News

For many rural Americans, the local electric or telephone cooperative is their best hope for finally obtaining modern-day connectivity.

If you couldn’t make it to Hartford, Connecticut, don’t despair! The good people at Next Century Cities and the Office of Consumer Counsel have got you covered. They’ve set up a live link so you can watch all the great panel discussions and presentations from the Connected New England event.

The march toward reclaiming local telecommunications authority throughout Colorado continued yesterday as eighteen more communities opted out of restrictive SB 152. As in prior years, voters passed referendums with high majorities in every contest.

Halloween is less than a week away, but our horrifying tale of customer service terror is quickly turning into science fiction in which we are caught in an never-ending loop bending time and space. Time for a quick update.

California

In San Leandro, we are building on public broadband investment for a brighter future by Corina Lopez, National League of Cities

We knew that Longmonters loved their publicly owned network, but recent numbers show how many of them have shunned incumbents to switch. More than half of the market in Longmont has now signed up with NextLight.

For episode 329 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, our guests Deb Socia from Next Century Cities and Bob Knight of P.R. and Marketing firm Harrison Edwards discussed political will and its effect on community broadband network projects.

Idaho Innovation Awards recently recognized industry leader Ammon Fiber Optics as the state’s Consumer Product of the Year.

Ghastly ghouls, horrific monsters, and vile flesh-eating creatures roam the earth this night of Halloween, but none evince the evil that has of late entered the halls of ILSR. One of our own has faced the torture of an entity bent on pushing him over the precipice of human endurance, twisting his psyche with the torment of nonsense, and claiming his head for their own.

On October 24th, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly spoke before the Media Institute at their “Free Speech America” Gala. In a speech for the telecom-backed group, O’Rielly delivered exactly what many of the big hitters in the audience would want to hear. He falsely accused, with nothing to back up his claims, municipal networks of posing  an “ominous threat to the First Amendment.”

It’s not too late to make your plans to attend "Connected New England: A Regional Broadband Convening" in Hartford, Connecticut.

Colorado

Loveland council to vote on bond issue, business plan for municipal broadband by Julia Rentsch, Reporter-Herald

Indiana

We came across this cool video shared by Taunton Municipal Light Plant (TMLP) in Taunton, Massachusetts, and wanted to share it. This quick vid reminds us that, even though the Internet may seem like “magic” because it connects us with other continents, it’s actually science, work, and investment.

BTW, What's Up in Taunton?

Earlier this month, Chattanooga’s celebrated as municipal network EPB Fiber Optics announced that they now have more than 100,000 subscribers. The high numbers indicate that the network is serving more than 60 percent of premises in the EPB service area.

Chicopee, Massachusetts, is on its way to better connectivity through a publicly owned network after all. Chicopee Electric Light (CEL) has announced that the municipal utility plans to develop a pilot program yet this year to experiment with business connectivity. If all goes well, they have a long-term vision to also serve residents.

As Election Day draws near, voters in 36 states and three territories are set to choose governors. In Maine, gubernatorial candidates are making rural broadband a key issue.

Alabama

Opelika to sell OPS ONE in $14 million deal by Lily Jackson, O-A News 

Arkansas

Breckenridge was among the list of Colorado communities that voted to opt out of the state’s restrictive SB 152 back in 2016. Now, they’re ready to move forward with design and construction of an open access network. As the resort town prepares to begin work on their fiber infrastructure, several other communities will ask voters to opt out of SB 152 on November 6th.

Once again, restrictive state laws designed to help big ISPs maintain their monopolies have helped push a publicly owned network to privatization.

The people of Egremont have had it with Charter Spectrum and their shenanigans. After the latest issue pushed them too far, the town’s Select Board voted to give the company the boot.

How Much?