From steve at dcn.org Tue Nov 1 08:10:13 2016 From: steve at dcn.org (Steve McMahon) Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2016 11:10:13 -0400 Subject: [Davisgig] Broadband Action Resources Message-ID: Very interesting action plans from Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition: http://www.shlb.org/action-plan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Tue Nov 1 09:02:49 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2016 11:02:49 -0500 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 11/1 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* Google Fiber Pauses - But No One Else Should Thu, October 27, 2016 | Posted by christopher Google Fiber has finally announced its plans for the future after weeks of dramatic speculation that it will lay off half its workforce and give up on fiber-optic s entirely. Google has now confirmed our expectations: they are pausing new Google Fiber cities, continuing to expand within those where they have a presence, and focusing on approaches that will offer a better return on investment in the short term. *Nothing Worth Doing Is Easy* In short, Google has found it more difficult than they anticipated to deploy rapidly and at low cost. And in discussions with various people, we think it can be summed up in this way: *building fiber-optic networks is challenging and incumbents have an arsenal of dirty tricks to make it even more so, especially by slowing down access to poles.* *... Read My In-Depth Exploration of What Google Fiber Pause Means ...* Wilson To Offer Greenlight To Pinetops At No Charge Tue, October 25, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez The town of Pinetops, North Carolina, has a six-month reprieve. On October 20, the Wilson City Council voted to continue to provide telephone and Internet access to customers outside of Wilson County, which includes Pinetops, *for an additional six months **at no charge*. As we reported earlier , the City Council had been backed into a corner by state law, which would force them to discontinue Wilson?s municipal Greenlight service, or risk losing their exemption entirely. In August, the Sixth Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the FCC decision to preempt North Carolina?s state law that prevented Greenlight from serving nearby Pinetops. When Hurricane Matthew struck Pinetops, however, the Wilson community could not fathom piling yet another burden - lack of high-quality Internet access - on the struggling rural community. ... What an Incredible Development - We Hope NC Legislature Responds in Good Faith ... Midwest Energy Cooperative Connects Rural Michigan - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 225 Tue, October 25, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Telephone and electric cooperatives are making strides in bringing high-quality connectivity to rural areas while national providers stay in the city. This week we speak with two gentlemen from rural southwest Michigan?s Midwest Energy Cooperative : President and CEO Bob Hance and Vice President of Regulatory Compliance Dave Allen. The electric cooperative has embarked on a project to bring fiber-optic connectivity to its members within its electric distribution grid. The multi-year project will bring better functionality to electric services and high-speed Internet access to areas of the state struggling with yesterday?s technologies. Bob and Dave describe the cooperative?s commitment to it?s members and discuss the deep roots of the cooperative in the region. They also touch on how the project is already improving lives in the areas that are being served. Bob, Dave, and Chris, also spend some time discussing the difficulties that face rural cooperatives, especially regarding federal funding and its distribution. Serving sparsely populated areas is a challenge. Federal funding is often distributed more favorably to big corporate providers that promise to deliver much slower speeds than cooperatives like Midwest Energy. Co-ops are delivering better services, and building better networks with less federal funding; they also face higher hurdles to obtain that funding. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the Transcript Here ... Blair Levin In Wilson For Nov. 4 Event On Greenlight Tue, October 25, 2016 | Posted by Scott A North Carolina regional tech news publication will host a program on Greenlight , the publicly owned and built fiber optic network of Wilson, North Carolina (pop. 50,000) whose gigabit Internet service has helped transform the community?s economy. WRAL TechWire?s next Executive Exchange event titled ?*Building a gigabit ecosystem*? will look at how Wilson built its fiber optic system, "turning the one-time tobacco town into North Carolina?s first Internet ecosystem." The event begins at 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at the Edna Boykin Cultural Center; broadband expert Blair Levin is scheduled to give the keynote address. Levin is former chief of staff at the Federal Communications Commission. ... It is Coming Up! Don't Miss it if You Can Attend ... Chatham County, NC: Share Your Connectivity Perspective In This Survey Mon, October 24, 2016 | Posted by hannah With the release of our North Carolina report , it is important to remember that reports and maps are only as good as the underlying data. Although federal and state governments have collected information on deployment and access for several years, the accuracy and quality of that data is up for debate. Chatham County, North Carolina, wants to show the actual situation that local residents face. Chatham County is encouraging every household or business to complete a survey this next month. The survey will enable community leaders to move forward . *?It is up to us??