Tag: "transcript"

Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 85

Posted January 26, 2015 by

Thanks to Joeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 85 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Jesse Harris on the UTOPIA network in Utah. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:06:

Jesse Harris:  And so we could end up in a situation where CenturyLink or Comcast say, hey, you know what, we've got some lawyers who've come up with a really good argument.  We're going to sue to shut down every inch of fiber that's outside of a member city.

00:18:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hello there.  You are listening to the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  And I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

People familiar with happenings on publicly-owned networks are probably already aware of the long drama in Utah with UTOPIA.  The publicly-owned network has faced years of adversity.  Utah is one of the states with barriers that make it extremely difficult for municipal networks to function.  The telecommunications lobbyists have been active in the state capitals across the country again this year.  Once again, legislation has been introduced that targets UTOPIA.  House Bill 60, if passed, will prevent UTOPIA from expanding, and can eventually contribute to its demise.

This week, Chris talks with Jesse Harris, writer and editor for the FreeUTOPIA blog, and then he speaks with Pete Ashdown, Founder and President of XMission.  Jesse and Pete each offer details on HB 60, what it may mean for the network, the providers that use UTOPIA, and for the local community.  We see bills like HB 60 introduced every year in some form or another.  They claim to encourage free enterprise and competition, but under closer examination, those bills do just the opposite.  They propagate the current telecommunications environment, in which a few large providers call the shots, in the field and at the legislature.  Here are Chris, Jesse, and Pete.

01:37:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  I'm Chris Mitchell, and today I'm speaking with Jesse Harris, the founder of FreeUTOPIA, a website with a lot of information about the UTOPIA network.  Welcome to the show.

01:51:

Jesse Harris:  Thanks for having me.

01:52:

Chris:  You and I have...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 83

Posted January 26, 2015 by

Thanks Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 83 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Barry Lynn on the real threats from monopoly. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:09:

Barry Lynn:  It is only in the modern America of the last twenty years that we've seen such a radical degradation of these principles.

00:19:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hello.  You are listening to the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

This week, Chris interviews Barry Lynn, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation.  Lynn has written extensively on political and economic results of concentration of power in the U.S.  He's presented his work to world leaders in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  In this discussion, Lynn delves into how policy in the U.S. has evolved to favor the concentration of power.  Every industry has endured extreme consolidation, including telecommunications.  As more communities attempt to invest in publicly-owned networks, they often find themselves as targets of deep-pocketed and distant incumbent providers.  Chris and his guest discuss how the foundation of our system drives this destructive behavior, and how looking back may actually help us move forward.  Here are Chris and Barry Lynn.

01:11:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  I'm Christopher Mitchell.  Today, I'm talking with anti-monopoly expert Barry Lynn, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, and author of the book, "Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction."  Welcome to the show.

01:29:

Barry Lynn:  Thanks for having me on today.

01:31:

Chris:  Absolutely.  So you're an anti-trust, anti-monopoly expert.  I wanted to start by asking you, why is there a need for anti-monopoly law?

01:41:

Barry:  There's a need for anti-monopoly law mainly so that we can protect ourselves against the concentration of political power.  I mean, this is something that goes back to the beginning of this country.  It really goes back to the real tea party.  And it's the idea that, in order to protect our most basic liberties, we have to ensure that no one is...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 82

Posted January 26, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 82 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Robert White on broadband in Russellville, Kentucky. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:09:

Robert White:  Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an advocate of the privates sector, that I love free enterprise.  However, in this case, if there was ever a test case that shows where the incumbents were not meeting the need, or even not being in the community, this was one.

00:28:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hi there.  You're listening again to the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

Russellville, Kentucky, recently earned the distinction of being the first gigabit community in the state.  Since 2005, the Russellville Electric Plant Board has offered some form of telecommunications in its service area.  In 2010, the community began developing a fiber network to spur economic growth, and to provide services the incumbents were not willing to offer.  This week, Chris visits with Robert White, General Manager and Superintendent of the Russellville EPB.  They discuss the situation that inspired community leaders to invest in a fiber network.  Russellville is another example of a self-reliant community that took the bull by the horns to bring better connectivity to its citizens.

