We came across this cool video shared by Taunton Municipal Light Plant (TMLP) in Taunton, Massachusetts, and wanted to share it. This quick vid reminds us that, even though the Internet may seem like “magic” because it connects us with other continents, it’s actually science, work, and investment.

BTW, What's Up in Taunton?

When we last checked in with TMLP in March 2018, they had just implemented a fiberhood approach to sign up residential subscribers. According to their website, people are responding; nine neighborhoods are connected and almost two dozen others are accepting applications. Once 25 percent of premises have submitted their applications for installation, TMLP provides a timeline for installation in the area. Eight neighborhoods in Taunton are already connected.

Chicopee, Massachusetts, is on its way to better connectivity through a publicly owned network after all. Chicopee Electric Light (CEL) has announced that the municipal utility plans to develop a pilot program yet this year to experiment with business connectivity. If all goes well, they have a long-term vision to also serve residents.

As Election Day draws near, voters in 36 states and three territories are set to choose governors. In Maine, gubernatorial candidates are making rural broadband a key issue. All four candidates agree that the state needs to be involved in some way, and each recently gave the Press Herald a summary of their plan to expand high-quality connectivity to constituents, if elected.

Different Approaches

Both Independent candidates, Terry Hayes and Alan Caron have suggested state investment. Hayes would like to earmark $100 million annually for four years to deploy fiber networks and capitalize on public-private partnerships. Caron suggests a statewide network, funded by $100 million in bonding his first term and a second term if he were re-elected, to connect every city and town.

Breckenridge was among the list of Colorado communities that voted to opt out of the state’s restrictive SB 152 back in 2016. Now, they’re ready to move forward with design and construction of an open access network. As the resort town prepares to begin work on their fiber infrastructure, several other communities will ask voters to opt out of SB 152 on November 6th.

To the Voters

As we reported in August, Aurora, Cañon City, the town of Florence, and Fremont County had already made plans to put the opt out question on their local ballots. Since then, we’ve discovered that that at least six other local governments want voters to address SB 152.

The people of Egremont have had it with Charter Spectrum and their shenanigans. After the latest issue pushed them too far, the town’s Select Board voted to give the company the boot.

How Much?

Charter Spectrum had proposed connecting 96 percent of Egremont’s households for approximately $1.185 million, the lion’s share to be funded by a Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) last mile grant. The company, however, had not calculated make-ready costs correctly until after making their proposal. After examining the situation in Egremont, Charter Spectrum has almost doubled the estimate for the project to $2.285 million.

It’s been a while since we last visited with Reedsburg Utilities Commission General Manager Brett Schuppner. He’s back on the show again to help us spread the word about this Wisconsin town’s decision to switch all their muni network subscribers to affordable gigabit connectivity and to eliminate all other tiers.

When we interviewed folks from Lit San Leandro and San Leandro Dark Fiber for episode 47 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, the partnership between the local companies and the city was just getting started. Now the city is ready to expand their fiber optic infrastructure. After considering recommendations offered by a consulting firm on the best approach on building out their network to meet their goals, community leaders adopted a fiber master plan in September.

Read the City of San Leandro Fiber Optic Master Plan here.

City Tubes