Community Broadband Media Roundup - October 24

California

Legislation would give SF residents more choice in Internet service providers by Bay City News, San Francisco Examiner

Supervisor Mark Farrell on Tuesday introduced legislation requiring property owners to allow tenants in multi-unit buildings to choose their own internet service provider.

While federal law prohibits property owners and property managers from entering into exclusive agreements with service providers, ISP’s estimate that roughly 500 multi-unit buildings in The City have limits in place that effectively prevent residents from using alternate providers, according to Farrell.

Colorado

1A improves technology opportunities for the future by Sallie Clark, Colorado Springs Gazette

Take 10 minutes to participate in broadband survey by Craig Daily Press Editorial Board

Lafayette issue 2E: Authorizing municipal broadband by Boulder Daily Camera

Superior issue 2G: Authoritizing municipal broadband by Boulder Daily Camera

Connecticut

Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz named state broadband champion of the year by Norwalk Plus

Florida

Comcast to limit amount of Internet data customers can use monthly by Kara Duffy, CBS-12

Maine

It's time to connect rural America by Christopher Chavis, Bangor Daily News

New Mexico

A rural school shrinks - but grows its digital toolkit by Megan Kamerick, High Country News

Virginia

Albemarle seeks partners for broadband grant application by Aaron Richardson, Charlottesville Tomorrow

Fauquier's broadband solution could cost $20 million by James Ivancic, Fauquier Times

Patchwork of public, private efforts seeks to narrow Lynchburg region's digital divide by Alex Rohr, Lynchburg News & Advance

One asset already planted where tobacco crops used to feed financial health is the fiber backbone owned by nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation.

…

That Mid-Atlantic backbone now provides “middle mile” broadband infrastructure, easing the transition into the last mile where businesses won’t come and students fall behind in a transforming technological age. Localities and businesses can branch off that backbone and connect towers to broadcast speedier service to more people.

General

Vox seems kind of upset that we're building gigabit networks with bandwidth to spare by Karl Bode, TechDirt

If you want to see why broadband in the United States still stinks, your first stop should be to examine the state level protectionist laws used to stifle competition across countless markets. But despite the lobbyist stranglehold over state legislatures, we're still seeing some impressive progress when it comes to the deployment of gigabit fiber networks. Google Fiber continues to slowly but surely expand its footprint, and we're seeing the rise of numerous other piecemeal gigabit solutions, whether coming from the likes of Tucows or municipal broadband deployments in cities like Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

Broadband prices drop in areas with gigabit broadband by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Competition in gigabit Internet market can signficantly reduce prices by Bill Snyder, CIO

Photo of the Highlander calf courtesy of robertobarresi via Pixaby.