Image
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
BT Brings Free Wi-Fi To New Burlington Transit Center
By
on
Burlington Telecom is teaming with Green Mountain Transit to provide free high-speed Wi-Fi to commuters and GMT employees at the new transit center, reports Vermont Business magazine. The bus transit center opened on Oct. 13.
The magazine noted:
“A reliable high speed Wi-Fi connection on the Downtown Transit Center platform will improve the customer experience, allowing passengers to use their wait time more effectively as they work, connect with friends, or download an e-book to enjoy on the ride.”
Burlington Telecom general manager Stephen Barraclough told Vermont Business:
“The opening of the new Downtown Transit Center is a much needed development for the many who commute to and from Burlington daily, and provides an exciting opportunity to highlight Burlington’s powerful gigabit infrastructure as an accelerator for economic, educational and community benefit.”
Burlington Telecom joins a growing list of U.S. communities that are making free high-speed Internet connectivity available at public transit stations and airports.
Free Wi-Fi At The City Gateway
In April 2015, we noted that LUS Fiber began sharing its municipal Gigabit network with travelers at the Lafayette Regional Airport in Louisiana. Free Wi-Fi is available at the airport supported by LUS Fiber, allowing guests to check email, post to social media, and browse the Internet.
"We know that businesses choose to come to Lafayette for a variety of reasons and many have cited our 100% fiber-optic network as one of those reasons,” said City-Parish President Joey Durel. "As a gateway to Lafayette, we want visitors to experience the ultra high speeds of a Gigabit Internet connection, from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave."
The Locals Love It
In Burlington, the Keep BT Local! Cooperative started in 2012 with a goal of transforming the troubled muni into a telecommunications cooperative and is still active and raising capital to purchase the network. In the spring, the BT Advisory Board recommended that a permanent owner should have ties to the local community.
For the time being, the city is leasing the network, which is under temporary ownership of Blue Water LLC, a company that purchased the network as part of a deal hatched with CitiBank. The financial giant had sued the city for $33 million after cover-ups from a past mayoral administration cast the network into financial chaos. That agreement requires the city to find a permanent owner for the network and finalize the sale by January 2019. If the city does not find a permanent buyer of their liking, Blue Water can choose the next owner; locals fear it may be a company like Comcast.
The new Wi-Fi will give commuters a chance to taste the high-quality Internet access that Burlington residents and businesses are trying to keep under local control. The network's ownership is uncertain, but the local initiative is doing all it can to keep it from becoming just another big, faceless, unresponsive ISP.
Geoterm
Related Stories
Making Waves in Baltimore with Community-Driven Connectivity
Profile on the people behind Project Waves, a non-profit organization founded in 2018 to bring broadband to mostly low-income households in Baltimore City.
East Carroll Parish Residents in Louisiana Fend Off Sparklight Challenge
Residents of East Carroll Parish are “cautiously celebrating” the decision by Louisiana’s Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity to uphold a $4 million GUMBO grant to bring fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) Internet service to over 2,500 households in one of the most poorly connected parts of the state.
Louisiana First State to Get BEAD Planning Funds as State GUMBO Grants Get Messy
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced earlier this week that Louisiana will be the first state in the nation to receive federal grant planning funds to help states prepare for the deployment of high-speed Internet infrastructure and digita
First Louisiana GUMBO Grant is Challenged; Project on Back Burner
Louisiana’s broadband deployment grant program, GUMBO (Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities), was announced with great fanfare by Gov.
Rancho Cucamonga Cultivates Greenfield Fiber Vineyard
In the 1980s, Rancho Cucamonga proclaimed itself “The City with a Plan.” Back then, the plan was to remake this once rural enclave known for its vineyards into more than just one of the many sunny suburbs of Los Angeles. That forward-looking spirit was revived again 30 years later as city leaders looked to cultivate a digital vineyard with the creation of a “Fiber Optic Master Plan” – a six-year $13 million investment plan that targets the city’s new development. Today, the city along the famed Route 66 owns and operates Rancho Cucamonga Municipal Broadband in partnership with Onward, a local private Internet service provider.
Vermont CUD NEK Broadband Nabs $16 Million Grant For Fiber
NEK Broadband has been awarded a $16 million grant by the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) to expand fiber access to 10 new Vermont communities. It’s among the earliest of what is likely to be a flurry of activity by the mostly-newly created Communications Union Districts - partnerships between rural cities and towns - which have formed over the last few years to solve the connectivity crisis for the tens of thousands of Vermonters who have been left behind by the current broadband marketplace.