Community Broadband Media Roundup - February 19

Alabama

This is how politicians should deal with bad cable companies by Charles Mills, BGR

Mediacom has a franchise agreement to offer cable and Internet service within the city, thanks to its 2016 takeover of the local cable company, Andalusia TV Cable. But Johnson says that since Mediacom took over, service has been tanking.

“For the entire time that I have been mayor, I have not received as many complaints about anything as I have received about the cable and broadband service from Mediacom,” Johnson told the city council last week, according to the local paper. “Whatever it is that they’re doing here, they need to make some changes…they operate here because we let them. As a city government we can’t tell them or make them do anything. But we can locate someone who is an expert on broadband and Internet who can tell us what we can do.”

One small Alabama town is tired of MediaCom's crap by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Mayor puts Mediacom on notice: Get better, or we'll compete with you by Lacy Stinson, Andalusia Star News

 

Colorado

Editorial: Broadband study was good decision by Loveland Reporter-Herald Editorial Board

 

Iowa

Council authorizes $15K in attorney fees for work on possible municipal utilities by Sarah Strandberg, Decorah Newspapers

 

Kentucky

Eastern Kentucky's struggle with water symbolizes America's crumbling infrastructure by Lyndsey Gilpin, Huffington Post

Smarter electric grids and more widespread broadband networks can help solve these types of problems, said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which works with electric cooperatives to expand internet access and introduce programs that make it easier for outages to be monitored and repaired, or introduce energy efficiency programs.

That could make a huge difference in places like Perry County, which has seen the state utility, Kentucky Power, try to raise rates by 9 percent. The state’s public service commission is working to decrease the rate by 4 percent; some customers say they are paying anywhere from $600 to $1,000 per month for electricity. “Now that we have the water back, I’m working with a group on electricity,” Pam Brashear said.

Expanded internet access could also create more opportunities for work in rural areas. Jackson County, Kentucky, for instance, has a fiber-optic network that has “enabled job creation because people can work from home,” he said.

 

Massachusetts

With the end of net neutrality, Braintree's municipal Internet service gives customers more control by Erin Tiernan, Patriot Ledger

BELD – the Braintree Electric Light Department - gives residents in that town another broadband choice, along with gas, cable and electric service. It also gives consumers a voice in whether the company maintains the principles of net neutrality going forward.

“If Netflix worked poorly, BELD customers would call the board, the mayor, the council, and policy would change very quickly,” said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a Minnesota think-tank that advocates for local control. He said customers of municipally-owned internet service providers like BELD are at an advantage amid the mounting uncertainty of how providers will deliver content in a world without net neutrality regulations.

Peabody seeks to create municipal fiber network by Mary Markos, Salem News

Report concludes city would benefit from municipal broadband by G. Michael Dobbs, The Chicopee Reminder

 

Minnesota

Blandin funding helps in rural expansion for Internet service by Melissa Roach, Timberjay

Pilot projects floated to improve Internet service by Tom Coombe, The Ely Echo

 

Missouri

Fidelity Communications caught astroturfing muni-broadband by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Area businesses have mixed feelings on effects of net neutrality repeal by Philip Joens, Jefferson City News Tribune

Christopher Mitchell, director of community broadband networks for St. Paul, Minnesota-based think tank the Institute for Local Self Reliance, said businesses and consumers likely will see prices rise because of the new power given to the oligopolies that run the telecom industry.

"Prices will be going up in general," Mitchell said. "Exactly how they go up is hard to predict."

 

New Jersey

Stuck in the slow lane on the Internet by New Jersey Herald Editorial Board

 

Virginia

CVEC announces new broadband access project by Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review

 

Washington

Washington House passes bill to protect net-neutrality rules by Rachel La Corte, Associated Press

High speed broadband headed for rural Washington by Brian Neale, KXLY

SB 5935 follows federal standards in setting a target for high-speed service of at least 25 megabits per second for download speeds, and upload speeds of at least 3 megabits per second. The Office on Broadband Access will coordinate with local governments, public and private entities and utilities to develop broadband deployment strategies. It will develop a model ordinance for local governments for permitting of new facilities, and will study the possibility of tax credits to encourage deployment in underserved areas.

The office also will develop a grant program for local governments and make recommendations for grant projects. Other provisions of the bill require cities to develop a permitting process for new telecommunications facilities and to generally prohibit conditional land-use permits except in cases of large facilities or conflicts with community design standards. Rural port districts and the Kitsap Public Utility District would be allowed to offer broadband service.

 

West Virginia

FCC broadband availability data blasted as bogus, 'shameful' by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

 

General

As battle brews in Congress, FCC says killing net neutrality is making the Internet better by Mike Ludwig, Truth-Out

Proponents of net neutrality rules, which prevent internet providers from playing favorites with legal web content, say the idea that deregulatory moves at the FCC and in Congress are helping consumers is simply false. They say voters should punish the GOP in the midterms for siding with big telecommunications companies instead of their customers.

This crafty tactic may let states get around the FCC on net neutrality by Brian Fung, Washington Post

The initiatives have put states on a collision course with the FCC. But now a new tactic gaining momentum among governors threatens to complicate the debate further. Their novel approach, analysts say, is largely untested in court — and it could drive the fight over the Internet's future into hazy legal territory.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) this week became one of the latest to adopt the strategy, signing an executive order that effectively forces Internet service providers (ISPs) that do business with the state to abide by strong net neutrality rules.

Regulating from broadband maps by POTS and PANS blog

Trump's infrastructure plan has no dedicated money for broadband by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Why broadband competition at faster speeds is virtually nonexistant by Karl Bode, Motherboard Vice

And the faster the broadband speeds get, the more obvious the lack of competition becomes.

According to the FCC’s data, 44 percent of census blocks have no access to speeds of 100 Mbps or greater, and 41 percent of census blocks can only get those speeds from just one provider. In other words, 85 percent of U.S. census blocks either can’t get 100 Mbps speeds from any ISP, or only have the option of getting 100 Mbps from just one provider.

Net neutrality: States' rights vs. the FCC by Mari Silbey, Light Reading

Schools & Libraries: We're keys to closting rural divide by John Eggerton, MultiChannel News