Community Broadband Media Roundup - November 6

News Stories By State

California

Americans are paying more for broadband speed but getting less by David Lazarus, The Los Angeles Times

Colorado

Colorado communities trying to lift limits on municipal broadband by John Aguilar, The Denver Post

Twenty six Colorado cities, counties lift 10-year ban on municipal broadband investment by Sean Buckley, Fierce Telecom

Colorado Voters Shoot Down State's Awful Broadband Law by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Colorado Voters Toss Restrictive Laws, Vote In Favor Of Allowing Municipal Broadband by Kate Cox, Consumerist

Voters in municipalities across Colorado this week overwhelmingly chose chose to the state’s 2005 law blocking the expansion of municipal broadband, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance reports. 44 different towns, cities, and counties had measures on their ballots regarding local authority of telecommunications services, and all of them passed by large margins, gaining between 70% and 93% of votes.

44 Colorado cities and counties voted yes to municipal broadband by Tamara Cheung, The Denver Post

Colorado’s muni broadband ban overridden in 44 communities by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Boulder hires consultant to explore municipal broadband buildout by Joshua Lindenstein, BizWest

With miles of fiber on hand, Boulder looks to enhance Internet service by Alex Burness, The Daily Camera

Florida

Lakeland Commission explores downtown as gigabit guinea pig by Christopher Guinn, The Ledger

Georgia

That broadband plan Savannah Council candidates are talking about by Eric Curl, Savannah Now

Maryland

Westminster to expand fiber optic network by Wiley Hayes, The Carroll County Times

Municipal-provided broadband wins big at Greenfield polls by Anita Fritz, The Recorder

Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee gets first 10 gigabit residential internet service courtesy of EPB by Alan Buckingham, Beta News

Erwin utility points to broadband success, contrasting cable lobbyist's statements by Nathan Baker, Johnson City Press

“I would argue that every municipal broadband deployment has been successful,” Williams said Thursday. “The biggest thing we like to point out about municipal projects, specifically ours, is the availability to rural customers who may be underserved by existing services. In Unicoi County, only 75 percent is covered by a cable company, so 25 percent of our electric service area doesn’t have access to broadband.”

Erwin Fiber hasn’t borrowed heavily to build its network either, he said, challenging Farris’ debt claims.

CDE Lightband in the black this year by Alexander Harris, The Leaf Chronicle

Through the laying of a fiber network, Clarksville has been able to produce a broadband network with connection speeds of up to one-gigabit — about 100 times faster than the national average internet speed of 10 megabits per second, according to a CDE press release. This speed makes Clarksville one of only "a handful of surprisingly smaller" cities that have "created networks on par" with international leaders in internet speed, including Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris.

Munis fire back at cable over broadband bill by Post Politics

North Hamilton County residents want faster EPB service by Dave Flessner, Times Free Press

City Tech: Chattanooga’s Big Gig by Rob Walker, Lincoln Institute for Land Policy

Chattanooga Recognized As Leader In Digital Inclusion Efforts At National League Of Cities Event by The Chattanoogan

Washington

Council Will Vote On City-Run Beacon Hill Gigabit Broadband Network by Ansel Hertz, The Stranger

In Fighting Comcast, City Leaders Differ on Scope of Public Internet Access by Casey Jaywork, Seattle Weekly News

An Island Community In Washington Built Its Own Broadband by John Wenz, Popular Mechanics

San Juan Islanders tell their Internet service provider to go pound sand by the Sky Valley Chronicle

General

Lack of Internet access makes climb out of poverty harder by Golda Arthur, Al Jazeera America

NY top prosecutor to Internet providers: Prove speed claims by Michael Virtanen, Seattle Times

Slate Informs Its Readers That Confusing, Unnecessary, Anti-Competitive Broadband Usage Caps Are Simply Wonderful by Karl Bode, TechDirt

Broadband Funding: It's There for Those Who Know Where to Look by Colin Wood, GovTech

Facebook, Amazon and Other Tech Giants Tighten Grip on Internet Economy by Don Clark and Robert McMillan, Wall Street Journal

Computing hardware has long served as the critical backbone of business operations. Today, the Internet economy is powered by an infrastructure that has become virtual, and is controlled by a small handful of tech giants.