Unbuffered

The North Georgia Network was the first recipient of a BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) stimulus grant in the nation and has been an interesting success story. For the latest episode of our Community [no-glossary]Broadband Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, President and CEO Paul Belk of the NGN joins us to discuss the history, present, and future of … Continue reading "North Georgia Net...

This is a show I have been wanting to do for years – discussing some of the common mistakes that have been make by community owned networks. Offering broadband and other telecommunications services is a difficult business for any entity, public or private and all network owners make mistakes. The vast majority of these errors … Continue reading "Andrew Cohill Explains Common Mistakes in Community...

Episode #44 of our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast expands on our story exploring a major victory over bad AT&T-driven legislation in Kentucky. We welcome Mimi Pickering of Appalshop and Tom FitzGerald of the Kentucky Resources Council. We discuss why the AT&T-authored bill to gut consumer protections was bad for Kentucky and how a terrific coalition … Continue...

Chief Information Officer for the Carroll County Public Schools Gary Davis joins me to explain why the Carroll County Government, Public Schools, Public Library, and Community College partnered to build their own fiber optic network. He is also the Chairman of the resulting Carroll County Public Network (CCPN) of Maryland. The story starts the same … Continue reading "Carroll County Explains Many...

The home of the first web browser (Mosiac) is now building an exciting open access network – the twin cities of Urbana-Champaign received a stimulus award for UC2B (2B = Big Broadband). Episode #42 of Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] features Carol Ammons of the U-C Indepedent Media Center and Brandon Bowersox-Johnson, who is on the policy … Continue reading "Catching Up on UC2B...

Sascha Meinrath, Director of the Open Technology Institute (OTI) at the New America Foundation, joined me at the National Conference for Media Reform to discuss what OTI does and to discuss the Commotion Wireless project. Commotion is a project that is making it easier for anyone to build wireless mesh networks that allow for secure, … Continue reading "Sascha Meinrath Causes a Commotion on Commun...

Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller and Jennifer McCain, partner of the Motive Group discuss why this Alabama town is the first to build its own fiber optic network in the state. In short, Opelika had long been fed up with the services offered by Charter Cable and Charter was not amenable to meeting the community’s needs. They decided to … Continue reading "Opelika Builds First Full Fiber Network in Alabama...

Mike Scott, City Manager of Moultrie in Georgia, joins us for Episode #39 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast to share the origins of the Community Network Services (CNS) network that joins four towns in four counties in rural southwest Georgia. In this interview, Mike Scott shares some of the benefits of the network for … Continue reading "Moultrie City Manager Disc...

Nearly 20 years ago, a small community between Seattle and Bellingham, Washington, began building a fiber optic network to connect key municipal facilities. In the years since, Mt Vernon has expanded the network to many community anchor institutions and businesses locally, including in two nearby towns. Information Systems Director Kim Kleppe and Community & Economic … Continue reading "In Was...

Blair Levin is Executive Director of Gig. U. Prior to that, he was in charge of developing the National Broadband Plan and long before that was Chief of Staff for the FCC during the Clinton Presidency. He's had a lot of experience in telecommunications policy but here we focus on what can be done to move … Continue reading "Blair Levin Discusses Gig. U and More for Community Broadband Bits Episode...

The New Hampshire Fast Roads Initiative is bringing great Internet access to rural New Hampshire. Project CEO Carole Monroe joined us for this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. Fast Roads is the culmination of years of local organizing and several efforts to improve access to the Internet in the region. The project is already benefiting … Continue reading "Carole...

Morristown, Tennessee, is one of very few communities where anyone in town can immediately get a gigabit delivered to their home and business. General Manager and CEO Jody Wigington of the municipal electric utility, Morristown Utility Systems, joins me to discuss why they built their network and how it is has benefited the community. The … Continue reading "Morristown Explains Why it Built a Fibe...

Have you heard of the National Information Infrastructure, or the NII? Most of us either haven't, or have forgotten we once knew what it could be. Dewayne Hendricks joins us to remind us what it was and why we should care. It's “kind of a big thing.” Since we conducted this interview, unlicensed spectrum issues … Continue reading "Dewayne Hendricks Explains the Forgotten National Information Infra...

Glasgow was a true pioneer in community owned broadband networks, starting with its own cable plant in the 1980s. Billy Ray, CEO of Glasgow Electric Plant Board, has been an inspiration for municipal broadband networks — one can't dig into the early history of LUS Fiber in Louisiana without running into something from Billy Ray, … Continue reading "Billy Ray, Community Broadband Pioneer, Joins us...

Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge, is back on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] to discuss five fundamental rules necessary to ensure we have a great telecommunications system that benefits everyone. Harold first appeared on our show in episode 23. Harold explains the Five Fundamentals here and includes a link to their full filing [pdf]. … Continue reading "T...

The Wired Road is an ambitious fiber optic and wireless project offering Internet access to several underserved areas in rural Virginia. For the 31st episode of our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Bits podcast, Scarlett McGrady joins me to discuss its history and impact on the region. McGrady is the Director of the Grant Community Computing Center … Continue reading "Scarlett M...

Jason Bird is the Electrical Superintendent at the city of Princeton Utilities in Illinois. He joins us for the 30th episode of our Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast to explain why Princeton built a rather unique network. Princeton has built a fiber network to connect some of the local businesses and uses broadband over power lines … Continue reading "Jason Bird Explains...

Susan Crawford, author of the just-released Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, is our guest for the 29th episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast. A former adviser to President Obama, she has been a leading figure in the struggle to preserve an open Internet. Susan has long … Continue reading "Susan Crawford, Captive A...

If you think the United States cannot afford to take a fiber optic cable to just about every home in the country, you might be surprised to find out that we have already paid for it. We just haven't received it. Our first podcast guest in 2013, Bruce Kushnick of the New Networks Institute, explains … Continue reading "Community Broadband Bits 28 – Bruce Kushnick" ★ Support this podcast ★

I meant to post this over the Holiday Break but it fell through the cracks. So, at the beginning of 2013, here are some of our best moments from the 2012 Weekly Podcast, Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary]. Read the transcript from this episode here. We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail … Continue reading "Best of 2012 Community Broadband Bits" ★ Suppo...

This week, Josh Wallace from the City of Palo Alto Utilities joins us to talk about the City's dark fiber network for episode 26 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast. Josh describes how the dark fiber network connects businesses, offering incredibly high capacity connections at affordable flat rate pricing. The utility charges an upfront fee … Continue reading "Commun...

Dewayne Hendricks has returned for his second appearance on the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] Podcast, continuing our discussion about the potential for wireless technologies to improve how we access the Internet. We recommend listening to his first appearance in episode 18 before this one. Here, we take up the old wired vs. wireless debate, but quickly … Continue reading "Co...

Dr Browder runs Bristol Tennessee Essential Services, the municipal utility on the southern side of Bristol's Virginia border. For our 24th Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, he tells us how they built a FTTH network and how it has helped the community. Like so many others, they started by seeking to ensure maximum reliability of the … Continue reading "Community Broadban...

One hundred years after Teddy Roosevelt and AT&T agreed to the Kingsbury Commitment, Harold Feld joins us on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast to explain what the Kingsbury Commitment was and why it matters. In short, AT&T wants to change the way telecommunications networks are regulated and Harold is one of our best allies on this … Continue reading "Community Br...

While I was in Danville, Virginia, for the Broadband Community Magazine Economic Development Conference, I had a chance to sit down with Jason Grey, nDanville Network Manager. This interview is our 22nd episode of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast. Jason and I met five years ago when I first visited Danville to learn about its … Continue reading "Community Broadband B...