Earlier this year, Mark Creekmore transitioned from a frustrated DSL customer to a champion for better Internet access in Georgia. A concerned citizen and tech consultant, Mark joins us for the latest Community Broadband Bits podcast. He discusses his history with Windstream and the steps he went through to improve his Internet access. Along with this … Read More
Another great video from Australia makes many salient points regarding the debate over their national broadband network. One key point to take away is that it is possible to talk to non-technical normal people about this subject without overwhelming them or boring them. Another is that FTTN = fiber to the nowhere, not fiber to the … Read More
During the summer, I spent two days in Glasgow, Kentucky, to learn about the first municipal broadband network in the country. I believe it also became the first community in the US to have broadband access available universally within the town. Working with the Media Working Group, we recorded several interviews with people there, including a … Read More
This is an older column, but the introduction is so dead-on, I wanted to draw more attention to it: If Dwight Eisenhower had General Motors and George W. Bush had Halliburton, Barack Obama arguably has Comcast. US presidents are often linked to one or two corporations that donate a lot of money to them and then … Read More
As Longmont prepares to vote on November 5, we are paying special attention to question 2B, which will authorize the city utility to issue revenue bonds to finance the FTTH network already being built. The successful referendum from 2011 gave the City authority to build the network and this referendum, if successful, will finance a rapid … Read More
The publicly owned rights-of-way (ROW or PROW), are a misunderstood resource in many communities. Local governments manage them on behalf of the public, but are under pressure as very large, very profitable cable and telephone companies seek to prevent local governments from charging rent to those using the PROW. This video from Oregon quickly explains some … Read More
Kevin Litten, of the Baltimore Business Journal has published a good discussion of why Baltimore is considering a public investment to expand the City’s fiber network. Councilman William H. Cole IV still bristles when he talks about the absence of FiOS in the city, a decision industry observers say has played out in other urban areas … Read More
In a reminder of just how poor telecommunications can be in this country, Franklin County in rural northwest Alabama has formed a Task Force to investigate how it can get something better than dialup. “The Internet has become an important as having electricity and water,” said Cole, an extension agent in Franklin County. “For our businesses … Read More
We are excited to continue our history series with Jim Baller of the Baller Herbst Law Firm. This is Jim’s third time on the program, having joined us for Episode 57 and Episode 63. We continue our discussion with a recap of the events of 2004, including Jim’s work with Lafayette to find a compromise to … Read More
