Colorado

Colorado Residents Vote Overwhelmingly In Favor Of Municipal Broadband by Karl Bode, TechDirt

Boulder, Colo., To Light Up Fiber Optic Network by Alex Burness, GovTech

Boulder, Colo., Explores Benefits of Municipal Broadband by Julian Kimble, State Tech Magazine

Maine

Portland to pursue building municipal high-speed broadband network by Whit Richardson, Portland Press Herald, Maine Public Radio & Washington Times

Washington

Seattle officials debate $5M proposal to test municipal broadband network by Jacob Demmitt, GeekWire

General

What Comcast Doesn't Want You to Know About Data Caps by Timothy Karr, The Huffington Post

In documents leaked onto reddit last week, Comcast instructs its customer service representatives how to spin the expansion of data caps. The reasons for the caps, the documents say, are "fairness and [the need to provide] a more flexible policy to our customers." But what could be more fair and flexible than giving customers the unlimited data plan that many originally paid for?

DOJ won’t help FCC fight state laws that harm municipal broadband by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Four paths to abundant Internet bandwidth by Blair Levin, Brookings Blog

News Stories By State

California

Americans are paying more for broadband speed but getting less by David Lazarus, The Los Angeles Times

Colorado

Colorado communities trying to lift limits on municipal broadband by John Aguilar, The Denver Post

Twenty six Colorado cities, counties lift 10-year ban on municipal broadband investment by Sean Buckley, Fierce Telecom

Colorado Voters Shoot Down State's Awful Broadband Law by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Colorado Voters Toss Restrictive Laws, Vote In Favor Of Allowing Municipal Broadband by Kate Cox, Consumerist

Voters in municipalities across Colorado this week overwhelmingly chose chose to the state’s 2005 law blocking the expansion of municipal broadband, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance reports. 44 different towns, cities, and counties had measures on their ballots regarding local authority of telecommunications services, and all of them passed by large margins, gaining between 70% and 93% of votes.

44 Colorado cities and counties voted yes to municipal broadband by Tamara Cheung, The Denver Post

Colorado’s muni broadband ban overridden in 44 communities by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Boulder hires consultant to explore municipal broadband buildout by Joshua Lindenstein, BizWest

Colorado

Colorado cities voting on taxes, pot, broadband and bees this year by Joey Bunch, The Denver Post

Ten towns and cities already have approved — by wide margins — the push for faster Internet under a 10-year-old Colorado law that restricts how municipalities provide broadband.

"Today it's viewed very much as a utility, a basic, fundamental service," Mamet said of Internet service. "It's also very much an economic-development issue in cities large and small."

We need municipal broadband; vote yes on 2B by Edgar Peyronnin, The Coloradoan

Delaware

What Reason.com got wrong about Newark’s municipal broadband project by Tony Abraham, Technical.ly

North Carolina

Networking leaders talk gig cities, broadband future in North Carolina by MCNC, PR Newswire

Oregon

Should LO create its own Internet service network? by Saundra Sorenson, Lake Oswego Review

“Just getting this network would put Lake Oswego on the map,” Lazenby told the council. “I think increasing that level of service, especially for the demographics we have here — highly educated, many tech-oriented folks in our community — that would be a real service to make available.”

Mitchell emphasized that municipal fiber networks allow for community self-reliance and provide protection from price-gouging.

“When I think about relying on Google, if Google decides to get out of this business, the community has no say about who takes it over,” he said.

Mitchell made the case that Lake Oswego had some unique advantages over other cities in establishing a municipal fiber-based utility.

