This is the transcript for Episode 454 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. On this episode, Christopher is joined by Travis Carter (CEO of USI Fiber), Angela Siefer (executive director of National Digital Inclusion Alliance) and Olivia Wein (attorney with the National Consumer Law Center) to talk about how the Emergency Broadband Benefit will work and what their expectations are. They discuss who will be able to take advantage of the program and try to predict some of the challenges for the people who need it and the small ISPs that would like to participate. Listen to the episode here, or read the transcript below.

Travis Carter: In all the years I've been doing this, this is the very first that I've ever seen that I think really has a chance to make a difference. So whoever came up with this, kudos.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Welcome to episode 454 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. This is Ry Marcattilio-McCracken here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. One component of the recently passed consolidated appropriations act of 2021 was the Emergency Broadband Benefit; a $3.2 billion program designed to get families connected to available service that they otherwise might not be able to afford. The program provides a subsidy of up to $50 a month or 75 on tribal lands for broadband service, as well as up to $100 for a device with a household contribution for as long as the money lasts.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Christopher is joined by Travis Carter, USI fiber, Angela Siefer from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and Olivia Wein from the National Consumer Law Center to talk about how the Emergency Broadband Benefit will work and what their expectations are. They discuss who will be able to take advantage of the program and try to predict some of the challenges we might see both for the people who need it and the small ISPs that would like to participate. Finally, the group weighs in with how providers can forge partnerships with groups like PCs for People to get hardware into homes, the need for digital navigators to help community members navigate the process of getting and staying...

This is the transcript for Episode 452 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. This week on the podcast, Christopher speaks with Julie Bushell, President of Paige Wireless and Co-chair of Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force. The two talk about the importance of connectivity when it comes to agriculture and how having a robust rural network can help American farmers thrive in today's industry. Listen to the episode here, or read the transcript below. 

Julie Bushell: Our goal is to deliver the connectivity to the sensor where it's needed, rather than just saying, "Hey, we've got a network here and if you can connect to it, great and if you can't, sorry."

Ry Marcatilio-McCracken: Welcome to episode 452 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. This is Ry Marcatilio-McCracken here, at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. This week on the podcast, Christopher speaks with Julie Bushell, president of Paige Wireless and co-chair of the Federal Communication Commission's Precision Ag Adoption and Jobs Working Group. Christopher and Julie talk about the importance of reliable, symmetrical wireless data connections so farmers can deploy devices on farms which communicate across long range wide area network protocols to bring soil probes, combines, grain bins, wastewater management sensors, and other devices online to report conditions back across far-flung fields. They discuss how a robust rural network can support GPS for planting, irrigation and harvest, as well as allow for data aggregation to increase efficiencies and allow mapping and maintenance via real-time drone operations. Finally, Christopher and Julie dig into how more robust connectivity will help make sure high quality jobs stay in the region, giving subsequent generations more incentive to stick around and help America's farms prosper. Now here's Christopher talking with Julie.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. I'm Christopher Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in St. Paul, Minnesota. Today, I'm speaking with Julie...

This is the transcript for Episode 448 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. We're joined by Jonathan Chambers, a partner at Conexon, to talk about the recently concluded FCC RDOF auction and the impacts it will have on policy and infrastructure in the near future. Listen to the episode here, or read the transcript below.

Jonathan Chambers: If we're going to invest the public's money in networks, these are networks that should last decades: thirty, forty, fifty years.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Welcome to Episode 448, of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. This is Ry Marcattilio-McCracken here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. This week on the podcast, Christopher talks with Jon Chambers, a partner at Conexon - a network solutions provider for electric cooperatives around the United States, who helped successfully organize a constortium of more than 100 cooperatives to successfuly bid for more than 1 billion dollars in funding from the recent Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction administered by the FCC. The conclusion of the RDOF auction was met with a good deal of drama and uncertainty, leaving many of us working after the fact to understand the policy and practical impacts of its outcomes. Christopher and Jonathan unpack the design and implementation of RDOF not only in the context of the current broadband landscape, but the history of FCC auctions and federal infrastructure subsidy policy. They discuss how the funding will support upcoming projects which will bring fiber networks — many of them owned and operated by electric cooperatives — to hundreds of thousands of Americans over the next decade. But they also talk about the multitude of winning bids that went for a worryingly low percentage of what it will actually cost to build those networks across the country. Jonathan and Christopher discuss why we saw that happen, but also what kind of guardrails we don’t but should have in place to make sure that public money for broadband infrastructure doesn’t go to waste and, equally importantly, so that households in those areas don’t go another decade without a quality Internet connection. Now here's Christopher talking with Jon.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Christopher Mitchell...

This is the transcript for Episode 446 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. We're joined by Barbara Droher Kline of Le Sueur County, Minnesota, to talk about efforts and partnerships to expand broadband there over the last several years. Listen to the episode here, or read the transcript below.

Barbara Droher Kline: Keep talking, asking elected officials and government people to step up and listen. And we had a hundred percent support on all of our broadband work from every commissioner, every city administrator, every township has voted unanimously to support this stuff.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Welcome to episode 446, The Community Broadband Bits podcast. This is Ry Marcattilio-McCracken here at the Institute for Local Self-reliance. We caught up with what's been happening in Le Sueur County, Minnesota, a few weeks back, and the path we're on to turn the county from being one of the least connected in the land of 10,000 lakes, to one on track to becoming among the most connected in the next couple of years. In this week's episode, Christopher talks with Barbara Droher Kline, the County consultant who helped organize the recent broadband efforts, partly as the result of her experience in moving to the County and being stuck on dial-up, fiber connectivity, right next door. She shares with Chris the history of their recent efforts at bringing area communities together in the rolling hills and river valley of southeastern Minnesota and the resulting partnerships with local Internet service providers to do both fiber and fixed wireless projects. Chris and Barbara end the conversation by briefly discussing the recent rural digital opportunity fund auction and the adverse consequences it's having in places like Le Sueur. Now here's Christopher talking with Barbara.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Christopher Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-reliance in St. Paul, Minnesota. And today I'm very excited to be speaking with another Minnesotan, working in a community that really has figured out a smart approach that we want to share with other people. We're going to speak with Barbara Droher Kline. Welcome to the show.

Barbara Droher Kline: Thank you. Good to be here.

Christopher Mitchell: And I realize as we were talking, I didn't ask you how I should identify...