Broadband Resources – Search Results
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Superior, Wisconsin Takes Substantial Step Towards Municipal Fiber
Just a year after city leaders of Superior, Wisconsin, passed a resolution declaring fiber optic cabling critical infrastructure, officials are beginning to put the city’s money behind an action plan.… Read More
Building Connections and Capacity in Indian Country at the First Tribal Wireless Bootcamp
Earlier this summer, a small group of people gathered in the southern California desert for the first Tribal Wireless Bootcamp. Organized by a loose collection of people with a long history of building and encouraging nontraditional broadband networks, the focus was on building, maintaining, and troubleshooting wireless networks in Indian Country.… Read More
Amidst Fire Season, California City Devotes Relief Funds to Improve Communications Infrastructure
For local governments, fast, reliable, and resilient Internet service is crucial for public safety communications. When flames engulf the region, relaying critical emergency information with speed is paramount. Seconds matter. It’s equally important for citizens to get timely information on the course of wildfires, receive alert notifications or evacuation orders, and be able to connect with friends and family. … Read More
Rethinking Rural Connectivity with Christopher Ali — Episode 134 of Building Local Power
Host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Ry Marcattilio-McCracken and Sean Gonsalves, Senior Researchers with ILSR’s Community Broadband initiative, as well as Christopher Ali, an Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Christopher discusses his new book Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity and recent news in the broadband policy space.… Read More
New Resource: Our Big List of American Rescue Plan Community Broadband Projects
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) represents an unprecedented amount of money flowing to local governments, and an equally historic opportunity to spend the money on bringing fast, affordable broadband access to the millions of unserved and underserved households… … Read More
Vinton, Iowa’s Municipal Fiber Utility Offers Affordable, Locally Accountable Internet Access Amid Ongoing Pandemic
Vinton, Iowa’s municipal communications utility, iVinton, connected its 1,000th subscriber with high-speed fiber optic Internet service this week. Demand for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity across the 4.74-square-mile Iowa community (est. pop. 5,100) is so substantial that iVinton is having to schedule installations a month out as requests for residential service have surpassed the manpower available to complete them. … Read More
Tuttle, Oklahoma Completes Its Citywide Fiber Broadband Network, Bringing Future-Proof Service To All
Ten years ago the local cable provider in Tuttle, Oklahoma (pop. 7,300) went bankrupt. After looking at community-owned networks around the country, city officials decided that it should invest for the well-being of its local economy and its residents, as well as to give local government the tools it needed to increase efficiency and save money. Its network, Tuttle Fiber, is complete today, and will deliver universal, fast, affordable, and locally accountable Internet access for decades to come.… Read More
New Fiber Broadband Project Near Ann Arbor, Michigan Hopes to Be a Catalyst for Economic Restoration
With the help of CARES Act funding, nonprofit economic development organization Ann Arbor SPARK is collaborating with the city of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County to undertake a broadband project that it’s hoping will really reestablish the region’s former reputation as a first-in-class industry and technology epicenter. The $2.4 million project will drive the installation of a new fiber backbone to attract businesses and, local leaders hope, spur broadband competition.… Read More
Policy Brief: The Problem(s) of Broadband in America
The connectivity crisis across the country, created by uncompetitive market conditions, is actually a three-fold challenge, all of which are interconnected: Access, Affordability and Adoption.… Read More
PCMag’s Fastest ISPs in America List Once Again Proves the Value of Cities Investing in Internet Infrastructure
After three years in a row with similar results, PCMag’s “Fastest ISPs in America” for 2021 analysis shows a clear trend: community owned and/or operated broadband infrastructure supports networks which, today, handily beat the huge monopoly Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – cable and telephone alike – for sheer speed. The latest list proves it. Of the ten-fastest ISPs in the country, all of them feature operators that either are cities themselves or use city-owned fiber or conduit to deliver service across whole or parts of their footprint. … Read More
Municipal Broadband Advocates Win Major Victory in Ohio
Municipal broadband advocates in Ohio realized a major victory today when a bipartisan House and Senate conference committee released the final version of their state budget plan that added $250 million to expand broadband access in the Buckeye State and removed the anonymous budget amendment that would have effectively banned municipal broadband networks if passed into law.… Read More
A Promising Model for Expanding Internet Access in Rural Vermont
With the exception of a handful of homes in the more densely populated communities of St. Johnsbury and Newport, the only choice for most folks living in the rural environs of the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont is between DSL and satellite. That’s all changing now thanks to one of the state’s nascent Communication Union Districts (CUD), enabled by a 2015 Vermont law that allows two or more towns to join together as a municipal entity to build communication infrastructure.… Read More
Partnerships Foster Fiber Hotbed Below New Hampshire’s Cheshire County
The southwest corner of New Hampshire will be blanketed with Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks over the next two years, as over 20 communities are drawing up plans to enter into public-private partnerships to boost high-speed Internet access in the Granite State. … Read More
Maine Communities Vote To Establish Regional Broadband Utility
Residents of three coastal Maine communities – Camden, Rockport, and Thomaston – have voted to support an interlocal agreement establishing the MidCoast Internet Development Corporation (MIDC), a nonprofit regional broadband utility in the Penobscot Bay Region of MidCoast Maine. The ultimate goal of MIDC is to build an open-access, Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network to provide universal Internet access to improve connectivity and competition in the region.… Read More
Ohio Inches Closer to Ban on Municipal Broadband Projects
When the Ohio Senate passed its two-year $75-billion budget bill yesterday, it included an amendment that effectively bans the creation and operation of municipal broadband networks and other community-owned projects without much in the way of public debate. The move is drawing a lot of blowback, from cities in the state to local and national advocacy organizations to the Lieutenant Governor.… Read More