01:13:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  I'm Chris Mitchell.  And today, I'm with Robert White, the General Manager of Russellville Electric Plant Board.  Welcome to the show.

01:24:

Robert White:  Well, thank you.  It's a pleasure to be a part of.

01:27:

Chris:  Can you start by telling us where you are in Kentucky, and what the area around your community -- what your community is like?

01:34:

Robert:  Sure.  Sure.  We are located in Logan County, Kentucky, which would be sort a south-central part of Kentucky.  It's a beautiful community, very rural and agricultural.  Of course, we're located in the county seat, which is Russellville, Kentucky, in Logan County.  And we're pretty proud.  We're pretty close to Clarksville,...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 56

Posted January 26, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 56 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Scott Hurlbert on fiber network in Shafter, California. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:16:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hi again, and welcome to the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

This week, we talk to Scott Hurlbert, Assistant City Manager of Shafter, California.  Several years ago, Shafter city leaders decided a municipal network was a must, to ensure future economic development.  The community was -- and still is -- transitioning from an agricultural economy to a more diverse mix of industry and manufacturing.  Like water and electricity, Shafter recognizes that broadband is critical infrastructure to promote growth.  Our regular listeners will note that Shafter is unique because it does not have an electric utility.  Nevertheless, this community is in the middle of an expansion, and has built its network incrementally, with no borrowing or bonding.  Here are Chris and Scott.

01:01:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another episode of Community Broadband Bits.  Today, I'm up in Minneapolis again, talking with my guest, who's in Shafter, California.  I'm speaking with Scott Hurlbert, the Assistant City Manager of Shafter.  Welcome to our show.

01:15:

Scott Hurlbert:  Well, thank you very much, Christopher.  It's a pleasure to be here today.

01:19:

Chris:  We're excited to learn a little bit more about your network.  I've long known that there was something happening in Shafter.  And I think a fair amount of our guests are always curious to learn about a city they haven't heard of before.  Maybe we could start with you telling us a little bit about what Shafter's like.

01:34:

Scott:  Sure.  That would be fine.  Shafter is what you would consider a small town -- 17,000 residents currently.  We're in California's Central Valley, just above the town of Bakersfield, which is the largest town near us.  And we're between highways.  So a lot of people, even in the Central Valley, aren't familiar with Shafter.  We're between the two north-south highways that run down California's Central Valley:...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 134

Posted January 24, 2015 by Christopher Mitchell

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 134 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows and head of Ting. Listen to this episode here.

00:08:

Elliot Noss: You know, I think that fiber infrastructure is the most important economic asset that any town, city, or country could have. And, you know, I think that there's all kinds of ways -- and we haven't even started to scratch the surface -- of models where you can have municipal or government ownership in partnership with companies.

00:33:

Lisa Gonzalez: Hello. This is the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

Muninetworks.org readers know that Tucows, Inc., parent to mobile's cell service and Internet provider Ting, has recently announced it will begin offering Internet service in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Westminster, Maryland. If you've never heard of Ting, it's been praised for its excellent customer service. Yes, that's right, a communications company that actually provides a kind of service customers deserve. Tucows is acquiring fiber assets from an existing private entity in Charlottesville and partnering with the city of Westminster as it deploys its municipal fiber infrastructure. Tucows has announced that part of its strategy to expand as an ISP is to seek out communities that have publicly-owned fiber assets in place and deliver services via municipal fiber infrastructure. In this interview, Chris talks with Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows, about this exciting model, and how they intend to apply it to gigabit connectivity. Partnerships between the public and private sector are one way to increase choice and improve services.

The Community Broadband Bits Podcast comes to you every week with no advertising. Unfortunately, they're not free to produce. Please consider contributing to our work by visiting ilsr.org and clicking on the orange "donate" button.

Now, here's Chris, speaking with Elliot Noss from Tucows.

02:00:

Chris Mitchell: Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell. Today, I'm speaking with Elliot Noss, the CEO of Tucows. Welcome to the show.

02:11:

Elliot Noss: Thanks, Chris. Thanks for having me.

