open broadband

Content tagged with "open broadband"

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Mount Olive Makes the Case for Local Broadband Solutions

We talked to residents of Mount Olive, North Carolina, about their struggle to get better Internet access and the importance of connectivity for their community. Listen to our conversations above, or read a summary below.

 

North Carolinians are fed up with slow, expensive, and unreliable Internet access. Communities across the state are seeking solutions, but are running into barriers, especially in rural areas.

The town of Mount Olive, home to about forty-six hundred people, is one such example. Only recently, after working with local Internet service provider Open Broadband, are they getting decent Internet access for residents and local businesses. 

Charles Brown, Town Manager of Mount Olive, told us about the challenges the community faced before Open Broadband came to town. Getting high quality Internet access to a regional airport located just outside of town was a priority for local leaders — it generates around $21.1 million in local economic impact — but after going to every big Internet provider in the area and reaching out to their congressional representatives, they couldn’t make it happen.  

It wasn’t until Brown and other town officials reached out to local Internet provider Open Broadband that they found a path forward. 

OpenBroadband was able to install towers on the town’s water tanks and connect the airport. They also worked with the town to set up free public broadband access in downtown Mount Olive — something that’s especially popular during the North Carolina Pickle Festival, which draws more than 30,000 people to the area each year.

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Brown said:

Overbuilding Encourages Competition - Community Broadband Bits Podcast, North Carolina Bonus Episode One!

We're pleased to bring you the first episode from a special bonus series of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast titled "Why NC Broadband Matters." The series is a collaboration with the nonprofit NC Broadband Matters, whose focus is on facilitating the expansion of ubiquitous broadband coverage to local communities for residents and businesses. We'll be working with NC Broadband Matters on this series to develop nine more episodes that center around broadband in North Carolina.

"Overbuilding Means Providing Internet Choice: How One Small Company is Closing North Carolina's Digital Divide," is a conversation between host Christopher Mitchell and Alan Fitzpatrick of Open Broadband. The North Carolina company delivers high-quality Internet access to local communities. As Fitzpatrick notes in the interview, Open Broadband uses different types of technology, depending on what's most effective in each region. The goal is delivering quality Internet access.

logo-nc-hearts-gig.png Christopher and Alan talk about how the term "overbuilding" is now associated with waste, rather than with competition. They discuss the benefits of overbuilding and competition, problems with of lack of choice, and Alan reviews some potential long-term policy changes that could encourage investment. Alan and Christopher talk about local government involvement in promoting competition for better access to high-quality connectivity. They also touch on how lack of competition can increase the digital divide and how North Carolina could make changes to allow local governments to work with private providers in order to expand Internet access.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 28 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed, at the Community Broadband Bits page, or at the NC Broadband Matters page. We encourage you to check out other "Why NC Broadband Matters" content at the podcast feed so you don't miss future bonus content that may not appear in the Community Broadband Bits Podcast feed. 

Transcript below. 

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance here.

Thanks to Shane Ivers for the Music: What's The Angle? by Shane Ivers - a Creative Commons Attribution (4.0) license.

Open Broadband Opening Up Rural Possibilities - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 341

It’s cold in our Minneapolis office this week, but two of our staff — Christopher Mitchell and Katie Kienbaum — are off enjoying mild January weather in North Carolina. They’re conversing with the good folks in three different communities, where they also met up with this week’s podcast interviewee, Alan Fitzpatrick, CEO of Open Broadband

Alan and Christopher have a practical conversation about what it’s like to be in the fixed wireless Internet access business these days. As they discuss, the model for today’s WISPs isn’t like it was in the past, which is one of the reasons fixed wireless companies such as Open Broadband are able to provide service so much more advanced. In addition to talking about technology, Alan touches on the birth of the company, some of their hardest challenges and how they overcome them, and he gets a little nostalgic remembering their first gigabit customer.

Learn more about Open Broadband at https://openbb.net/

Remember that Christopher, Katie, and the good people at NC Hearts Gigabit and the North Carolina League of Municipalities still have two more Let’s Connect! meetings set in the towns of Fuquay-Varina on January 29th and Jacksonville on January 30th. You can still make it as the meetings are in the evening.

Learn more about the Let’s Connect! meetings here.

This show is 22 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed

Transcript below. 

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance here.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.