Community Broadband News By State

Colorado

Gardner pushes broadband bill in Senate by Charlie Ashby, The Daily Sentinel

Fort Collins voters to weigh in on broadband services by Kevin Duggan, The Coloradoan

Gigabit city: Fort Morgan putting together 'shopping list' for building out fiber system to residents, businesses by Jenni Grubbs, The Fort Morgan Times

Summit County cell tower referendum explained by Noah Klug, The Summit Daily

New York

N.Y. County, Private Sector Partner to Reel in State Broadband Funding by Joe Mahoney, GovTech

Tennessee

Tennessee Lawmakers Plan Push to Extend Muni-Broadband Boundaries by Tim Omarzu, GovTech

Chattanooga boosts citywide broadband capacity to 10 gigabits by Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press

The city-owned utility announced today that it is now offering 10 gigabit broadband to any of EPB's 170,000 customers. The 10 Gig service will be offered to any residential customer for $299 per month, compared with the $69.99 for EPB's current single gig service.

Chattanooga appears to be the third city to offer such a service, but it is by far the largest. Vermont Telephone offered 10-gig service to its 18,000 customers in Springfield, Vermont in June 2015, and Salisbury, North Carolina offered to service to its 33,000 customers in North Carolina in September. 

Community Broadband News By State

Colorado

Vote ‘yes’ on broadband by Jon Quinn, Steamboat Today

Letter: Let’s work to get municipal broadband by Robin Gard, The Coloradoan

Delaware

City exploring municipal broadband service by Karie Simmons, The Newark Post

Louisiana

Biloxi, Gulfport advance high-speed Internet proposal for Coast by Anita Lee, The Sun Herald

Gulfport, Biloxi to create municipal broadband network by The Bayou Buzz

Massachusetts

Leverett Launches Municipal Broadband Network by Fierce Telecom

Tired of Waiting For Verizon, MA Town Gives Itself Gigabit Fiber by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Getting wired for wireless by Anita Fritz, The Recorder

Kelley said the bigger job of constructing a 60-mile network, should voters approve the town’s creation of a municipal entity to provide municipal broadband Internet service to all, will go out to bid after the vote on Nov. 3.

“Greenfield’s new municipal broadband pilot project is being engineered to employ leading-edge technology, which will replace the antiquated legacy telephone and cable networks that residents and businesses currently rely on,” said Kelley.

 

Otis special town meeting voters back broadband network activation by Dick Lindsay, The Berkshire Eagle Dispatch

Pennsylvania

Community Broadband News By State

Colorado

DavisGig working toward faster Internet service by Felicia Alvarez, The Davis Enterprise

Kentucky

Ready … or not? If we’re prepared, broadband can transform Appalachian Kentucky by Ron Daley, Northern Kentucky Tribune

Maine

Sanford, Maine's broadband project will be the largest municipal fiber network in the state, eight times the size of the next largest municipal network in Maine.

Broadband Bound! by Ellen W. Todd, Sanford News

Sanford to Build 32-Mile Municipal Broadband Network by Tom Porter, MPBN News

Sanford, Maine, to Build State’s Biggest Muni Broadband Network by Darren Fishell, GovTech

Rockland area exploring $18.6 million community broadband by Stephen Betts, Bangor Daily News

Portland summit to focus on high-speed Internet as key to growth by Whit Richardson, Portland Press Herald & Government Technology

Minnesota

$43.5 million broadband project to be celebrated by Angie Riebe, Mesabi Daily News

Northeast Fiber Network expands by more than 915 miles in areas of unserved or underserved access.

Georgia

Peachtree City approves fiber optic plan AJC.com

Ohio

Fairlawn steps closer to creating municipal broadband utility by Sean Patrick, Akron.com

Lakewood council approves new fiber optics service provider for city buildings by Beth Mlady, Cleveland.com

Maine

Maine PUC Considers Rule Changes to Increase High-Speed Broadband Statewide by Darren Fishell, GovTech

Minnesota

Committee updates city council (Austin) on broadband Internet by Jeron Rennie, KIMT

New York

Lawmakers urge PSC to speed up broadband review, State of Politics

As this study advances, we urge the Commission to take actions which expand competition in the  broadband marketplace. One such option, municipal broadband, should receive consideration and study. The City of Albany, for example, is beginning to explore the building of a municipal  broadband network and recently issued an RFP for a study to assess its current broadband options and the fasibility of building a municipal broadband network.  