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 81

Posted January 22, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript of the Episode 81 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Mike Wassenaar on public access media and community owned networks. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:09:

Mike Wassenaar:  Regardless of how technology changes, we need policy that enables us to be able to provide content for citizens.

00:15:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hello.  You are listening to the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  This is Lisa Gonzalez.

Today, Chris interviews Mike Wassenaar.  Mike is a Senior Development Officer with the Free Press.  He has extensive experience working in community media.  Public access, educational, and government video programs, often referred to as "PEG," provide local programming to the communities they serve.  As media becomes increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small number of corporate providers, public access plays a critical role in local information delivery.  Mike provides an expert's perspective on where the problems are and what local communities need to consider when they think about the future of public access.  Here are Mike and Chris.

01:00:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  I'm Chris Mitchell.  And today, I'm on the phone with Mike Wassenaar, a Senior Development Officer with Free Press, and someone who I got to know when he was leading the St. Paul Neighborhood Network here in Minnesota.  He has 20 years of experience working with community media and radio and television.  Welcome to the show.

01:21:

Mike Wassenaar:  It's good to be here, Chris.  Thank you.

01:23:

Chris:  Mike, I'm excited to talk to you, because, first of all, you've got a great voice, and you have an incredible amount of knowledge, and you're never afraid to speak your mind.  So let's get into this.  What is the role of the public access channels in the modern era?

01:40:

Mike:  Well, I mean, I think you need to look at public access community media organizations.  And I'm going to speak sort of more broadly here.  They're also about government access organizations, as well.  As civic...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 80

Posted January 22, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 80 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Eric Lampland on justifying a network with indirect cost savings. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:08:

Eric Lampland:  But the overall impact, when you look at the economic development is much greater than the narrow metrics that we use to determine whether or not the network itself can be successful.

00:20:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hi there.  This is the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

This week, a special guest stopped our offices in Minneapolis for our podcast conversation, Eric Lampland.  He's Founder and Principal Consultant for Lookout Point Communications.  Eric has worked with numerous entities, both public and private, looking for ways to improve connectivity.  We discussed benefits that often accompany municipal networks but don't always find their way into a feasibility study or business analysis.  Over the years, Eric has documented many examples of ancillary benefits, both economic and otherwise.  His work emphasizes the need to consider a broader approach when assessing pros and cons related to assessing municipal networks.

01:03:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  This is a special edition.  We're all in one room.  I'm Chris Mitchell.  We got Lisa Gonzalez.

01:13:

Lisa:  Hey there.

01:13:

Chris:  And joining us today is Eric Lampland, the Founder and Principal Consultant for Lookout Point Communications.

01:20:

Eric Lampland:  Good afternoon.

01:22:

Chris:  Eric has a long history of building these networks.  You've done it both with large enterprise customers and with communities, helping them to build networks.  And you and I, in fact, worked together in Prior Lake, on a subcommittee.  And so we have a lot of familiarity working with each other.  And for listeners out there, you should know that the fact that I know the difference between GPON and active Ethernet is entirely due to this guy right here, Eric, who provided a lot of tutoring over the years.  And so it's been very...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 79

Posted January 22, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 79 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Don Means on libraries and white spaces. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:08:

Don Means:  ... eighty million people.  This is a huge population that depends on library broadband.

00:15:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hi there.  This is the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

In this episode, Christopher Mitchell connects with Don Means, Coordinator of the Gigabit Libraries Network.  This past summer, GLN implemented a pilot project to improve access to library Wi-Fi.  Each community submitted ideas designed to use white space spectrum to extend the reach of the library's Wi-Fi.  White space spectrum was traditionally used to send television signals.  But digital television changed all that.  As a result, white space spectrum has been freed up.  The six communities chosen for the pilot project are living laboratories.  As Don notes in the interview, local entities, such as libraries, are the perfect place for experimentation.  This pilot project will help us learn to push the envelope on white space technology.  In addition to providing better access to their local communities, these library experiments are helping us learn the limits of the approach.  Here are Don and Chris, talking about the Gigabit Libraries Network's white space pilot project.

