Located in the northeast corner of the state of Tennessee, Morristown Utility Systems offers FiberNET to Morristown's 30,000 residents and businesses. MUSFiberNET is another community that decided to take control of its destiny and invest in a municipal broadband network.

And by offering 1 Gbps anywhere in the community, Morristown is in the ultra-elite category of broadband in America.

We featured Morristown in one of the Muni FTTH Snapshots way back in June of 2009. They were doing well at the time but this great news shows how Morristown has brought next-gen, affordable, and reliable capabilities to anyone who wants it.

MUS FiberNET was built in 2006 and maintains a list of reasons why their network is superior to competitors. To advertise their incredible high capacity network, they developed this great billboard:

Morristown's Gig announcement never received the attention given to Chattanooga or Google's roll-out in Kansas City, which is unfortunate.

For commercial users, the Gig runs $849.00 per month, a ridiculously inexpensive price point compared to what large carriers commonly charge for the service. Morristown Schools are also taking advantage of the network, including making full use of the gig service. Residential prices vary from 6 Mbps/4 Mbps, download and upload speeds, for $34.95 to 20 Mbps/10 Mbps for $74.95 and MUS FiberNET also offers a variety of triple-play bundles.

Like many other communities in Tennessee, Morristown has few choices for service from private providers. After promising the state legislature major investments in Tennessee in return for favorable legislation, AT&T decided to only served high end, dense neighborhoods, as we have seen just about everywhere else.

Communities that are satisfied with last generation connections and having no control over the networks on which they depend can make do with AT&T and cable companies. But those who want universal access to fast, affordable, and reliable services should consider building a community fiber network.

Leverett, Massachusetts, is one step closer to a community owned FTTH network. The town of 2,000 will have weekly public information meetings until the Annual Town Meeting scheduled for April 28, 2012. If the required $3.6 million funding is approved at the meeting, the city will issue a Request For Proposals to build the network.

The 1 gig network is slated to be an aerial build, except where existing utilities are underground, in which instances, fiber cable will also be placed underground. Leverett plans to use a $40,0000 planning grant, obtained from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, to hire G4S Technology to design the last mile fiber-optic network to connect to MBI's stimulus-funded middle mile. The middle mile project is scheduled to be completed in June, 2013, and Leverett plans to be ready to connect soon after. The goal is to have every home connected with fiber by 2014.

Whereas most communities explicitly choose not to use tax revenue to pay for a community network, Leverett's present plan is for a slight increase in local taxes to assist in the financing. The town will borrow the amount necessary to build the network and pay it back over 20 years using a combination of tax revenue and revenues from the new broadband service. Peter d'Errico, Chair of the MBI Grant Broadband Committee observes that homeowners' net spending figures will decline once the system is in place. From the article:

A town survey concluded a municipal network could offer better Internet and phone service at far cheaper rates than private providers, he said.

"It will be a little more on their tax bill and a lot less on their Internet bill, so overall they will be pay less," d'Errico said.

According to the Broadband Committee, approximately 37% of households in Leverett use slow, sketchy satellite, 23% use dial-up, 20% are on DSL, 14% use wireless, and 6% of households have no internet access. Some households, although theoretically accessible via satellite, never get a connection because of trees and the picturesque, hilly Massachusetts countryside.

Leverett is situated in the Five College area of Amherst, Hampshire, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and the University of Massachusetts. The town is rich in history, but now finds that, because of their disconnect from reliable internet, they are losing opportunities usually found in towns that neighbor such academic centers. Housing sales are impacted, as are renting opportunities. From the article:

"Junior faculty, graduate and undergraduate students that normally would be very interested in renting in a lovely town like Leverett are just unable to do it," said [Richard Nathhorst, a member of Leverett's Broadband Committee], "To be able to work or complete their studies they need access to the Internet."

In addition to lack of internet access, the town has had longstanding problems with their telephone service, provided by Verizon. Last year, the State Department of Communications ordered the telco to assess and repair the telecommunications infrastructure in nearly 100 western Massachusetts communities, including Leverett.

"People are realizing that private companies are not making enough money moving into rural areas," d'Errico said of the capital investment needed to bring broadband to smaller communities. "The only other alternative available is a municipal network."

Leverett's plan is to contract with a two separate entities, one to provide network management and services and another to provide infrastructure maintenance.