* ... More Information Here ... Fresno Looking For Partners: RFQ Responses Due Nov. 30th Thu, October 27, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Fresno, California, is looking for one or more partners to bring Gigabit connectivity to the entire community. City leaders recently released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to send out the call for interested entities. Letters of interest are due on *November 14th* and statements of qualifications are due by *November 30th*. *Leaving No One Behind* According to the RFQ, the community is experiencing growth in the tech sector and want to support the tide by improving Internet infrastructure throughout the community. In addition to serving new businesses for economic development , the network will connect community anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals, and libraries. ... More Information On the RFQ ... Movie Monster Madness At MuniNetworks! Internet Terror Triple Feature! Fri, October 28, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Much like the the bone-chilling flicks celebrating eerie entertainment that dwells in the depths of our dark imaginations, monster cable and DSL Internet service providers strike terror in the hearts of subscribers?if they survive. Mesmerizing fees, hair-raising customer service, and shockingly slow connections can drive one to the brink of madness. In celebration of Halloween 2016, our writers each selected a national ISP and reimagined it as a classic horror character. The results are horrifying! Read them here?*if you dare!* .... Weee! Not Too Late to Enjoy These Short Spooky Stories ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - October 31 Mon, October 31, 2016 | Posted by Nick *Georgia* City and county launch municipal broadband survey by Jim Morekis, Connect Savannah *Minnesota* County's broadband speeds rank fourth-worst in MN by Marie Johnson, Perham Focus RS Fiber: A new rural Internet cooperative by Scott Carlson and Christopher Mitchell, Broadband Communities Magazine Rochester City Council needs to act on municipal broadband by Jim Jensen, Rochester Post Bulletin ... Read the Full Community Networks Media Roundup ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rob at omsoft.com Fri Nov 4 16:06:30 2016 From: rob at omsoft.com (Robert Nickerson) Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2016 16:06:30 -0700 Subject: [Davisgig] Feasibility Study for Fiber for Davis Message-ID: Hi Folks Heard today that the city received 8 proposals for the FSR from firms around the country. They were due Monday of this week, and the Task Force hopes to have the award to the firm by Feb or so 2017. I think there is only 20 or so firms in the US that offer this type of service, so its strongly encouraging to see so many interested firms, willing to help us evaluate this for Davis. Thanks to everyone on the task force that is reading all of these great proposals, and best of luck on coming to a good decision! Onward! RAN From vduax at dcn.org Fri Nov 4 16:59:03 2016 From: vduax at dcn.org (Vickie Carr) Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2016 16:59:03 -0700 Subject: [Davisgig] Feasibility Study for Fiber for Davis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Excellent news! > On Nov 4, 2016, at 4:06 PM, Robert Nickerson wrote: > > Hi Folks > > Heard today that the city received 8 proposals for the FSR from firms around the country. They were due Monday of this week, and the Task Force hopes to have the award to the firm by Feb or so 2017. I think there is only 20 or so firms in the US that offer this type of service, so its strongly encouraging to see so many interested firms, willing to help us evaluate this for Davis. > > Thanks to everyone on the task force that is reading all of these great proposals, and best of luck on coming to a good decision! > > Onward! > > RAN > > > _______________________________________________ > > Please ref our wiki for details, documents and contacts: > > http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~help/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start > > Davisgig mailing list > Davisgig at list.omsoft.com > http://list.omsoft.com/mailman/listinfo/davisgig From chris.nicolini at gmail.com Fri Nov 4 19:19:40 2016 From: chris.nicolini at gmail.com (Chris Nicolini) Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2016 19:19:40 -0700 Subject: [Davisgig] Feasibility Study for Fiber for Davis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: That's fantastic! On Nov 4, 2016 4:06 PM, "Robert Nickerson" wrote: > Hi Folks > > Heard today that the city received 8 proposals for the FSR from firms > around the country. They were due Monday of this week, and the Task Force > hopes to have the award to the firm by Feb or so 2017. I think there is > only 20 or so firms in the US that offer this type of service, so its > strongly encouraging to see so many interested firms, willing to help us > evaluate this for Davis. > > Thanks to everyone on the task force that is reading all of these great > proposals, and best of luck on coming to a good decision! > > Onward! > > RAN > > > _______________________________________________ > > Please ref our wiki for details, documents and contacts: > > http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~help/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start > > Davisgig mailing list > Davisgig at list.omsoft.com > http://list.omsoft.com/mailman/listinfo/davisgig > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Tue Nov 8 08:39:12 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2016 10:39:12 -0600 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of - "You Voted, Didn't You?" Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* *Seriously, vote.