This is the transcript for episode 420 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher talks to Deborah Simpier of Althea about their efforts to provide resources and tools to build community wireless networks. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Deborah Simpier: Going to someone's house, setting up a family with 60, 70 megabits per second and at a rate that they can afford, it's really just life-changing.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Welcome to episode 420 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. This is Ry Marcattilio-McCracken with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Today on the podcast, we welcome Deborah Simpier, CEO of Althea. Althea is a company offering services and software to make operating community networks easier. We talk about their approach, including the unique way they route traffic across the network based on changing costs and latencies. Althea networks are starting across the country as well as across the planet, in Africa and South America. Now here's Christopher talking with Deborah Simpier.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. This is Christopher Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in St. Paul, Minnesota. Today I'm speaking with Deborah Simpier, the CEO of Althea. Welcome to the show, Deborah.

Deborah Simpier: Thanks so much for having me.

Christopher Mitchell: I'm excited to talk about this approach, which is very interesting. I know I see it popping up in my Twitter feed among people that follow this show and follow our writings. It's something that I know Jane Coffin and others are very excited about an Internet society in terms of how Althea is creating new opportunities in wireless networking, in particular. If we start off really quickly, what is the sort of 30-second pitch for what is Althea?

Deborah Simpier: So Althea, in a nutshell, is software and tools that empower communities to be able to both build quickly and maintain sustainable networks. I think that's kind of the big piece here is that ... missing, is that we oftentimes approach these things with the build and don't look at how we can work...

This is the transcript for North Carolina bonus episode 9 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher talks to Doug Dawson of CCG Consulting about various broadband issues currently in the news and how they have an effect in North Carolina. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Doug Dawson: People in the rural areas are not working from home because they can't. They can't lock onto a school server. They can't lock onto a business server. We're taking these things for granted in the urban areas. Just since 2017, that gap has doubled in that short of a period of time. It's getting so drastically different that the Internet in those two places is not the same thing anymore.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: We're bringing you another episode in our special community broadband bits podcast series, Why North Carolina Broadband Matters. I'm Ry Marcattilio-McCracken with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, Minnesota. North Carolina Broadband Matters is a North Carolina nonprofit. Their mission to attract, support, and champion universal availability of affordable, reliable, high capacity Internet access. The group has created the North Carolina chapter of CLIC, the Coalition for Local Internet Choice. ILSR is working with North Carolina Broadband Matters to produce this series, focusing on issues, affecting people in North Carolina that also impact folks in other regions.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: We're joined today by Doug Dawson, president of CCG Consulting, a veteran advisor to small public and private telecommunications carriers, and an experienced, thoughtful voice in the broadband space. During their discussion, Christopher and Doug give the various levels of government across the United states a report card for their connectivity efforts during the pandemic, and how the Coronavirus has brought into focus the two digital divides facing our communities today. They talk about what the broadband gap looks like between rural and urban areas, and the problem of adoption versus access for North Carolina communities with connectivity obstacles.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Christopher and Doug also talk about whether Space X or other satellite...

This is the transcript for episode 418 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, our guest Isfandiyar (Asfi) Shaheen turns the tables and interviews usual host, Christopher Mitchell, about his background and experiences. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Isfandiyar Shaheen: Can you now tell, having seen and interviewed over close to 400 people, which ones are going to work? Can you give us a sense of what is the Chris Mitchell smell test?

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Welcome to episode 418 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. This is Ry Marcattilio-McCracken here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Today, Christopher talks with Isfandiyar Shaheen also known as Asfi. Asfi is the founder and CEO of NetEquity Networks. Asfi has been on the podcast before, he and Christopher talked on episode 351 about the spillover effect of fiber networks in areas like public works and agriculture. They talked about how high bandwidth connections can reduce municipal labor overhead, allow companies to do predictive maintenance on expensive machines and give farmers way more information about how their crops are doing in the field. Asfi is one of the great minds thinking about bold new strategies to expand high quality Internet access across the globe. We asked him to interview Christopher because Christopher has a big ego, unfortunately in his excitement to be interviewed by Asfi, Christopher messed up the recording quality by using a USB hub that introduced some noise. We hope it's not too bad.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken: Christopher promises he won't do it again. Asfi asks Christopher about his childhood, the state of broadband coverage and policy today, and the Christopher Mitchell smell test for new networks. Now here's Christopher talking with Asfi.

Isfandiyar Shaheen: Welcome to the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In case you're wondering who is this guy who doesn't sound like Chris Mitchell? My name is Isfandiyar Shaheen. I go by Asfi and I have been given the rare honor to interview Chris Mitchell. I totally jumped at this opportunity because Chris is someone we've all heard from, he's taught us so much. Today is an opportunity to learn about Chris. Chris, a lot of...

This is the transcript for episode 416 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. For this episode, Christopher interviews John Bowcut about the municipal broadband network owned by Spanish Fork, Utah. The pair discuss the network's 20-year-long history, upgrading from cable to fiber optics, and Utah's restrictions on community broadband. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

John Bowcut: We have built our success on that sense of community. Everything we do, every time we open our mouth, we hope we talk about that sense of community and what our network contributes to that sense of community.

Jess Del Fiacco: Welcome to episode 416 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. This is Jess Del Fiacco, communications manager here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Jess Del Fiacco: Today, Christopher talks with John Bowcut, director of information systems and network director for Spanish Fork, Utah. Spanish Fork's network is one of the best municipal broadband success stories. It's now 20 years old and more than 80% of community members take at least one service from it. The network is also debt free, and it's been almost completely upgraded from cable to gigabit fiber.

Jess Del Fiacco: Christopher and John discuss how a Utah law stopped a lot of communities from building fiber networks, and they note what a missed opportunity that has been. They also talk about how to market community broadband networks by making them a true community enterprise. Now here's Christopher talking with John Bowcut.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. I'm Christopher Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Only I'm still coming from my new office and my home in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Christopher Mitchell: Today, I'm talking to someone we haven't checked in on too long, but a multiple previous guest, John Bowcut the director of information systems and the Spanish Fork community network director out of Spanish Fork, Utah.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome back to the show, John.

John Bowcut: Thanks so much, Chris. It...