How does a town of 5000 people in a sparsely populated region get its own fiber-to-household broadband system — WITHOUT relying on federal funding? Powell, Wyoming, is one of the great broadband success stories of the decade.

By Craig Settles

Powell, Wyoming, at first glance may appear to be the typical rural community that large and even some small broadband service providers avoid. The town has just over 5,000 residents in a county with a population density of four people per square mile. The last place for a fiber network, right? Wrong! Powell’s community-owned network, Powellink, is one of the great success stories in broadband.

Continue reading “Wyoming Town Creates Broadband Bonanza” »

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By Sean Buckley

EPB, the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based service provider known for its 1 Gbps service, and its supporters have decided to put on mothballs a new bill that would enable municipal broadband operators to expand outside of their service areas.

If the “Broadband Infrastructure for Regional Economic Development Act of 2011″ bill had gone through, municipal-run broadband providers like EPB would have been able to extend service up to 30 miles outside their service areas. One of EPB’s motivating factors to have the bill was to bring service to Bradley County, where Amazon.com is building a second distribution center.

Continue reading “AT&T, cable lobbying drive Chattanooga’s EPB to shelve network expansion bill” »

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Jonathan Charnitski, Managing Editor, BroadbandBreakfast.com

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2011 – The House of Representatives is anticipated to hold a floor debate and vote this week on a measure that would put the kibosh on net neutrality rules passed by the Federal Communications Commission late last year, but the White House has said that it would likely veto such a measure should it come across the President’s desk.

House Joint Resolution 37, which is a Resolution of Disapproval, states simply that Congress disapproves of the Open Internet Order issued by the Commission late last year and that the rules shall have no effect.

Continue reading “House To Vote On Anti-Net Neutrality Measure; Administration Threatens Veto” »

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At a recent Ignite Boulder, one of the speakers launched a rallying cry for Boulder, Colorado to build their own municipal fiber network and not wait for Google.  Now that Google has chosen Kansas City, Kansas, it is time for municipalities, like Boulder, that have recognized the benefits of a broadband network to do it themselves.  Some cities have the resources and expertise to do it themselves, and others need assistance.  We are here to help these communities develop plans and a business case to make the project a success.  The offer is out to Boulder and any other community that wants to start a successful initiative to introduce choice and competition into the communications market.

Continue reading “Boulder, Colorado Cries for Municipal Fiber” »

April 1, 2011 By Brian Heaton

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A bill that would place restrictions on the establishment of municipal broadband networks is gaining traction in North Carolina. The proposed legislation, House Bill 129, was passed by the state’s House of Representatives in an 81 to 37 vote on Monday, March 28, and is making its way through the state Senate.

The bill, which has sparked controversy across the state, is called the “Level Playing Field/Local Gov’t Competition” act. The legislation would require communities to alter the way networks are financed and deployed. One section of the bill mandates that a municipal network not price services below their actual costs. The intent of the language appears to be an attempt to protect companies from unfair competition, even though private companies regularly offer incentive deals to attract customers.

Continue reading “Controversial Broadband Bill Moving Forward in North Carolina” »

Midwest community to get ultra high-speed Internet project instead of Silicon Valley

by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekly Staff

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A Midwest city has beaten out all Silicon Valley contenders, including Palo Alto, to become Google’s first fiber-optics-wired city, executives announced Wednesday (March 30).

Kansas City, with a population of 145,786, was chosen out of 1,100 cities that applied in 2010 for the “Google Fiber for Communities” project, sponsored by the Mountain View tech giant.

The ultra high-speed fiber-to-the-home connections will provide Internet access at 100 times faster than typical broadband services, the company said. Fiber transmits light over fiber-optic cable — a strand of glass as thin as a hair — to send and receive data. It is far faster than electric signals sent over metal wires.

Continue reading “Google fiber: Palo Alto loses out to Kansas City” »

by Caroline McCarthy

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There’s some rough news for Topeka, Kan., the city that courted Google’s ultra-high-speed municipal broadband project by changing its name to Google. The Mountain View, Calif., tech giant announced Wednesday that the lucky city that gets to be its broadband guinea pig not only isn’t Topeka, but it’s Kansas City, Kansas–just an hour’s drive away. Ouch.

More than 1,100 communities had applied since the call for applicants was announced about a year ago. Kansas City will first see the new developments next year, and Google is already looking for additional communities to join the test.

Continue reading “Kansas City, Kan., to be Google’s broadband test bed” »