This is the transcript for episode 374 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Stacy Evans from BrightRidge in Eastern Tennessee. They discuss the electric utility's new broadband project, which is bringing Fiber-to-the-Home and fixed wireless connectivity to homes and businesses in and around Johnson City, Tennessee. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Stacy Evans: The doctor there said that he had DSL Internet services. He was very challenged in working with his medical services from home. And now, he started out with our lowest package of 200 meg symmetric Internet. He says he now can pull down his x-rays and the MRIs, and he can make his notes, send it up. And he says it's just like being at work.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 374 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. We have another great conversation from Tennessee this week where local communities are taking initiative to provide broadband for residents and businesses. Stacy Evans from BrightRidge in eastern Tennessee talks with Christopher about the public utility and how they're developing infrastructure to offer broadband service in the region. Stacy describes how they've worked within the confines of state limitations in order to legally expand their network and offer stories from subscribers. He also talks about the challenges they faced as they've developed plans to deploy in a very large area in the Appalachians. He talks about how the fiber infrastructure is assisting with local electric services and their complementary fixed wireless service. In this interview, we also learn about their future plans and hear how BrightRidge is taking an innovative approach to deployment that makes subscriber options and future innovations easier to implement. Now here's Christopher with Stacy Evans from BrightRidge.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and today I'm speaking with Stacy Evans, the chief broadband officer at BrightRidge in Johnson City, or thereabouts, Tennessee. Welcome to the show.

This is the transcript for episode 373 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Christy Batts of CDE Lightband about Clarksville, Tennessee's municipal fiber network. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Christy Batts: When we went in and put in his new phone system and got everything set up for him, his phone traffic more than tripled. What was happening is he was missing these calls. He's now had to hire two additional people to answer the phone, but his business is booming because of it.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 373 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. Back in 2013, Christy Batts from CDE Lightband made her first appearance on the podcast to share the story of how Clarksville, Tennessee, chose to invest in a publicly owned fiber optic network. She's back this week to describe upgrades and changes that have kept the network at the top of its game. In addition to innovations in voice and video service, CDE Lightband has partnered with local cooperatives and continues to increase speeds throughout the community. Christopher and his guest talk about the network's new approach to improving subscriber Wi-Fi performance and the ways they plan to bring free Wi-Fi to public spaces in Clarksville. They also talk about how unexpected success has kept the network on sound financial footing that is benefiting the community in ways that aren't broadband related. Now here's Christopher and Christy Batts from CDE Lightband in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Today I'm speaking with one of our guests from our first year doing this program. Christy Batts is the broadband division director at CDE Lightband. That's a municipal electric provider that also does broadband services in Clarksville, Tennessee. Welcome back to the show, Christy.

Christy Batts: Thank you Chris. I'm glad to be back.

This is the transcript for episdoe 372 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Kathryn de Wit about the new state broadband policy explorer tool from Pew Charitable Trusts and about trends in state-level broadband laws. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Kathryn de Wit: State policy matters.

Lisa Gonzalez: Indeed, it does. Welcome to episode 372 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. This week, Kathryn de Wit from the Pew Charitable trusts joins Christopher to discuss the many ways state broadband policy's changing. She's here to talk about the organization's nifty new tool, the state broadband policy explorer. You can find the tool at pewtrusts.org in the projects section under "governing" and "broadband research." Kathryn described some of the discoveries her team made while developing this tool that documents state-level broadband policies. She also talks about the challenges they faced when taking on such a large task and talks about information they encountered that surprised them. The tool will lead to additional research, and Kathryn gets into the way she hopes others will use it and some of the questions she thinks the broadband policy explorer can answer moving forward. Now here's Christopher and Kathryn de Wit from the Pew Charitable trusts.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis. Today, I'm speaking with Kathryn de Wit, the manager of the broadband research initiative from Pew Charitable trusts. Welcome to the show.

Kathryn de Wit: Thanks Chris. I'm really happy to be here.

Christopher Mitchell: Well, I'm excited to talk to you. You and I have gone back and forth a little bit over the past six months, and you've unveiled this new tool, which is fun and could very well suck up too much of my time in the coming months. But let's start, before we get into the exciting state broadband policy explorer, just by backing up a second and let me ask you, what is Pew and what do you do at the broadband research initiative?

