Unbuffered

This week's podcast features an interview with Education SuperHighway CEO Evan Marwell to discuss how we can make sure all schools have the Internet access they need to succeed. Education SuperHighway has a plan for connecting all schools with a fiber connection while also decreasing the need for long term federal funding of school connectivity. … Continue reading "Education SuperHighway Wants Bet...

Greenlight, a muni FTTH network in eastern North Carolina's city of Wilson, is proving to be a powerful tool in attracting new residents and businesses. We spoke with General Manager Will Aycock about the network and how it has benefited the community. Our interview covers a number of subjects, including how the network is attracting … Continue reading "Wilson's Greenlight Leads North Carolina in...

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 [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. He discusses his history with Windstream and the steps he went through to improve his Internet access. Along with … Continue reading "Mark...

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 … Continue reading "Longmont Prepares to Vote on Fiber Bonds – Com...

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 … Continue reading "Jim Baller Returns for Vol 3 of Muni Network History – Community Broadband Bit...

With a population of over 9,000 just across Puget Sound from Seattle, Poulsbo is a town with a lot of commuters and a vision for improved access to the Internet to allow more to reduce the physical need to travel. City Councilmember Ed Stern joins us for the 66th episode of Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] to … Continue reading "Poulsbo Wireless Mesh Pilot Extends Internet in Wa...

Holyoke Gas & Electric has been connecting community anchor institutions and local businesses in Western Massachusetts with fiber networks for years. Rather than using exception access to the Internet as a competitive advantage over more poorly connected neighbors, the Municipal Light Plant (in the parlance of Massachusetts law) is helping nearby towns to establish their … Continue reading "In...

The small town of Windom in southwest Minnesota has long been one of the smallest FTTH networks in the nation. I have long wanted to bring WindomNet General Manager Dan Olsen on our show because it has some of the best anecdotes in the world of community owned networks. We finally got him! To understand … Continue reading "WindomNet Creates Jobs, Benefits for SW Minnesota – Community Broadband Bit...

Jim Baller is back again for the second show in our series on the history of municipal broadband networks. He is the President of the Baller Herbst Law Group in Washington, DC, and a long time advocate for both community owned networks specifically and better access to the Internet for all more generally. We kicked … Continue reading "Jim Baller on the History of Municipal Networks, Part II on Com...

Lisa Gonzalez and I are back with another back and forth reaction to some of the crazy claims made by opponents of community owned Internet networks. This is something we started with Episode 50 and continued in Episode 55. For volume 3 of our Crazy Talk series, we address some recent claims made in opinion … Continue reading "Countering Crazy Talk, Volume 3, for Episode #62 of Community Broadband...

The Prometheus Radio Project is an impressive grassroots organization that has successfully opened the radio airwaves to communities after big corporations had effectively locked up unused radio channel for years. Prometheus Policy Director Sanjay Jolly joins us for Episode #61 of our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. Our conversation ranges from the recent history of pi...

The Spanish Fork Community Fiber Network (SFCN) is an incredibly successful HFC cable network in Utah. It delivers television, telephone, and Internet access at incredibly low rates to most of the community despite competition from Comcast. Located south of Provo, Spanish Fork has a population of 35,000. Director of Information Systems and SFCN Director John … Continue reading "Spanish Fork Discus...

Chattanooga's EPB Fiber is the highest profile community network in the U.S. It was the first network in the nation to offer a symmetrical gigabit tier to every last address in the community. On today's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, Danna Bailey joins us to discuss the network. Danna Bailey is EPB's Vice President of Corporate … Continue reading "Chattanooga's EPB Fi...

In Florida, Lakeland is one of several communities that has built a dark fiber network in a low-risk bid to expand connectivity for anchor institutions and to spur economic development. City of Lakeland Fiber Optics Supervisor Paul Meyer joins us for episode #58 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. Meyer explains why Lakeland began offering … Continue reading "Lakela...

Jim Baller has been helping local governments to build community owned networks for as long as they have been building them. He is the President of and Senior Principal of the Baller Herbst Law Group in Washington, DC. Jim joins us for Episode #57 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast to discuss some of the … Continue reading "Jim Baller Discusses Municipal Broadband H...

Last week, we discussed how Shafter's plans in California for a community fiber network changed with the Great Recession. Today we have an interview with Shafter Assistant City Manager Scott Hurlbert with an expanded discussion of how the community adjusted and what its next steps will be. Shafter transitioned from leased T1 lines to a … Continue reading "Shafter Fiber Network, Then, Now, and Next...

Following up on our first “Responding to Crazy Talk” episode last month, we decided to publish a second edition this week. Again, Lisa Gonzalez and I respond to real arguments made by those who oppose community owned Internet networks. Today, we used three arguments from a debate in 2011 that included myself, Jim Baller, Jeff … Continue reading "Responding to More “Crazy Talk” – Community Broadban...

For our 54th episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we are back in Tennessee to interview Brian Skelton, General Manager of the Tullahoma Utilities Board. They built the network in 2008 and have weathered the tough economy, meeting the business plan while greatly benefiting the community. This is a particularly content-rich interview, covering the … Continue re...

Waverly, a town of 10,000 in Iowa, decided to create a city owned telecommunications utility with a successful referendum vote in 2000 but has only recently decided to move forward with a major investment to offer services. Mike Litterer, Interim General Manager of Waverly Light and Power, joins us to discuss the project. Following the … Continue reading "Waverly Waits 13 Years to Build Fiber Netw...

We welcome Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge back to the show to discuss the latest update in the so-called IP Transition. Back in episode 32, Harold explained the five fundamental protections needed for our telecommunications system. Today he returns to discuss the ways in which some of the islands devastated by Sandy … Continue reading "IP Transition Catches Fire Island – Co...

Clarksville is the fifth largest city in the state but was among the first networks in nation to offer symmetrical fast connections with a 10 Mbps basic offering when it launched. Christy Batts, Broadband Division Manager of Clarksville Department of Electricity, joins us to share some of the lessons learned and successes from Clarksville, which … Continue reading "Catching Up on Clarksville – Com...

For our 50th episode, we're trying something new: Lisa and I respond to three common claims made by opponents of community owned networks. We owe these three particular arguments to the Executive Director of the trade association of Wisconsin telephone companies. Each of the clips we respond to come from claims he made at a … Continue reading "Responding to “Crazy Talk” – Community Broadband Bits...

The United States has long recognized that everyone should have access to a telephone and has established a variety of government programs to achieve that end. In recent months, the Lifeline program has come under attack and some have labeled it the “Obamaphone” program. In this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, Sarah Morris joins us … Continue reading "Understand...

At any conference dealing with building broadband networks, one hears talk of open trench policies or “dig once” approaches. For today's episode of Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary], City Manager Scott Lazenby of Sandy, Oregon, joins us to talk about how Sandy has proactively placed conduit underground for fiber use. We discuss the instances where it is … Continue reading "Explor...

The city of San Leandro has formed a partnership with a local company now named Lit San Leandro to expand business access to the Internet. We talk with San Leandro's Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Acosta and Judi Clark, a consultant with Lit San Leandro, to learn more about their approach. San Leandro already had conduit … Continue reading "Unraveling the Public-Private-Partnership in San Leandr...