Staff
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Staff
Stories by this author
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 219
This is episode 219 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Christopher Mitchell travels to Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, to speak with the city's Chief Information Officer Clint Pires about conduit policy and apartment buildings.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 266
This is the transcript for episode 266 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Benoit Felten of Diffraction Analysis offers a global perspective on telecommunications policy. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 297
This is episode 297 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Christopher Mitchell speaks with Gary Evans from Hiawatha Broadband Communications. They discuss the history of the company and what Disney learned from them.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 331
This is the transcript for episode 331 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. For this episode, Christopher speaks with Kimberly McKinley, chief marketing officer for UTOPIA Fiber in Utah. They discuss the open access fiber network's recent successes and how marketing has played a key role in growing the network.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 15
This is Episode 15 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Chris interviews Geoff Daily, the Executive Director of FiberCorps. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 190
This is Episode 190 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Executive Director of the Greater Minnesota Partnership Dan Dorman joins the show to discuss the problem of the doughnut hole in Minnesota's broadband policy.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 237
This is the transcript for episode 237 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Joining the show from Washington state's Kitsap Public Utility District are General Manager Bob Hunter and Superintendent of Telecom Paul Avis.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 269
This is the transcript for episode 269 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Pete Hoffswell, the Broadband Services Manager for Holland, Michigan, joins the show to discuss the city's downtown pilot program.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 300
This is the transcript for episode 300 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Jody Wigington and Sharon Sharon Kyser describe the partnership between two municipalities. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 334
This is the transcript for episode 334 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. In this episode, Christopher Mitchell speaks with Russell Senior and Michael Hanna, board members of the Municpal Broadband Coalition of America, about Municipal Broadband PDX, an initiative to develop a publicly owned broadband network in the Portland, Oregon, region.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 158
Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 157 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Blake Mobley on FTTH in rural Rio Blanco County. Listen to this episode here.
00:06:
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 12
This is Episode 12 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Todd Murren explains the creation of SpringNet in Springfield, Missouri and how the community network helped with economic development. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 193
This is Episode 193 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Ted Smith, Chief Innovation Officer for Louisville, Kentucky, joins the show to describe one touch make-ready and wireless innovation. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 240
This is the transcript for episode 240 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Christopher Mitchell speaks with Darren Farnan of United Electric Cooperative in Missouri. The electric co-op has undertaken a fiber project to bring high-speed Internet service to their members.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 272
This is the transcript for Episode 272 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 303
This is the transcript for episode 303 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Christopher Mitchell and Lisa Gonzalez discuss recent state action to improve broadband access and increase local control. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 338
This is the transcript for episode 338 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher speaks with Jeff Christensen from EntryPoint about software defined networking and how to change our current telecommunications models to promote innovation and subscriber control.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 31
Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript of Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 31 with Scarlett McGrady about Virginia's Wired Road. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 8
This is Episode 8 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Chris interviews Jim Moorhead, executive committee chair of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County in California, about how rural areas are oft-ignored by large telecoms. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 196
This is Episode 196 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Fred Pilot, author of "Service Unavailable:America's Telecommunications Infrastructure Crisis," joins the show to discuss his ideas about market-based solutions and large-scale government investment.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 243
This is the transcript for episode 243 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Mel Coleman, the president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the CEO of the North Arkansas Electric Cooperative, explains how electric co-ops can provide high-quality, high-speed Internet service to their rural members.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 275
This is the transcript for episode 275 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Cheryl DeBerry and Nathaniel Watkins join the show from Garrett Couny, Maryland, to explain what their community has done to improve connectivity.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 306
This is the transcript for episode 306 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Doug Dawson from CCG Consulting joins the show to discuss his work, 5G hype, and the Connect America Fund. Listen to this episode here.
Is High-Speed Internet Access Getting More Affordable, Really?
A recent report by BroadbandNow suggested that the average price for broadband access for Americans has fallen, by an average of 31 percent or nearly $34/month, since 2016. But you don’t have to follow broadband policy closely to get the sense that something a little off is going on here. The reality is that the report, unfortunately, poorly frames the national broadband marketplace. At best, it muddies the waters with a lack of clarity about the relationship between broadband access speed tiers and relative pricing. At worst, it leaves the average reader with the incorrect assumption that broadband prices must be falling, and gives the monopoly cable and telephone companies ammunition to push for millions more in taxpayer dollars while building as little new infrastructure as possible.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 25
Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 25 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Dewayne Hendricks returns to discuss the complementary nature of wired and wireless technologies. Listen to this episode here.