This is the transcript for episode 371 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Sascha Segan, lead mobile analyst at PC Mag. They discuss our recent fact sheet, Pocket Guide to 5G Hype, and Sascha offers some corrections and helpful nuance about 5G technology and regulation in the U.S. and abroad. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Sascha Segan: No technology is really going to solve what is a regulatory and market structure problem more than anything else.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 371 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. When large Internet access companies begin discussing advances in technologies they're developing, it's important to maintain perspective and not get swept away by the inevitable hype. Over the past two years or so, 5G has been on everyone's mind, and big providers haven't done anything to curb unrealistic expectations. Recently we released our Pocket Guide to 5G Hype to help manage some of the claims that have been floating around that are a little overblown. Shortly after the release of the pocket guide, this week's guest Sascha Segan from PC Mag, contacted us to let us know that he disagreed with some of the content of our resource. Since Sascha has been covering mobile technology for what Chris describes as forever, we wanted to bring him on the podcast to explain what he disagrees with and why. In this interesting discussion, Sascha provides some great education on the intricacies of 5G millimeter waves and the technology and marketing campaigns surrounding them. He and Christopher also talk about fiber deployment and what it will take to bring high quality connectivity to all of the U.S. Now here's Christopher and Sascha Segan from PC Mag.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis. Today I'm talking to a very notable guest, Sascha Segan, PC Mag lead mobile analyst. Welcome to the show.

Sascha Segan: Thanks for having me on. Hi.

This is the transcript for episode 370 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Elizabeth Peetz from the Colorado Association of Realtors about broadband policy in the state and how connectivity impacts homeowners and the real estate market. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Elizabeth Peetz: Finding that compromise was easy because in the end we knew we all wanted the same outcome. The question was how do we structure the language to protect everybody's rights.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 370 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. In past episodes, we've talked about broadband's effect on real estate and broadband as real estate, but this week we have a guest from an organization who represents homeowners and that organization works on broadband policy. Elizabeth Peetz from the Colorado Association of Realtors visits with Christopher for this episode. In this discussion, Liz describes the effect broadband has had on the Colorado real estate market and how her organization has become involved in related legislation. She talks about some of the recent changes in state law and the association's opinions on those changes. In addition to easement law for cooperatives, Liz talks about the state's right of first refusal and about Colorado's broadband funding techniques. Liz also offers some sound advice on what folks can do to encourage real estate as a tool to improve broadband policy. Now, here's Christopher and Elizabeth Peetz from the Colorado Association of Realtors.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance up in Minneapolis, today speaking with Elizabeth Peetz, the vice president of government affairs for the Colorado Association of Realtors. Thanks for coming on the show.

Elizabeth Peetz: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Christopher Mitchell: So let me start with a pretty basic question, which is the Colorado Association of Realtors, what exactly does it do?

This is the transcript for episdoe 369 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher talks to Greg Dean from the South Dakota Telecommunications Association. They discuss how the association's membership, which includes cooperatives, municipalities, and locally-owned companies, has invested and continues to invest in high-speed fiber connectivity for rural South Dakota. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Greg Dean: Our companies, collectively they're going to spend right to the tune of about $700 million to make sure that broadband is available and working for the citizens within their service areas, for the citizens of South Dakota.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 369 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. If you live in South Dakota, you're no stranger to large swaths of rural landscapes. If you live in one of these rural landscapes, chances are good you're also no stranger to high speed Internet access. Even though much of the state is covered with ranch and farmland, cooperatives, tribal community and small ISPs, and a few municipalities are investing in high-quality connectivity for folks in South Dakota. Many of these providers are members of the South Dakota Telecommunications Association. This week their director of industry relations, Greg Dean, talked with Christopher about connectivity in such a rural state. Greg describes what the SDTA does for members and how their connections to local communities have influenced decisions and their ability to understand local needs. He discusses how working together has helped expand high-quality Internet access, funding, and how broadband is more important than ever in rural communities. Now here's Christopher and Greg Dean from the South Dakota Telecommunications Association.

