The show was published over a year ago, but it holds up as a good explanation for both network neutrality and the danger of Comcast and other massive cable companies becoming too powerful. The popular podcast 99% Invisible interviewed Susan Crawford on the subject last November. It is worth listening to and keeping as a reference for those who do not understand the threat. That said, I think the show oversimplifies the dynamic of high speed access -- the big phone companies are not totally irrelevant, just mostly irrelevant when it comes to delivering faster, more reliable services. And this is not technological determinism so much as poor management choices and the pressure Wall Street puts on firms to harvest profits rather than investing for the future.

The show was published over a year ago, but it holds up as a good explanation for both network neutrality and the danger of Comcast and other massive cable companies becoming too powerful. The popular podcast 99% Invisible interviewed Susan Crawford on the subject last November. It is worth listening to and keeping as a reference for those who do not understand the threat. That said, I think the show oversimplifies the dynamic of high speed access -- the big phone companies are not totally irrelevant, just mostly irrelevant when it comes to delivering faster, more reliable services. And this is not technological determinism so much as poor management choices and the pressure Wall Street puts on firms to harvest profits rather than investing for the future.

The show was published over a year ago, but it holds up as a good explanation for both network neutrality and the danger of Comcast and other massive cable companies becoming too powerful. The popular podcast 99% Invisible interviewed Susan Crawford on the subject last November. It is worth listening to and keeping as a reference for those who do not understand the threat. That said, I think the show oversimplifies the dynamic of high speed access -- the big phone companies are not totally irrelevant, just mostly irrelevant when it comes to delivering faster, more reliable services. And this is not technological determinism so much as poor management choices and the pressure Wall Street puts on firms to harvest profits rather than investing for the future.

The show was published over a year ago, but it holds up as a good explanation for both network neutrality and the danger of Comcast and other massive cable companies becoming too powerful. The popular podcast 99% Invisible interviewed Susan Crawford on the subject last November. It is worth listening to and keeping as a reference for those who do not understand the threat. That said, I think the show oversimplifies the dynamic of high speed access -- the big phone companies are not totally irrelevant, just mostly irrelevant when it comes to delivering faster, more reliable services. And this is not technological determinism so much as poor management choices and the pressure Wall Street puts on firms to harvest profits rather than investing for the future.

Community Broadband Networks have a very good track record in creating jobs, and we have just released a fact sheet [pdf] that collects some exciting success stories -- where a publicly owned network attracted new businesses or helped existing businesses to thrive. Though the telecommunications needs of local businesses have swelled dramatically in recent years, the DSL and cable networks have not been able to keep up. Businesses are often stuck between a connection that does not meet their needs and a connection they cannot afford -- but local, publicly owned networks have stepped in to provide the ultra-fast, super reliable services at affordable prices. This fact sheet discusses the jobs that were enabled by public investments in Chanute, Kansas; Chattanooga and Tullahoma, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; Bristol, Martinsville, and Danville, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. This should be a great resource for those educating their community about the importance of having a network that is directly accountable to the community. Hand it out, include it in conference materials, email it to legislators, whatever. We are developing additional fact sheets, but are always interested in what would be most helpful to you, so don't be afraid to tell us.

Community Broadband Networks have a very good track record in creating jobs, and we have just released a fact sheet [pdf] that collects some exciting success stories -- where a publicly owned network attracted new businesses or helped existing businesses to thrive. Though the telecommunications needs of local businesses have swelled dramatically in recent years, the DSL and cable networks have not been able to keep up. Businesses are often stuck between a connection that does not meet their needs and a connection they cannot afford -- but local, publicly owned networks have stepped in to provide the ultra-fast, super reliable services at affordable prices. This fact sheet discusses the jobs that were enabled by public investments in Chanute, Kansas; Chattanooga and Tullahoma, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; Bristol, Martinsville, and Danville, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. This should be a great resource for those educating their community about the importance of having a network that is directly accountable to the community. Hand it out, include it in conference materials, email it to legislators, whatever. We are developing additional fact sheets, but are always interested in what would be most helpful to you, so don't be afraid to tell us.