00:16:
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 5
This is Episode 5 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Chris interviews Catherine Rice of SEATOA about local authority and community networks in North Carolina. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 199
This is episode 199 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Valparaiso, Indiana, uses a dark fiber network to serve businesses and encourage economic development. Chris chats with Patrick Lyp about the funding mechanism behind the project and what's next.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 246
This is the transcript for episode 246 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Christopher Mitchell interviews Eric Lampland of Lookout Point Communications at the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities. They discuss the importance of due diligence and feasibility studies.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 277
This is the transcript for Episode 277 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Luis Reyes from Kit Carson Electric Cooperative joins the show to explain how electric cooperatives are solving the digital divide in rural America.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 309
This is the transcript for Episode 309 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. The towns of Baileyville and Calais, Maine, joined forces to create a the Downeast Broadband Utility. Christopher interviews Julie Jordan, the director of the project.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 24
Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 24 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Dr. Michael Browder explains how Bristol, Tennesee built its own gigabit FTTH network. Listen to this episode here.
00:15:
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 1
The first episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Chris interviews Linda Kramer of the Sibley/Renville Fiber Project about the importance of rural broadband and fiber to the farm. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 202
This is Episode 202 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Matt Polka of the American Cable Association explains what the marketplace is like for small- and medium-sized providers. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 250
This is the transcript for episode 250 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Gary Reback, author of Free the Market: Why Only Government Can Keep the Marketplace Competitive, joins the show to discuss antitrust law.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 280
This is the transcript for Episode 280 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Christa Wagner Vinson, Deborah Watts, and Alan Fitzpatrick join Christopher Mitchell at the Atlanta airport to discuss the work of NC Hearts Gigabit and how they're organizing for local choice and better connectivity.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 311
This is the transcript for episode 311 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Christopher Mitchell gets an update on how folks in Larimer County, Colorado, are improving their communities' high-speed Internet access.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 22
Thanks to Jeff Hoel for the transcript of Episode 22 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Jason Grey discusses the history of nDanville and how the open access model has worked in Danville Virginia. Listen to this episode here.
00:15:
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 173
This is Episode 173 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Christopher Mitchell interviews Bruce Patterson, technology director for the city of Ammon, Idaho. They discuss the open access network and the city's award-winning public safety app.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 205
This is Episode 205 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Westfield, Massachusetts, now has its own community network Whip City Fiber. To learn more, Chris spoke with Operations Manager Aaron Bean and Key Accounts & Customer Service Manager Sean Fitzgerald.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 252
This is the transcript for Episode 252 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 283
This is the transcript for episode 283 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Stephen Barraclough joins the show to discuss lessons learned from Burlington, Vermont's network Burlington Telecom. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 314
This is the transcript for episode 314 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. John Gavan and Brad Harding from Colorado join the show to discuss economic development, electric cooperatives, and broadband service.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 163
Thanks to Jeff Hoel for this transcript of Episode 163 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Tim Miles, the Technology Director at Steamboat Springs and South Routt School Districts, explains the purpose of carrier-neutral locations and the savings to community anchor institutions.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 176
This is Episode 176 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Chris speaks with Fletcher Kittredge of GWI about the "Maine model" for community fiber networks. Listen to this episode here.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 208
This is episode 208 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. John Brown, the president of CityLink Telecommunications, joins the show to discuss the Internet of Things and public-private partnerships.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 255
This is the transcript for episode 255 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Christopher Mitchell speaks with Kyle Hollifield of Magellan Advisors, a consulting group that works on community networks, about the importance of marketing.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 286
This is the transcript for episode 286 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. The staff of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative sit down to discuss the good and the bad of 2017 and what they expect down the road in 2018.
Transcript: Community Broadband Bits Episode 317
This is the transcript for episode 317 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. In this episode, Christopher Mitchell and Hannah Trostle discuss our recently released report Profiles of Monopoly: Big Cable and Telecom.