Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Community Broadband Media Roundup - July 31
Colorado
Longmont's success leads to dozens of followers: When is 'crazy fast' Internet coming to your town? by Jason Gruenauer, The Denver Channel WGBH-7
The city built an entire fiber grid network that now has the potential to connect every residence and business in the area to 1-gigabit internet speeds.
For comparison, the FCC considers anything that is 25 megabits per second or faster to be "high speed." One gigabit per second is 40 times that.
Indiana
Broadband expansion vote for downtown Holland postponed until Aug. 2 by Sidney Smith, Holland Sentinel
Maryland
Atlantic Broadband extends fiber network to support emergency response in Maryland by Bevin Fletcher, CED Magazine
North Carolina
Fibrant in focus: Story of Wilson's, Salisbury's fiber optic networks a 'tale of two cities' by Josh Bergeron, The Salisbury Post
Connecting to what matters by Laura Mitchell, Wilkes Journal Patriot
Guests on the show included Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, who weighed in on circumstances surrounding those 39 percent of Americans living in rural areas lacking broadband access, compared with 4 percent of those living in cities, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
The town that had free gigabit Internet by Kaleigh Rogers, Motherboard Vice
Ohio
Country connection: Rural residents ask FCC to improve Internet by Benny Becker, Ohio Valley ReSource
Mitchell argued that too much of the federal money intended to expand rural internet access goes to large companies who’ve been building substandard networks. The problem with counting on large companies like Frontier to build rural broadband, Mitchell said, comes down to a question of money and incentives. Urban areas have more customers in a smaller area, which means they’re more appealing to companies that are publicly traded and profit-driven.
Tennessee
Chattanooga has its own broadband - why doesn't every city? by Jonathan Taplin, The Daily Beast
This city has its own broadband - why can't we? by Carrie Ann, Industry Leaders Magazine
Virginia
What's next for broadband Internet on Virginia's Eastern Shore? by Carol Vaughn, Delmarva Daily Times
Editorial: Minnesota offers Virginia a lesson on rural broadband by The Roanoke Times
General
Rural Internet can help shrink economic gap by Jon Talton, Seattle Times
Broadband and rural economies - maybe small is better by Craig Settles, The Daily Yonder
A people-owned Internet exists. Here's what it looks like by Nathan Schneider, The Guardian
In cities and towns, it’s probably through a municipal government, or even neighborhood mesh networks, which can swell across whole regions. Rural areas can piggyback on existing electric and telephone cooperatives, or start new co-ops from scratch.
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is one of the best organizations tracking these options, and its Community Networks website is full of resources about who is doing what where, and why.
Image of the cow in the pasture courtesy of DominikSchraudolf via pixaby.
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Iowa
Iowa receives $26.2 million in emergency education relief to expand broadband access, Discover Muscatine
Minnesota
Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 25
Colorado
Little-known Internet network plans Western Colorado expansion to link students, nonprofits to supercomputers by Tamara Chuang, Colorado Sun
Louisiana
Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 18
California
Partnerships can close the digital divide by Apoorva Pasricha & Kevin Frazier, GovTech
Colorado
Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 4
Arizona
Mohave Electric Cooperative moves forward to build fiber optic network in partnership with TWN Communications, Cision PR Newswire
Arkansas