Community Broadband Bits Podcast

This week on the Community Broadband Bits podcast, Christopher Mitchell chats with Sean Gonsalves, ILSR's Community Broadband Senior Reporter, Editor and Researcher to catch up on some of the most interesting broadband stories in recent weeks. The two begin by discussing a recent story by Jericho Casper, ILSR Researcher and Writer, reporting more than 20 communities in New Hampshire are entering into public-private partnerships to get their residents more connected. Gonsalves also talks about his recent feature story about Northeast Kingdom Communication Union District (CUD) in Vermont and the state's unique approach to achieving universal broadband access by 2024.

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, Christopher Mitchell talks with John Windhausen, Executive Director of the Schools, Health, Libraries and Broadband Coalition (SHLB) and Alicja Johnson, SHLB Communication Manager. The nonprofit advocates for anchor institutions to be at the table when communities are considering building municipal fiber networks. This is because these institutions are not only the cornerstones of healthy communities, but also well positioned as gateways for bringing reliable broadband to every household.

This week on the podcast Christopher is joined by Douglas Adams, the CMO of Think Marketing (the firm which handles the marketing operations for the municipal network FairlawnGig in Ohio), Ernie Staten, Director of Public Service for the city of Fairlawn, and Angela Siefer, Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. The topic of the day is the amendment attached to the upcoming budget for the state of Ohio which, if included in the final version, would make Ohio the first state in a decade to erect barriers to the establishment, expansion, and continuing operation of publicly owned and operation broadband networks.

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a historic, $7 billion plan to increase broadband access across the state. On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, host Christopher Mitchell is joined by Ernesto Falcon (Senior Legislative Counsel) and Hayley Tsukayama (Legislative Activist) from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to talk about how the funds will be used to bring better connectivity to Californians.

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, Christopher Mitchell is joined by broadband analyst and telehealth advocate, Craig Settles; Dianne Connery, Special Projects Librarian in Pottsboro, Texas; and Adam Echelman, Executive Director of Libraries Without Boarders, to talk about how libraries are the cornerstones of information access for communities across the country. Libraries have been connecting communities to resources and services for decades, but with the digital age, libraries are answering the same call for action with Internet access and digital literacy. Connery shares her firsthand experience working in a library in Pottsboro, Texas where there are no doctors in town and telehealth access has become crucial, especially with the pandemic. The group also talks about the importance of libraries connecting those who would otherwise not have Internet access and how that is becoming an absolute necessity with the way education and healthcare are changing.

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, Christopher and ILSR senior reporter and editor, Sean Gonsalves chat with Nate Benson, a reporter with WGRZ in Buffalo, New York, about his approach to reporting on connectivity issues afflicting the Western part of the state. Benson explains the origins and results of his Fall 2019 investigation into monopoly service, including what the lack of competition has done to prices and availability in the city of Buffalo. He details his method to producing stories on Internet access that have resonated with citizens and galvanized local policymakers in the community.

A couple of months ago we wrote about the city of Tucson’s efforts to bridge the digital divide by building a wireless citywide network. On this episode of the podcast, Christopher talks with Collin Boyce, the city’s Chief Information Officer, to hear more about how the effort started, what they’ve learned along the way, and the impact it’s having on the community.

For episode 13 of our bonus series, “Why NC Broadband Matters,” we’re joined by Doug Dawson (Owner and President of CCG Consulting), Catharine Rice (Project Director for the Coalition for Local Internet Choice) and Gene Scott (General Manager of the Outside Plant for the Greenlight Network) to talk about the wave of new federal dollars reaching communities across the country. How do communities avoid feeling overwhelmed and use this money in the most effective ways?

On this episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR's senior editor and reporter, Sean Gonsalves, Doug Seacat, Owner of Deeply Digital and Clearnetworx, and Casey Irving, Director of Business Development, about bringing world-class connectivity to households in and around the city of Ridgeway, Colorado. Around five years ago, Clearnetworx won a Colorado broadband fund grant to build a Fiber-to-the-Home network for the community, only to have it challenged by incumbent provider, CenturyLink. Subsequent appeals ultimately led to a situation where Clearnetworx lost the grant to CenturyLink. Instead of the money going towards a Fiber-to-the-Home network for residents, it was used for a modest upgrade to CenturyLink's DSL network.

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by two representatives from Conway Corp, a municipal utility in Conway, Arkansas to hear about their commitment to providing high quality Internet access to residents over the last four decades. CEO Bret Carroll and Chief Technology Officer Jason Hansen dive into the rich history of Conway Corp, starting with how the utility got into the telecommunications industry in the early 1980s, by acquiring an exclusive city-wide cable franchise agreement and bringing the first city residents online. They describe two upgrade cycles the network has since undergone: one to a hybrid fiber co-ax system in the late 1990s, and another, starting in 2010, to drive fiber deeper into parts of the network to bring gigabit download service to residents.