00:19:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  I'm Christopher Mitchell.  And today I'm speaking with Don Means, the Coordinator of the Gigabit Libraries Network.  Welcome to the show, Don.

01:31:

Don Means:  Thank you, Chris.

01:32:

Chris:  Don, I guess -- I think a good question to start off with would be, you know, who are you and why do you love libraries so much?

01:40:

Don:  It's not a trick question, Chris?

01:43:

Chris:  Certainly not.

01:43:

Don:  The Gigabit Libraries Network is an initiative that grew out of the Fiber-to-the-Library project, which we initiated in '07 -- the idea that connecting all of the nation's sixteen thousand plus libraries with next-...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 77

Posted January 20, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 77 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Chris Schweitzer on the fiber network in Auburn, Indiana. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:08:

Chris Schweitzer:  You know, we're not going out there, trying to win customers with the lowest price.  We're trying to go out there and serve the community with a healthy, sustainable, quality product.

00:19:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hi there.  This is the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  This is Lisa Gonzalez.

Today, Christopher Mitchell speaks with Chris Schweitzer, Director of Auburn Essential Services in Indiana.  Schweitzer describes how the AES network began in the late 1990s.  The community deployed the network primarily for electric services, but over the years investigated other possibilities.  When a major employer could not get the services it needed from an incumbent, AES expanded to begin serving business clients.  Over the years, AES has branched out to also serve residential customers, and now offers triple-play to the Auburn community.  Keep your ears peeled for Schweitzer's description of the AES business model.  The approach allowed the network to become self-sustaining within a relatively short time period.  Here are Chris and Christopher, delving into Auburn Essential Services.

01:11:

Chris Mitchell:  Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.  I'm Chris Mitchell.  And today I'm with another Chris: Chris Schweitzer, the Director of Auburn Essential Services.  Welcome to the show.

01:22:

Chris Schweitzer:  Thanks, Chris.  Glad to be here.

01:24:

Chris M:  Chris, can you tell us a little bit about the Auburn area?  What's the population like?  What kind of history do you have there?

01:32:

Chris S:  Auburn is in northeast Indiana.  We're in the top right-hand corner of the state.  We're a fairly small community, a fairly rural county, actually.  So, we're the county seat.  We have a population of about 12,000 or 13,000.  Auburn's just really steeped in automotive history.  Auburn is famous for Auburn Cords and Duesenbergs, the luxury...

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Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 78

Posted January 20, 2015 by

Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 78 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Bob Frankston on the definition of the Internet and how it affects our limits and expectations. Listen to this episode here.

 

00:08:

Bob Frankston:  The Internet is created by what we do.  And that's what's important.

00:14:

Lisa Gonzalez:  Hi there.  This is the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, brought to you by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  I'm Lisa Gonzalez.

We decided this week was a good opportunity to bring you an encore performance of one of our earlier podcasts.  In September of 2012, Chris spoke with Bob Frankston.  Bob's been a leading voice in the computer and telecommunications world for over 50 years.  In this interview, Bob and Chris talk a little about the concept of building networks that allow ubiquitous access, and the deeper definition of the Internet.  How we define the Internet has come to dictate our limits and our expectations.  We've trimmed the interview down, so you can get back to your hot cocoa.  We encourage you to go to episode 14, however, of the Broadband Bits Podcast for the entire discussion.

00:58:

Chris Mitchell:  Bob Frankston, thank you for joining us on the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.

01:02:

Bob Frankston:  Thank you for asking me.

01:04:

Chris:  One of the things that I thought you could help us understand is, when we talk about the Internet, and we talk about our communications -- um, our telecommunications -- we often think about it in terms of going through a major corporation or through a local government.  And you think about how we can connect using the Internet differently.  Can you walk me through that?

01:24:

Bob:  Any new technology is viewed in terms of the old.  Cars were originally horseless carriages.  You know, when trains switched to diesel, we had all the towers -- people kept thinking of things the same way.  So we -- metaphors for the Internet go back to the telegraph lines.  There's another tradition that occurred totally independently when we just -- we wanted to connect our computers.  We just used whatever -- copper, radio, wires -- to exchange packets.  And if a...

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