* Pinetops Threatened by Hurricane and NC Legislature - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 226 Tue, November 01, 2016 | Posted by christopher Pinetops, a town of about 1,300 outside Wilson, North Carolina, is suffering a double calamity as Hurricane Matthew has left floods and incredible damage in its wake. Less natural but no less frustrating is the unforced error by the North Carolina Legislature in effectively prohibiting municipal broadband networks. This week, we have a doubleheader interview with Will Aycock, the General Manager of Wilson's fiber-optic Greenlight service, and Suzanne Coker Craig, a local business owner and town council member. They talk discuss the devastation from the hurricane and the threat from the town's only broadband provider being forced to leave town by an ill-conceived state statute. We often talk about how important modern Internet networks are, but the Pinetops reaction to this storm is a stirring reminder of how true that is. Whether it was as the hurricane approached, hit, or left town, local leadership had to continue fighting to retain Wilson's Internet service because it is that important to them. Fortunately, Wilson has announced that it will not cut off Pinetops as expected. Instead, it will offer free service, which is not prohibited by current law. Wilson is generously giving the state six months to fix the law so Pinetops is not economically harmed by losing high quality Internet access. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript of the show here ... San Francisco Proposal Aims at Giving Multi-Tenants Access Choice of ISPs Wed, November 02, 2016 | Posted by Scott If San Francisco Board of Supervisor Mark Farrell gets his way, tenants in multiple-occupancy buildings will have a greater opportunity to choose their Internet Service Providers. In October, Farrell introduced a proposed ordinance that would require owners of multi-tenant residential and commercial properties to give building access to all state-licensed ISPs. *Choice Effectively Denied * Farrell?s proposal comes amidst reports of tenants denied access to ISPs of their choice. ... Read More and Consider This Approach For Your Community ... Paul Bunyan Communications Keeps Expanding Gigabit Territory Mon, October 31, 2016 | Posted by Scott Paul Bunyan Communications in Minnesota reports it has expanded its ?GigaZone? Internet service territory to Turtle River, Puposky, and Tenstrike and to additional areas of Bemidji. More than 2,800 additional locations now have access to, among other services, Internet speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps ) following the recent upgrades to its fiber-optic communications network, the Bemidji-based co-op notes. "Over the next several months we'll be activating the GigaZone in many more areas,? Gary Johnson, CEO of Paul Bunyan Communications, said in a company statement. "We will continue to do as much as we can to bring the GigaZone to all our members and the communities we serve as fast as we can." ... More on this Rural Minnesota Co-op Here ... FCC's New Privacy Rules Irk Big ISPs, Munis Mellow Fri, November 04, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Consumers should be able to expect a certain amount of privacy and recent rules adopted by the FCC are a step in the right direction. That step has also revealed some key differences between profit-driven national Internet service providers, smaller ISPs, and municipal networks. The different attitudes correspond with the different cultures, proving once again that small ISPs and munis have more than just profit in mind. On October 27th, the FCC adopted an Order to allow ISP customers to determine how their data will be collected and used. According to the FCC, they made the decision in response to public comments about the concern for personal data protection. ... Read Our Full Story and Reactions from Small Providers Here ... El Paso County, CO, Commissioner Urges "Yes" On Local Authority Thu, November 03, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez This has been a ?loud? general election. The candidates, the campaign ads, and the supporters have all blasted their messages to voters in every state, drowning out some initiatives that are equally important. In Colorado, 26 local governments are asking voters to decide whether or not to opt out of SB 152 , the state?s restrictive law passed in 2005 that looted local telecommunications authority. In addition to seven counties, 19 municipalities have the issue on the ballot. Most of them use similar language from years past, when dozens of Colorado local governments presented the same question to voters. *El Paso County* There are about 664,000 people in the county, with approximately 456,000 living in the county seat of Colorado Springs. Rural residents and businesses typically struggle to obtain Internet access. ... More Information on This Colorado Community Considering Local Internet Choice ... Aspen Public Radio Digs Into Local SB 152 Ballot Measures Mon, November 07, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez On November 4th, Aspen public radio news featured a story about local ballot initiatives to opt out of state law SB 152 in Aspen, Carbondale, and Garfield County. The western communities are three of 26 that have the measure on their ballots this election. El Paso County , Montezuma County , and the small town of Dolores are only a few others. *Justification* Reporter Wyatt Orme spoke with Jim English, head of IT at Colorado Mountain College (CMC) who described how, because of lack of redundancy, a single fiber-optic cut a year ago left the community isolated. "It took down all services between South Glenwood to Aspen, including 911 in