Orangeburg County, South Carolina, received $18.65 million in broadband stimulus funds for high-speed broadband (which we previously noted). Unfortunately, AT&T and its friends at ALEC have since pushed through a state law to limit local authority in building networks. According to the Broadband Adoption Map from the Investigative Reporting Workshop of the American University School of Communication, … Read More
Google Fiber is unveiled. And it sucks to be Time Warner Cable right now. But they already knew that. Google is offering 3 packages in Kansas City – a gigabit Internet connection for $70/month, a TV + Gigabit Internet connection for $120/month, and a free Internet tier of 5/1Mbps (subject to a one time $300 connect … Read More
The Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation just released a report titled “The Cost of Connectivity.” The report, authored by Hibah Hussain, Danielle Kehl, Benjamin Lennett, Chiehyu Li, and Patrick Lucey examines 22 cities across the planet for speed, triple play offerings, and what consumers can get for $35. The results, unfortunately, are not … Read More
Elizabethton, Tennessee, population 14,000, is the county seat of Carter County, which is home to 57,000 residents. The two, located in the extreme northeast corner of the state, now join the ranks of the growing number of rural communities exploring the publicly owned network option. A Task Force, appointed by Carter County Mayor in January of this year, includes local … Read More
For our fifth episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, we have a discussion with Catharine Rice of SEATOA – the Southeastern Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. We discuss legislation in North and South Carolina designed to stop communities from building their own networks. Catharine Rice has been a strong advocate for local authority, helping … Read More
Bonners Ferry, with around 2,500 residents in Northern Idaho, realized three years ago that fiber would only find their community if they installed it themselves. “We are a little isolated up here…We don’t have the density that would attract this kind of thing.” Mike Sloan, Bonners Ferry Economic Development Council Director, went on to describe the situation … Read More
Time Warner Cable’s announced intention to expand its usage based billing for broadband has recently received a little media attention. The company currently uses tiers for customers in parts of Texas, allowing customers to sign on to a plan which limits the amount of usage per month. If they come in under the plan amount (currently … Read More
In 2011, we brought you information about New Hampshire FastRoads, an open access project. At the time, the discussion centered around legislative events. We decided to look into the FastRoads project for an update. The FastRoads project received partial funding from the Network New Hampshire Now (NNHN) project and its American Recovery and Reinvestment grants. Private … Read More
Quite some time ago, we let you know about the plans and funding for the Medina County Fiber Network (MFCN). The network, owned by the Medina County Port Authority (MCPA) began construction in March, 2011, and is nearing completion. Jennifer Pignolet, reported in the Medina GazetteOnline, that the network just signed on their first customer, Highland … Read More