This is the transcript for episode 368 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Jess Del Fiacco interviews Christopher about the state of municipal broadband preemption laws across the country. They discusses changes to our count, how our analysis of preemption differs from BroadbandNow.com's reporting, and which states may enact or remove restrictive laws. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

Christopher Mitchell: I say legislatures really do want to see more investment and are recognizing that limiting investment is not the way to get more investment.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 368 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. There's a lot of local internet infrastructure investment going on these days, but in some states, local communities have to overcome state laws that make investment more difficult and in some cases may even ban that investment. If your community is looking into a municipal network solution to improve local connectivity, you may have seen conflicting reports about whether or not your state maintains barriers to local community networks. If you've been researching recently and noticed that several states have made changes, you may be more confused than ever. In this episode of the podcast, Christopher and our communications specialist, Jess Del Fiacco, address that confusion. They talk about how different sources report on what is a barrier and what we define as barriers. We've made some changes to our list this year. Christopher explains why we reduced the number of states that we consider maintaining preemptive laws to local telecommunications authority. If you want to learn more details about the remaining 19 states with preemptions in place, we recommend checking out baller.com's resource library. Their document titled "State Restrictions on Community Broadband Services or Other Public Communications Initiatives" offers a state by state explanation of each preemptive barrier. We'll also provide a link on the podcast page. Now here's Christopher and Jess on state preemption.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the ⁠—

This is the transcript for episode 367 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with John Lester and Brian Eisele from Clarkvsille and Johnson County, Arkansas, about Clarksville Connected Utilities' fiber network and how it's benefitting residents and businesses. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

John Lester: It almost sounds like we're beginning to build a millennial Mecca here, where you can get the things easy but still have access to the rest of the world almost instantly.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 367 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. We've been following Clarksville, Arkansas, for a few years now. They started by developing a fiber network to use SCADA to improve utilities' efficiencies. Now they're on their way to a citywide Fiber-to-the-Home network. This week Christopher talks with John Lester from Clarksville Connected Utilities and Brian Eisele, a local business owner who leads the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce. They discuss the road Clarksville has traveled toward their decision to deploy Fiber-to-the-Home and some of the data points that encourage them to press forward. John talks about some of the unique choices Clarksville has made when designing their network to ensure its public purpose. Brian offers the perspective shared by Clarksville's business and residential sector. We also get to hear some of the specific examples of how the network has boosted economic development and some of the other ways Clarksville Connected Utilities is embracing the future. There was a little bit of a glitch when recording John's audio, so bear with us. The quality isn't as good as it usually is. Now, here's Chris with John Lester from Clarksville Connected Utilities and Brian Eisele, an independent business owner and leader of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, and today I'm speaking with John Lester, the general manager of Clarksville Connected Utilities. Welcome back to the show, John.

This is the transcript for episode 366 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. This episode originally ran as episode 77 of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Building Local Power podcast. In it, Christopher speaks with experts Gigi Sohn and Blair Levin about the possible impacts of the proposed Sprint and T-Mobile merger. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript below.

This is the transcript for episode 365 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Cody Crooks from Rio Blanco County about their broadband project, which is bringing high-speed fiber and wireless connectivity to residents of the Colorado county. Listen to the show, or read the transcript below.

Cody Crooks: It's pretty incredible to see our community, even though we're still a small ranching community, that people really care about connectivity and for some families it does drive where they live.

Lisa Gonzalez: Welcome to episode 365 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. While Christopher attended the Mountain Connect broadband conference in Colorado, he met up with one of the folks working on the Rio Blanco County broadband network project, Cody Crooks. The open access network has long been on our radar due to the scope of the project and rural nature of the area it serves. In this interview, Cody updates us on their progress and describes why the western Colorado county chose that particular model, and he also explains how they've tweaked it to suit their environment. Cody offers his ideas on why the Rio Blanco County fiber network is reaching such high take rates, and he shares a few stories of subscribers who came to the community specifically for the fiber. He talks about how they funded the network and describes the benefits it has brought. Chris and Cody also talk about Project THOR, a regional effort established when local communities decided to band together to reduce costs and improve connectivity. Now, here's Chris with Cody Crooks from Rio Blanco County, Colorado.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, normally in Minneapolis, but today in Keystone technically, near Dillon, in Colorado for Mountain Connect. I'm talking to Cody Crooks, the Rio Blanco County director of communications. Welcome to the show.

Cody Crooks: Thank you.