Community Broadband Media Roundup - September 5

California

Internet improvements to go before City Council by Felicia Alvarez, Davis Enterprise

The fiber pioneers by Timothy Downs, American City and County

“Santa Monica is a great example of how a local government can develop a long-term vision and create significant economic benefits with low risk investments,” Christopher Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a proponent of municipally owned networks, says. “Without spending any new money, it built a great fiber-optic network along major streets and ultimately began generating revenue from fiber leases and operating a free Wi-Fi network in popular tourist destinations.”

 

Colorado

Broadband could be $125M effort for Fort Collins by Kevin Duggan, The Coloradoan

 

Georgia

Spotty Internet in rural Georgia draws lawmakers' focus by Jill Nolin, Dalton Daily Citizen

 

Pennsylvania

It's time to 'beef up' to rural Internet speeds by Observer-Reporter Editorial Board

 

Virgnia

cow-300.jpg

Internet expansion in the works for Augusta County by Clarissa Cooper, News Leader

Caroline struggles with lack of broadband access by Vanessa Remmers, Fredericksburg Star

 

Washington

Upgrade Seattle: Now is the time to push for city-owned Internet by Dyer Oxley, My Northwest

“Comcast, CenturyLink, and other telecommunications companies have actively worked to fight the free market,” Glaser alleges. “They have inserted different laws in state legislatures across the country making it harder for public utilities to compete.”

Upgrade Seattle said that a public internet utility evens the playing field for internet service, while also making the service local. Glaser points to dealing with Comcast customer service as an example.

 

General

Blame your lousy Internet on poles by Susan Crawford, BackChannel

Poles, as it turns out, seethe with operatic drama. They are creosote-soaked, 40-foot-high wooden battlegrounds. And, right now, a handful of companies — the usual villains in the internet access story — is very interested in keeping the status quo in place by quietly making sure that access to these vertical conflict zones is fraught with difficulties.

FCC won't appeal Sixth Circuit Court decision on municipal broadband by Andy Sher, GovTech

Republicans are coming around to this public Internet idea by Henry Grabar, Slate

3 ways governments are working to make broadband universally accessible by Adam Stone, GovTech

States are putting the brakes on municipal broadband by Jamie Condliffe, MIT Technology Review

Photo of the cow courtesy of Dominik Schraudolf via pixaby