Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 28

California

Guest Opinion: Palo Alto needs a citywide municipal fiber-to-the-premises utility by Jeff Hoel, Palo Alto Online

 

Idaho

Fiber Optic Utility brings faster and better Internet to Ammon by Ariel Schroeder, KIFI

National surveys show that having fiber optics installed in your homes increases its value over 3%.

For for a $75,000 home, it's going to typically increase the value of the home by over $4,000.

"This is because home buyers are getting smarter and they know that the Internet is very much like sewer and water. They want it, they know they are going to pay for it every month, and that matters to them what that monthly bill is. So they are motivated to try and find good connectivity at the lowest price possible," Patterson said.

Amid network growth, Ammon Fiber to host information meeting by Ryan Suppe, Post Register

Task force created to improve broadband Internet in Idaho, KLEW News

 

Illinois

Jacksonville City Council will meet May 28 by Kristine Gonzales-Abella, West Central Reporter 

 

Maine

Business Breakfast: Municipal broadband projects ‘contagious,’ experts say, Portland Press Herald 

Towns can soon avoid fee for broadband devices on poles, Seattle PI

 

Michigan

Closing the digital divide by Justin Dawes, Grand Rapids Business Journal

 

Missouri

Missouri legislators bring rural broadband closer to reality by Eric Bohl, Buffalo Reflex

 

Montana

Tester bill would help build out broadband, close digital divide in rural America, Char-Koosta News

 

North Carolina 

Town of Highlands making broadband progress by Jessi Stone, Smoky Mountain News

 

Texas

‘We do not have coverage here:’ Texans take on federal broadband maps by Paul Flahive, Texas Public Radio

“If we sit around and wait for the telephone company or the cable company or the federal government or anyone else to do it for us, it’s never gonna get done— we’re always going to be at the tail end of the food chain,” Hunt said.

 

Washington

Tacoma faces two legal challenges over new business model for Click by Debbie Cockrell, The News Tribune

 

West Virginia

Still in the weeds on broadband: State stuck waiting for federal action by Matt Combs, The Register-Herald

 

General

Congress can end the digital divide or replace it with a speed chasm with its broadband infrastructure bill by Ernesto Falcon, Electronic Frontier Foundation 

House lifts curtain on LIFT America Act by John Eggerton, Multichannel 

Pew to launch broadband access and state policy explorer by Lucas Ropek, GovTech 

Speed goals for FCC grants by Doug Dawson, POTs and PANs

POTUS fight threatens rural broadband bucks by John Eggerton, Multichannel

Broadband monopolies are acting like old phone monopolies. Good thing solutions to that problem already exist by Ernesto Falcon, Electronic Frontier Foundation 

Comcast does so much lobbying that it says disclosing it all is too hard by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Rural cooperatives deliver high-speed Internet for less by Lucas Laursen, IEEE Spectrum