Community Broadband Networks have a very good track record in creating jobs, and we have just released a fact sheet [pdf] that collects some exciting success stories -- where a publicly owned network attracted new businesses or helped existing businesses to thrive. Though the telecommunications needs of local businesses have swelled dramatically in recent years, the DSL and cable networks have not been able to keep up. Businesses are often stuck between a connection that does not meet their needs and a connection they cannot afford -- but local, publicly owned networks have stepped in to provide the ultra-fast, super reliable services at affordable prices. This fact sheet discusses the jobs that were enabled by public investments in Chanute, Kansas; Chattanooga and Tullahoma, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; Bristol, Martinsville, and Danville, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. This should be a great resource for those educating their community about the importance of having a network that is directly accountable to the community. Hand it out, include it in conference materials, email it to legislators, whatever. We are developing additional fact sheets, but are always interested in what would be most helpful to you, so don't be afraid to tell us.

Community Broadband Networks have a very good track record in creating jobs, and we have just released a fact sheet [pdf] that collects some exciting success stories -- where a publicly owned network attracted new businesses or helped existing businesses to thrive. Though the telecommunications needs of local businesses have swelled dramatically in recent years, the DSL and cable networks have not been able to keep up. Businesses are often stuck between a connection that does not meet their needs and a connection they cannot afford -- but local, publicly owned networks have stepped in to provide the ultra-fast, super reliable services at affordable prices. This fact sheet discusses the jobs that were enabled by public investments in Chanute, Kansas; Chattanooga and Tullahoma, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; Bristol, Martinsville, and Danville, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. This should be a great resource for those educating their community about the importance of having a network that is directly accountable to the community. Hand it out, include it in conference materials, email it to legislators, whatever. We are developing additional fact sheets, but are always interested in what would be most helpful to you, so don't be afraid to tell us.

Community Broadband Networks have a very good track record in creating jobs, and we have just released a fact sheet [pdf] that collects some exciting success stories -- where a publicly owned network attracted new businesses or helped existing businesses to thrive. Though the telecommunications needs of local businesses have swelled dramatically in recent years, the DSL and cable networks have not been able to keep up. Businesses are often stuck between a connection that does not meet their needs and a connection they cannot afford -- but local, publicly owned networks have stepped in to provide the ultra-fast, super reliable services at affordable prices. This fact sheet discusses the jobs that were enabled by public investments in Chanute, Kansas; Chattanooga and Tullahoma, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; Bristol, Martinsville, and Danville, Virginia; and Springfield, Missouri. This should be a great resource for those educating their community about the importance of having a network that is directly accountable to the community. Hand it out, include it in conference materials, email it to legislators, whatever. We are developing additional fact sheets, but are always interested in what would be most helpful to you, so don't be afraid to tell us.

We sometimes fail to communicate the great lengths to which big cable and telecommunications companies will go to intimidate and scare voters into opposing a community broadband projects. They have deployed a variety of dirty tricks and we have done a poor job of cataloging them. But a recent phone call with John St. Julien in Lafayette, Louisiana, reminded me of a push poll that an alert citizen recorded back when Cox, Bellsouth (now AT&T), and/or other opponents of the municipal broadband project commissioned a "push poll" to scare voters into opposing a referendum on whether the City should build its own network. We tell the full story about this campaign in our Broadband at the Speed of Light report. But in anticipation of our interview with John St Julien tomorrow, we thought we should make sure our readers/listeners had a chance to hear this 30 minute call. In it, a pollster is asking a series of questions commissioned by opponents to the community broadband network and responding to it. The audio is sometimes hard to make out, but well worth it as the person recording it has some pretty funny responses to some of the questions being posed. This is just one of the reasons that referenda are a poor tool for measuring community support of a project. While the big companies can dump unlimited funds into their self-interested "vote no" campaigns, the city itself cannot encourage voters to go one way or another. And local groups supporting a community broadband network have far fewer resources. For instance, when Longmont, Colorado, had its first referendum, Comcast blitzed the community with something like $250,000 in ads and misinformation (setting a local record for expenditures) -- resulting in a pretty significant majority for the "nay" voters. After citizens realized they'd been had, they clamored for another vote. Two years later, Comcast dropped $400,000 on Longmont but the grassroots successfully out-organized the cash-dump. If you want to know more about how your community can win a fight like this, read more about Lafayette and listen to our conversation with John St. Julien tomorrow (the first of several). Here is the push poll and response.