We have previously reported on WiredWest, a consortium of towns in western Massachusetts that have come together to form a regional network. WiredWest has been instrumental in organzing local communities, including Leverett, to work together on a jointly owned, open access FTTH network connecting everyone. The Wired West efforts have included $100,000 worth of mapping, $30,000 in engineering, and $20,000 in marketing, project management and financial services over the past six months. However, most Wired West communities are seeking funding for the network that would not require borrowing backed by the local tax base.

Leverett says it is committed to further collaboration with Wired West, but its present plan involves finding a single provider to operate on the network rather than the open access approach embraced by Wired West. Some recommend that new networks start with a single service provider to get up and running before later inviting additional service providers to the network. Working with an experienced service provider right away can offer more confidence to potential investors.

Residents have responded favorably to the proposal, including the increased taxes, and officials expect a high take rate. Such an approach is much more consistent with the spirit of local self-reliance than those who continue holding out hope for more federal grants.

Jason Whittet, Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, is officially on board with public ownership of broadband:

"What you are seeing come to fruition with this Town Meeting is a town that takes a lead in creating its own destiny when it comes to broadband."

Leverett wants to be the leader and they clearly have the ambition to realize that goal:

"We are showing the way," d'Errico said. "The network we build will become a template for other towns."

The last of three scheduled public meetings with the Broadband Committee to discuss the proposed project will be Sunday night, April 15th at the Town Hall, 9 Montague Road at 7 p.m.

A local ABC station reported on Leverett's plan:

A recent article by Chloe Morrison on Nooga.com, highlighted the inquiries and envy from all over the globe about Chattanooga's awesome community fiber network. According to Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee is one of many admirers with wandering eyes that keep taking a peak at Tennessee. No wonder! The "Gig City" has set the gold standard for connectivity. Additionally, the city has cleverly capitalized marketing the opportunities to spread the word about their network and to attract more economic opportunities.

Collaboration is the popular theme that is associated with development. When looking back in Wisconsin, collaboration seems rare to find. We have reported extensively on AT&T's attempts to instigate discord, drag out legal proceedings, and fatally halt the possibility of community owned broadband in Wisconsin.  If the Badgers want to compete in the digital economy, as they claim they do, they will have to stop listening to the big cable and DSL companies:

Only a few Internet users, such as a hospital or a large company, would currently benefit from the full capabilities of a gigabit network that can move large amounts of data at incredible speeds. It's like buying a Jaguar when a Ford Focus would be perfectly adequate, said Andrew Petersen, spokesman for TDS Telecom in Madison. (from the Barrett article.)

We have all read this tired comparison before and it still seems silly from a technological perspective. Planning for the future is critical when investing in essential infrastructure. Technological advancement moves at a fast pace, rather than an adequate pace.

Consider this assage from the Nooga article and consider how many of the benefits of a next-generation networks TDS would actually care about:

“The benefits are far-reaching—everything from a significant boost to economic development (new businesses locating here), millions of dollars in cost savings to businesses each year (by reducing lost time and productivity caused by power outages), attracting top talent in the technology industry to live and work in Chattanooga, the added conveniences to residents’ personal and work lives, etc.,” Dwyer said.

According to a corporate site selection survey, high-speed Internet and cost-efficient energy availability rank in the top five site selection factors that business leaders consider, which puts Chattanooga in a “niche position” because of its infrastructure, she said.

And according to a report done by Dr. Bento Lobo from UTC, the net benefit to the county is nearly $1.5 billion, plus the creation of about 3,716 jobs.

“This ends up being a net benefit of about $3,500 for every resident in the county,” she said.

Why would TDS care about the net economic benefit to the county? These are savings and benefits that would not significantly improve TDS's bottom line - the benefts accrue to everyone else.  

"It's like being the first city to have fire," said Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield. "We don't know all of the things we can do with it yet, but we have something that no one else has, at least to this degree." (also from the Barrett article)

The people of Milwaukee might like to have some of that fire to keep them warm, like their neighbors, Reedsburg. At this writing, Wisconsin state law creates high hurdles for local governments to create their own networks. Perhaps, with more attention in the Sentinel and other Wisconsin media, sparks of discussion can ignite a similar fire in Milwaukee.