Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 2

Alabama

At schools with sub-par Internet, kids face a poor connection with modern life by Chico Harlan, Washington Post

Massachusetts

Massachusetts government stymies WiredWest municipal broadband initiative, report says by Samantha Bookman, FierceTelecom

Homegrown Internet provider a good idea by The Recorder's Editorial

Virginia

Broadband vs. ice cream by Roanoke Times' Editorials

Switch flipped on municipal-motivated broadband network; PBS is first customer by Yann Ranaivo, Roanoke Times

Proponents of the network have in the past few years pointed to various reports on the Roanoke area’s low rankings in terms of connectivity. They have also stressed that many employers today, whether they are already in the region or looking to expand here, need modern broadband infrastructure for their operations.

“What we’re creating today is additional infrastructure for our community so it can move forward,” said Salem City Manager and Broadband Authority board Chairman Kevin Boggess. “The network is just the first step in advancing and coordinating economic prospects for our region.”

General

Report: FCC gets lots of complaints about broadband data caps by David Murphy, PC Magazine

According to a FOIA request from The Wall Street Journal, there were nearly 8,000 complaints about data caps in the second half of 2015. That's not a very large amount compared to the millions of people dealing with these data caps, but it's a significant increase over the number of similar complaints for the first half of the year: a whopping 863. (Though it's unlikely that the Federal Communications Commission will see that many complaints in the first half of this year, since it has only received around 1,500 so far.)

The Charter-Time Warner merger would create a new Internet giant by Klint Finley, Wired

Ted Cruz pushes bill to hinder community broadband by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Times Warner Cable's bad behavior helped Charter win merger approval by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Regulators impose caveats on Charter TWC merger approval by David Jones, E Commerce Times