Journalist Jill Nolin recently dove into the details of electric cooperatives and Internet service in an article for the Thomasville Times-Enterprise in Georgia. Rural electric co-ops offer an avenue for robust rural connectivity that is in keeping with the long-standing rural tradition of self-reliance.… Read More
Municipal-based fiber network are an important factor in ensuring equitable Internet access for all. San Francisco is making that a priority and reached out to our broadband expert Christopher Mitchell in order to hear his perspective and get his advice.… Read More
In addition to studying how and where local communities examine the potential for publicly owned Internet networks, we’ve looked at rates over time in select areas of the country. We recently put together a comparison of historical rates for municipal networks in Tennessee. Our findings are consistent with what we’ve seen all over the country – … Read More
June will be an exciting month for people living in Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax, and Stewart in Minnesota. RS Fiber Cooperative will begin construction so those premises can connect to the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network now serving six other communities in the central Minnesota region. This stage of the buildout should bring another 500 subscribers on to the … Read More
In the wake of a terrible study out of the University of Pennsylvania, Morning Consult‘s Mariam Baksh reached out to our own broadband expert Christopher Mitchell to deal with the fallout and critiques.… Read More
This week in Building Local Power, we’re discussing how concentrated economic power responds to communities that are supporting their own local economies. Guest host Nick Stumo-Langer discusses how these corporations fight against local communities with a number of ILSR’s experts. He speaks with Stacy Mitchell, John Farrell, Christopher Mitchell, and Lisa Gonzalez in order to get a … Read More
For the second week in row, our staff has felt compelled to address a misleading report about municipal networks. In order to correct the errors and incorrect assumptions in yet another anti-muni publication, we’ve worked with Next Century Cities to publish Correcting Community Fiber Fallacies: Yoo Discredits U Penn, Not Municipal Networks. Skewed Data = Skewed … Read More
From Colin Wood’s StateScoop piece: “Research published last week by a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School casts major doubt on the economic viability of municipally-run fiber networks. Several industry experts, however, say the methodology used in the research generated misleading results.” Check out our broadband expert Christopher Mitchell’s contributions.… Read More
Can’t get telephone or Internet service? Have you tried starting your own company? In 1998, John Reigle did just that with the support of the community and Michigan State University. Today, Allband Communications Cooperative provides not only telephone service, but also cutting-edge, high-quality Internet access and environmental research opportunities in rural Northeastern Michigan. A Story Of Promise, … Read More
