Community Broadband Media Roundup - June 1

Alabama

Broadband grants come to Tallapoosa County by Cliff Williams, The Outlook

California

Sacramento wants to give free Internet to low-income residents amid pandemic by Monica Coleman, ABC10

Colorado

Colorado will miss its goal to hit 92% broadband coverage in rural areas by June by Tamara Chuang, Colorado Sun 

Illinois

Illinois grants to help expand broadband, digital access, WGNTV

Maryland

Gov. Hogan announces nearly $9.6M in funding for rural Internet connectivity around Maryland, CBS Baltimore

South Carolina

Tri-County Electric Cooperative plans to bring broadband to rural communities by Loren Thomas, WLTX19

"Tri-County has about six customers per mile of line," says Lowder. "That is very rural and that is why we are little behind here. Our job as a co-op is to see where the differences are and try to work with our legislatures, with the federal side and with local leaders to achieve what needs to be done and that's get fiber to the home."

General

Making Internet service a utility—what’s the worst that could happen? By Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica

Home broadband usage explodes, POTs and PANs 

The Internet is not working for everyone, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 

In $16 billion push to expand broadband, America is flying through a fog by Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal

Frontier Communications’ rural broadband claims open to skepticism by Phillip Dampier, Stop The Cap 

Incumbent phone and cable companies can protect their service areas from interlopers by claiming broadband service already exists in areas designated for rural broadband funding. Since the FCC continues to depend on voluntary disclosures of service areas by cable and phone companies, there is no immediate consequence if those providers take a more favorable view of what constitutes “service,” even if it ultimately results in long, further delays in rural broadband coverage for tens of thousands of Americans.

Hearing Tuesday: EFF urges California lawmakers to pass fiber broadband for all bill to ensure full Internet access for everyone during the pandemic and beyond, EFF