optic network to connect key municipal facilities. In the years since, Mt Vernon has expanded the network to many community anchor institutions and businesses locally, including in two nearby towns. Information Systems Director Kim Kleppe and Community & Economic Development … Read More

Cedar Falls Utility Gets High Bond Rating from Moody’s

Date: 19 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

We have long been impressed with Cedar Falls Utilities (CFU) in Iowa. They built an incredibly successful municipal cable network that has now been upgraded to a FTTH network. CFU transfers $1.6 million into the town’s general fund every year, reminding us that community owned networks often pay far more in taxes than the national cable … Read More

Video: Burlington Telecom Coop Effort Moving Ahead

Date: 18 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In December, 2012, a group of local residents decided to engage in an effort to turn beleaguered Burlington Telecom into a coop. The effort has advanced and the organization, Keep BT Local, continues to gain pledges. To date, the organization has collected pledges in the amount of $108,000 for equity and $156,000 in loan pledges. Keep … Read More

To Improve Minnesota Broadband, Look to Lessons of Electrification

Date: 16 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Steve Downer is the Associate Executive Director of the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association, MMUA, and he previously served on the Blandin Foundation Strategy Board. He offered these thoughts on page 4 of the “The Resource” [pdf] from January 2013 and has allowed us to reprint them below. According to online reports, House Commerce Chairman Joe Atkins … Read More

In Georgia, Monroe Muni Network Created Jobs, Lowered Bills

Date: 15 Mar 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

As we monitored Georgia’s HB 282, a bill to limit the capacity of local governments to invest in Internet networks that spur economic development, we learned of many existing networks that have helped communities to thrive. Brian Thompson, Director of Electric and Telecommunications in Monroe took some time to tell us a little about their city … Read More

1 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 254