Six Community Broadband Networks Demonstrate Diversity of Approaches to Connectivity Challenges

Authors
Sean Gonsalves
Christopher Mitchell
Jericho Casper
Date
Image

There are more than 600 wireline municipal broadband networks operating across the United States today. And while the ongoing discussion about our information infrastructure by Congress has placed a renewed emphasis on publicly owned endeavors to improving Internet access, the reality is that cities around the country have been successfully demonstrating the wide variety of successful approaches for decades.

In this report, published by the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, ILSR's Sean Gonsalves, Christopher Mitchell, and Jericho Casper profile how six community networks in a diverse range of places stepped up to meet the needs of their communities, bringing faster, more reliable, and more affordable service. 

It covers:

  • Huntsville, Alabama
  • Conway, Arkansas
  • Ocala, Florida
  • Dalton, Georgia
  • Ammon, Idaho
  • Cheshire County, New Hampshire

The projects above run the gamut from municipally owned and operated fiber networks, to cable system upgrades, to last-mile open access networks, to public-private partnerships.

This report offers a preview of a large compendium of case studies  - to be published by Benton later this summer - showing how dozens of community networks have brought thoughtful investment and better Internet access to communities all around the country. 

Link: Six Community Broadband Networks Demonstrate Diversity of Approaches to Connectivity Challenges