More communities are today considering how they can improve Internet access in their community than at any other time. Having a gigabit is quickly becoming the standard – not because we all need 1,000 Mbps but because we know that everything we want to do is possible on a gigabit connection. Video games aren’t going to interfere with Netflix streaming or someone working from home.
In this week’s Community Broadband Bits podcast, Joanne Hovis joins me to talk about a recent paper stuffed with valuable information for communities seeking opportunities for better networks, whether publicly or privately owned. Joanne is the President of CTC Technology and Energy, which has just released Gigabit Communities: Technical Strategies for Facilitating Public or Private Broadband Constructions in your Community. The paper was financially supported by Google.
We discuss the nuts and bolts of important strategies, including Dig Once type approaches and various ways local governments can use their processes to lower the future costs of building a fiber network.
I don’t know of a better paper on this subject – so I strongly encourage people to both listen to the interview and read the paper.
We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address.
This show is 25 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed.
Listen to previous episodes here. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.
Thanks to Valley Lodge for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “Sweet Elizabeth.”