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Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Community Broadband Bits Podcast
Community Broadband Bits is a weekly audio show hosted by Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell featuring interviews with people building community networks or otherwise involved with Internet policy. You can listen to episodes below or download via Apple, Google, or Spotify. Alternatively if you know what to do with it, copy the feed here.
We also produce a semi-regular video show called Connect This! that has its own site. Find other podcasts from ILSR here.
We also have an index of all episodes and links to transcripts. Keep up with new developments by subscribing to our one-email-per-week list sharing new stories and resources. We’d love to hear your feedback! Email us.
History of the Quickly Subverted 1996 Telecommunications Act - Community Broadband Bits Episode 89
If all had gone according to the plan behind the 1996 Telecommunications Act, we would have lots of competition among Internet service providers, not just cable and DSL but other technologies as well. Alas, the competing technologies never really appeared and various incarnations of the FCC effectively gutted the common carriage requirements at the heart of the Act.
Earl Comstock joins us today to explain what they had in mind when they spent years developing the goals and text of the Act.
Overview of Stockholm's Stokab - Community Broadband Bits Episode #88
Having just returned from a short trip to Sweden, Lisa Gonzalez and I discuss what I learned and how Stockholm has become one of the most connected cities on the planet.
We talk about how Stockholm built a massive dark fiber network that has enabled competition at the service layer, the status of telecommunications in Sweden, and what lessons we can learn in the U.S.
Processes for a Gigabit Community: Community Broadband Bits Episode 87
More communities are today considering how they can improve Internet access in their community than at any other time. Having a gigabit is quickly becoming the standard - not because we all need 1,000 Mbps but because we know that everything we want to do is possible on a gigabit connection.
How Ammon, Idaho, Builds Digital Roads - Community Broadband Bits Episode 86
Ammon, a town of 14,000 in southeast Idaho, has been incrementally building an open access, fiber optic network that has connected community anchor institutions and is starting to become available to local businesses. Ammon Technology Director Bruce Patterson joins us to explain how the community has moved forward with its model for improving Internet access.
They first sought some stimulus support for the network but were not selected.
Fork in the Road For UTOPIA: Forward or Backward? Community Broadband Bits Episode #85
The Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency, which we have written about many times, is at a crossroads.
A Roadmap for the FCC To Ensure Local Authority to Build Networks - Community Broadband Podcast #84
When the DC Circuit Court handed down a decision ruling against the FCC's Open Internet (network neutrality) rules, it also clarified that the FCC has the power to overrule state laws that limit local authority to build community networks.
The Real Threats from Monopoly - Community Broadband Bits Podcast #83
When we think about the threat of monopoly, we almost always focus on how monopolies can raise prices beyond what is reasonable. But there are many threats from monopolies and many are much more dangerous to a free society than higher prices.
Meet Russellville, Kentucky's Broadband Speed Leader - Community Broadband Bits Podcast #82
The municipal electric utility in Russellville has launched Kentucky's first citywide gigabit service on its FTTH network.
Public Access Media and Community Owned Networks - Community Broadband Bits Podcast #81
After a listener suggested we do a show on the modern role of public access media, we decided to reach out to Mike Wassenaar, now a senior development officer at Free Press and formerly the Executive Director of Saint Paul Neighborhood Network, a great example of the promise of public access.
Mike and I talk about history, present, and future of public access.
Justifying a Network with Indirect Cost Savings - Community Broadband Bits Episode 80
Today, Lisa and I are joined by Eric Lampland for a discussion of how a community could justify building a community owned network from the indirect benefits that it would create, including the savings that each household realizes from competition driving down prices.