The city of Solon, Ohio, has their eyes on Hudson, their neighbor about 10 miles to the south. Both communities have a population of around 23,000 but Hudson businesses have access to the publicly owned fiber network and community leaders are considering expanding the service to residents.

Consumer Reports (CR) has once again gone straight to the source to collect opinions on subscribers’ experiences with their Internet access, telephone, and pay TV services.

Shortly after Republican FCC Commissioners repealed federal network neutrality protections late in 2017, state lawmakers began introducing legislation to protect their constituents. California’s AB 1999, introduced as one possible antidote to the FCC failure in judgment, passed the General Assembly on August 29th and is on its way to Governor Jerry Brown.

People and businesses in the small town of Hermann, Missouri, primarily rely on slow DSL for Internet access. There are also a few areas with cable connections available, and even a few parts of town where no ISPs offer service. This month, community leaders took decisive action to bring another option to town — they adopted a resolution to pursue federal funding for a publicly owned fiber optic network.

FiberNET, the municipal fiber network serving Morristown, Tennessee, has been serving the community since 2006 with fast, affordable, reliable Fiber-to-the-Home service. FiberNET is one of those networks that quietly went about its business bringing top notch services for residents, businesses, and institutions without a lot of fanfare.

There may be one famous Orange County already — the one in California is home to Laguna Beach, Disneyland, and The Real Housewives — but Orange County, Indiana, will soon be making a name for itself with world-class connectivity thanks to the local electric cooperative.

Arkansas 

In Arkansas, “digital redlining” could leave thousands without healthcare by Sarah Holder, CityLab

California

A newly operational dark fiber network, built by the city of Valparaiso, Indiana, is already proving to be a hot commodity for area businesses and institutions. Since going live in May of this year, ValpoNet has received dozens of inquiries from companies and organizations looking to build upon its unlit backbone.

Rural electric cooperatives in Arkansas are stepping up and making the investments to bring broadband connectivity to their members. We recently described plans taking shape from North Arkansas Electric Cooperative.

If you live in Alamance County, North Carolina, here’s your chance to share your Internet access experiences with your county leaders. The county asks that as many residents as possible take a few moments to complete their Internet Speed Survey.

Broadband Competition Quite Limited in Rochester Region, Despite Flawed Federal Statistics

The FCC’s data has confused some elected officials into thinking Rochester doesn’t have a broadband problem. It does.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

Statescoop delves into our recent report which finds national broadband coverage is grossly over-represented by FCC data.

It’s no secret that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) broadband data is unreliable. Many people, including U.S. Senators, have pointed out how federal data collection methods overstate connectivity across the country. Rochester, Minnesota, is no exception. In this policy brief, we highlight the gulf between FCC broadband data for Rochester and what’s actually available to residents by examining local competition.

Just outside of Detroit, Michigan, Grosse Pointe communities and institutions are considering whether to work with local Internet service provider Rocket Fiber to build an institutional network (I-Net).

One of the many states where legislators introduced broadband bills in 2018 was Ohio, where HB 378 appeared to offer a promising answer to funding rural broadband deployment.

California

California is trying to pass a net neutrality bill — and broadband providers are trying to gut it by Ro Khanna, Los Angeles Times

Illinois

Next Century Cities is busy organizing another get-together for broadband advocates, community leaders, and policy gurus. “Connected New England: Local Solutions for Broadband Development” will happen on November 8th in Hartford, Connecticut. Save the date!

Burlington Telecom (BT), the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) ISP in Burlington, Vermont, has been celebrating two pieces of recent good news. The ISP received praise from customers in a BT survey, and became the first fiber provider in its region to be “fiber certified.”

Local fall referendums are still a few months away, but at least four additional Colorado communities have decided to put local broadband authority on the ballot.

California

How Silicon Valley can use community input to bridge the big broadband gap by Mohammad Shakouri and Jon Walton, Silicon Valley Business Journal

Georgia