Will Faster Broadband Speeds Entice Residents to the Countryside? by Denise Raymo, GovTech

Users would create a cooperative and be the system owners, paying a flat rate for Internet service and another fee dedicated to equipment purchase, upkeep and staffing.

Tennessee

Attorneys in Tennessee filed an appeal last week against the FCC, saying that the order that allows EPB to expand its fiber infrastructure infringes on state sovereignty. 

Georgia

City to study building broadband service by Ben Nelms, The Citizen

Peachtree City is the latest city in Georgia to consider a city-owned fiber network. If approved, it could result in more than 20 miles of underground fiber cable.

With municipal-owned broadband, the city would own the right-of-way for fiber installation and would call the shots on infrastructure rather than relying on a for-profit vendor.

“This is a big decision,” said interim City Manager Jon Rorie. “So is the juice worth the squeeze going forward?”

Illinois

Alderman: City should use existing fiber-optic network for Internet service by Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times

A Chicago Alderman says the city should switch from private ISP's to the city’s own higher-capacity fiber-optic network.

What better time, he says, for the city to use its vast fiber-optic network to create what Hopkins called a “self-sufficient, publicly-owned system” capable of saving money and generating revenue.

“We already have a robust infrastructure in place to build from. Fiber optic resources currently controlled and managed by [the Office of Emergency Management and Communications] for traffic, first-responder, and emergency services is an example,” Hopkins was quoted as saying in a press release.

Kentucky

Bracing For Bumps On Kentucky's Broadband Highway by Josh James, WUKY

And, [Christopher Mitchell] predicts, just as other utilities have gone from luxury to necessity, so to will broadband internet. The challenge, as Mitchell sees it, is what comes next – after the fiber spine is in the ground.

Featured Stories

FCC's Sohn Urges Cities to Build Own Broadband by John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable

Don't wait for incumbents to supply requisite service Sohn told NATOA that rather than viewing themselves as taxers and regulators, her audience should see themselves instead as facilitators of the kind of service they have been "begging" incumbents to provide "for years."

FCC's Sohn: Forget Incumbents, Build Your Own Broadband Networks by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Sohn was quick to highlight successes in places like Sandy, Oregon, and the surge in public/private partnerships like the one between Ting and Westminster, Maryland. Sohn also highlighted the important fact that after fifteen years of apathy, the FCC is finally taking aim at protectionist state laws written by incumbent ISP lawyers, which prohibit towns and cities from wiring themselves -- even in cases where nobody else wants to.

How to Build a Better Internet by Adam Clark Estes, Gizmodo  

If America wants a better internet, it’s going to take work. We’re going to have to dig holes and install new equipment. Local governments will need to help startup ISPs compete with big telecom in a fair way. We need to hold companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable accountable for selling shitty service for high prices. After all, we invented the internet. We should make it better.

Georgia

City to study building broadband service by Ben Nelms, The Citizen

Maine

Maine PUC Considers Rule Changes to Increase High-Speed Broadband Statewide by Darren Fishell, Bangor Daily News

Minnesota

Colorado

Boulder Valley school board eyes putting broadband question on November ballot by Amy Bounds, Daily Camera

Kentucky

Kentucky is building a statewide middle mile network.

Kentucky Moving Forward With Effort to Expand Broadband In Rural Areas by Allison Crawford, WKMS

Kentucky Wired broadband internet project announced in Hazard by Tanner Hesterberg, WYMT-TV

Kentucky state, local leaders kick off pioneering broadband-access initiative by Paul Wesslund, Louisville Business First

Maryland

New city Broadband Coordinator Hardebeck: Municipal broadband a 'distinct possibility' by Rick Seltzer, Baltimore Business Journal

What pieces can Baltimore use to build better broadband? by Rick Selzter, Baltimore Business Journal

Massachusetts

Why doesn’t Cambridge, Mass., have a next-generation network? by Saul Tannenbaum / Cambridge Broadband Task Force

Missouri

Letter from Langdon: The Co-Op Model by Richard Oswald, The Daily Yonder