Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a historic, $7 billion plan to increase broadband access across the state. On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, host Christopher Mitchell is joined by Ernesto Falcon (Senior Legislative Counsel) and Hayley Tsukayama (Legislative Activist) from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to talk about how the funds will be used to bring better connectivity to Californians.

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, Christopher Mitchell is joined by broadband analyst and telehealth advocate, Craig Settles; Dianne Connery, Special Projects Librarian in Pottsboro, Texas; and Adam Echelman, Executive Director of Libraries Without Boarders, to talk about how libraries are the cornerstones of information access for communities across the country. Libraries have been connecting communities to resources and services for decades, but with the digital age, libraries are answering the same call for action with Internet access and digital literacy. Connery shares her firsthand experience working in a library in Pottsboro, Texas where there are no doctors in town and telehealth access has become crucial, especially with the pandemic. The group also talks about the importance of libraries connecting those who would otherwise not have Internet access and how that is becoming an absolute necessity with the way education and healthcare are changing.

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, Christopher and ILSR senior reporter and editor, Sean Gonsalves chat with Nate Benson, a reporter with WGRZ in Buffalo, New York, about his approach to reporting on connectivity issues afflicting the Western part of the state. Benson explains the origins and results of his Fall 2019 investigation into monopoly service, including what the lack of competition has done to prices and availability in the city of Buffalo. He details his method to producing stories on Internet access that have resonated with citizens and galvanized local policymakers in the community.

A couple of months ago we wrote about the city of Tucson’s efforts to bridge the digital divide by building a wireless citywide network. On this episode of the podcast, Christopher talks with Collin Boyce, the city’s Chief Information Officer, to hear more about how the effort started, what they’ve learned along the way, and the impact it’s having on the community.

For episode 13 of our bonus series, “Why NC Broadband Matters,” we’re joined by Doug Dawson (Owner and President of CCG Consulting), Catharine Rice (Project Director for the Coalition for Local Internet Choice) and Gene Scott (General Manager of the Outside Plant for the Greenlight Network) to talk about the wave of new federal dollars reaching communities across the country. How do communities avoid feeling overwhelmed and use this money in the most effective ways?

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR's senior editor and reporter, Sean Gonsalves, Doug Seacat, Owner of Deeply Digital and Clearnetworx, and Casey Irving, Director of Business Development, about bringing world-class connectivity to households in and around the city of Ridgeway, Colorado. Around five years ago, Clearnetworx won a Colorado broadband fund grant to build a Fiber-to-the-Home network for the community, only to have it challenged by incumbent provider, CenturyLink. Subsequent appeals ultimately led to a situation where Clearnetworx lost the grant to CenturyLink. Instead of the money going towards a Fiber-to-the-Home network for residents, it was used for a modest upgrade to CenturyLink's DSL network.

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by two representatives from Conway Corp, a municipal utility in Conway, Arkansas to hear about their commitment to providing high quality Internet access to residents over the last four decades. CEO Bret Carroll and Chief Technology Officer Jason Hansen dive into the rich history of Conway Corp, starting with how the utility got into the telecommunications industry in the early 1980s, by acquiring an exclusive city-wide cable franchise agreement and bringing the first city residents online. They describe two upgrade cycles the network has since undergone: one to a hybrid fiber co-ax system in the late 1990s, and another, starting in 2010, to drive fiber deeper into parts of the network to bring gigabit download service to residents.

This week on the podcast, we're joined by two representatives from Minnesota based CTC, a firm that started as a telephone cooperative and has become one of the most aggressive fiber network builders in greater Minnesota. CTC partners with electric cooperatives and communities to undertake internet infrastructure projects around the state. CEO and General Manager, Kristi Westbrock, and Director of Business Development, Joe Buttweiler, talk with Chris about the history of the cooperative's decision to embark on a network upgrade bringing fiber to its 15,000 members almost 20 years ago.

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, we're joined by Jonathan Chambers, a partner at Conexon. Conexon has helped rural electric cooperatives build fiber to the home networks since its founding five years ago. Christopher and Jonathan talk about ideas for how to improve structuring rural broadband subsidies in a way that takes advantage of fiber infrastructure's long life. Jonathan and Chris dig into what this would mean for funding projects, and how it would change the way we think about and approach connecting rural communities in the future.

One component of the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 was the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a $3.2 billion program designed to get families connected to available service that they otherwise might not be able to afford. The program provides a subsidy of up to $50/month (or $75 on tribal lands) for broadband service as well as up to $100 for a device (with a household contribution) for as long as the money lasts.