The ninth episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast features Leslie Nulty, from the East Central Vermont Fiber Optic Network, commonly called ECFiber. ECFiber is using a unique financing arrangement, wherein debt is sold to those in the community as the network slowly expands. They have already raised over $1 million dollars and are providing services … Read More
Milo Medin, the VP of Access Services at Google (responsible for the Kansas City deployment) gave a 40 minute presentation discussing important changes in the Internet. We should be moving from an age of scarcity to abundance, if the big cable companies will stop hindering that change. The slides from his presentation are available here. Video:
A Business Journal story yesterday reveals that Time Warner Cable is adding 81 jobs in Kansas City, an increase of 9% over its present area workforce: The company, which currently employs about 900 locally, wants to fill customer service, finance, sales and other positions. These are the jobs that result from competition – which does not … Read More
In Star Tribune coverage of Mediacom’s war against real broadband in rural Minnesota, we learn that Mediacom will not sue Lake County to disrupt its plan to serve thousands of unserved residents and local businesses. And for all its accusations, Larsen says Mediacom will not sue. Spending millions of dollars on a lawsuit in a place … Read More
Last week, GigTank Demo Day ended Chattanooga’s 14 week GigTank program. The GigTank was an initiative designed to highlight Chattanooga’s gigabit network, the fastest citywide broadband network in the nation. Twelve judges from a variety of tech giants analyzed ideas from eight teams and eleven students. The event awarded $100,000 to Banyan and $50,000 to student … Read More
Wired West, an initiative in rural western Massachusetts to build a modern network in a broadband desert, has launched a pre-subscription campaign to demonstrate local demand for broadband service and support for the project. The online form is available here. The official WiredWest Communications Cooperative Corporation is just now celebrating its first anniversary, noting that 37 … Read More
The eighth podcast in our Community Broadband Bits series is a discussion with Jim Moorehead, the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County in California. Mendocino is a large, rural county in the northern part of the state that has been left behind by major incumbent providers including AT&T, Comcast, and … Read More
We told you earlier this year about Indianola, Iowa’s network, filling the gap for businesses where private providers had failed. At that time, the network only served local businesses and community anchor institutions, but plans to provide fiber-to-the-home in their community of 15,000 are now unfolding. The town passed a referendum back in 1998 to build … Read More
Google’s fiber rollout in Kansas City prompted kudos, specualtion, wonder, and analysis. While Google has the ability to invest in such an expensive and huge undertaking. Municipal networks have been bringing next-generation broadband to the public for years. Local communities all over the country know first hand the economic benefits and improved quality of life that … Read More