Aspen. [It] got people?s attention," he said. ... Read More Here ... Stayed Tuned This Week for 26 Vote Results ... Rural Electric Co-ops Power Up a Gig in Pacific Northwest Tue, November 01, 2016 | Posted by hannah Rural electric cooperatives are providing next-generation connectivity . In Oregon a consortium of electric cooperatives called LS Networks built a middle mile network a few years ago and now are taking the next step with last mile connectivity. LS Networks? Connected Communities program hopes to bring last mile fiber connectivity to 25 communities in rural Oregon and Washington. Internet access will officially be available in early 2017 in some communities. Depending on the needs of each community, the solution could be Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ), or fixed wireless using the fiber-optic network for backhaul . ... Read More on How Co-ops Are Improving Internet Access in Oregon Here ... Jamming At DAPL Protest? Ask The FCC To Investigate Fri, November 04, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez According to a 2014 Enforcement Advisory , cell phone and Wi-Fi jamming by state and local law enforcement is illegal by federal law. And yet, persistent allegations of jamming are coming from Water Protectors at the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota. Any jamming by law enforcement to monitor protestor cell phone communications is a serious breach of their Fourth Amendment rights as it amounts to unreasonable search and seizure. First Amendment rights of freedom of speech are also compromised when the method of transmitting reports is purposely blocked. In order to pressure the FCC to determine whether jamming is happening in North Dakota, MoveOn.org has posted an online petition. ... Jamming is a Big Deal and Has Been Increasingly Common. More Here ... Research on Rural Connectivity Power from Electric Co-ops at BBC Mag Conference Sat, November 05, 2016 | Posted by hannah In October in Minneapolis, Broadband Communities Magazine hosted the ?Fiber for the New Economy? conference . The first day featured a set of four panels on the role of rural electric cooperatives in providing much-needed connectivity to far-flung communities. We want to provide the highlights and give further context to some of the most fascinating stories. In this post, we?ll cover some of the latest research coming out of Ball State University?s Center for Information and Communication Sciences. ... Read More on Hannah's Story Here ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - November 7 Mon, November 07, 2016 | Posted by Nick *Colorado* 26 Colorado communities will vote on building their own Internet networks by Jason Koebler, Motherboard Vice Next Tuesday, November 8, 26 separate Colorado communities will vote on whether their local governments should build high speed fiber internet networks to compete with or replace big telecom internet service providers. So-called municipal fiber ballot initiatives have become an annual tradition in Colorado, as roughly 100 communities have voted on measures that provide legal cover to governments who want to build new networks. Broadband: A necessity for building our economy by David White, Montrose Daily Press (subscription required to view the entire article) ... Read the Full Community Networks Media Roundup Here ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Tue Nov 15 09:10:14 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2016 11:10:14 -0600 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 11/15 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* Colorado Voters Choose Local Control In 26 Communities Wed, November 09, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez We didn't need a crystal ball, magic potion, or ESP to predict that local Colorado voters would enthusiastically reclaim telecommunications authority yesterday. Twenty-six more local governments put the issue on the ballot and citizens fervently replied, ?YES! YES, WE DO!? Colorado local communities that want to take action to improve their local connectivity are hogtied by SB 152, the state law passed in 2005. Unless they hold a referendum and ask voters if they wish to reclaim the right to do so, the law prevents local governments from providing service or partnering with the private sector. Since the big incumbents that pushed the law through aren't providing necessary connectivity, their only choice is to opt out and work with new partners or move forward on their own. ... Communities Go Undefeated - 26 for 26 - Lots of Information Here ... Madison Starts Muni Fiber Effort, Considers Citywide Effort - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 227 Tue, November 08, 2016 | Posted by christopher The second-largest city in Wisconsin and the home of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is pursuing a path-breaking municipal Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ) strategy. They have already started by deploying fiber to several low-income neighborhoods and working with local ISP ResTech to offer services. Madison CIO Paul Kronberger joins us for Community Broadband Bits episode 227 to discuss their plan. We start by discussing how they decided to deploy FTTH as a digital divide strategy. Like more and more of the communities considering this approach, Madison does not have a municipal electric utility. We also discuss how Madison plans to deal with the state law that limits municipal fiber network investments and why Madison has decided to work with a private provider even though the city will retain ownership of the network. Read more of Madison coverage here . ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript of the show here ... Foundation Plans to Fund Municipal Broadband Infrastructure Tue, November 08, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Decatur is in line to receive a donation that will jump-start the community?s musings over publicly owned Internet infrastructure. *Foundation Support* The Howard G. Buffet Foundation recently offered the community several million dollars for a range of public projects, including $330,000 toward expanding the city?s existing fiber-optic network. Decatur deployed a fiber backbone to connect a number of its own facilities in 2014. Earlier this year, city leaders began examining the possibility of expanding the backbone to provide better connectivity to Richland Community College and possibly beyond in the future. ... A Great Precedent for Other Communities Here ... NC Rural Electric Cooperatives Teach Model Collaboration Sat, November 12, 2016 | Posted by hannah Throughout the October Broadband Communities Magazine conference, folks kept repeating this sentiment: some partnerships are smooth and others have rough patches. At the conference, we heard from several electric cooperatives who had partnered with other cooperatives to provide next-generation connectivity to their communities. We specifically want to highlight the work of two North Carolina electric cooperatives: Lumbee River EMC and Blue Ridge Mountain EMC . They were both included in our report *North Carolina Connectivity: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly* . Each co-op took the bold step of building a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ) network throughout sparsely populated regions. At the conference, we were able to learn first-hand about their experiences. ... There is Hope for Great Internet Access in Rural America ... Holland, Michigan, Releases RFI, Responses Due Dec. 20th Fri, November 11, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Holland, Michigan, continues to pursue better local connectivity and hopes to find a private sector partner interested in using publicly owned fiber. Recently, the city released a Request for Information (RFI) to reach out to potential partners who might be interested in working with the city for a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) project. *Responses are due December 20, 2016*. *Developing Over Time* The community of approximately 33,000 people deployed fiber-optic infrastructure in the early 1990s for power smart grid capability for their municipal electric utility. Since then, Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW) has expanded the network to provide connectivity for local school facilities and wholesale Internet services to a few local businesses that require high capacity data services. Over the years, Holland has increased the network to about 76 miles of backbone fiber and more than 150 total miles, which includes laterals. ... Another Exciting Announcement as Holland Prepares for Gig Future ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - November 14 Mon, November 14, 2016 | Posted by Nick *Colorado* Dozens more Colorado communities rejected SB 152, clearing the way for municipal broadband by Andrew Kenney, Denverite Another set of Colorado counties vote to toss restrictive law, permit municipal broadband by Kate Cox, Consumerist Part of the reason broadband competition is so dang hard to come by for millions of us? Protectionist, industry-backed laws that make it either obscenely difficult or outright illegal to start a public network. Colorado is one of the states with such a law on the books, but voters in the Centennial State are once again saying they?d rather municipal networks had a chance. MuniNetworks, which supports and advocates for communities to be able to build networks when they choose, reports that every single one of the 26 local municipal broadband networks on ballots in Colorado Tuesday passed with flying colors. Golden, Lafayette and 24 Colorado communities vote yes on broadband Internet alternatives by Tamara Chuang, The Denver Post & True Viral News Colorado communities preempt state muni broadband limits by John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Colorado voters oppose Comcast-written protectionist state law by Karl Bode, DSL Reports Colorado voters continue to shoot down awful Comcast-written protectionist state law by Karl Bode, TechDirt ... Read the Full Community Network Media Roundup Here! ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rob at omsoft.com Thu Nov 17 22:30:46 2016 From: rob at omsoft.com (rob) Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2016 22:30:46 -0800 Subject: [Davisgig] SpaceX Internets Message-ID: <005671b061424c4cf7ce539a2f239809@dcn.org> Hi So this hit the news today. Very interesting. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/11/spacex-plans-worldwide-satellite-internet-with-low-latency-gigabit-speed/ It seems this proposed solution gets around the traditional problem of high latency satellite connection, and should have enough capacity for many users. I wonder how long it will take to build. There is this, though from a Business Insider article. http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-internet-satellite-constellation-2016-11 Musk first discussed the unnamed satellite constellation project back in January of last year, later filing for an FCC application to test basic technologies that would support it. At the time, Musk said during a SpaceX event (our emphasis added): "The focus is going to be on creating a global communications system. This is quite an ambitious effort. We're really talking about something which is, in the long term, like rebuilding the Internet in space. The goal will be to have the majority of long distance Internet traffic go over this network and about 10% of local consumer and business traffic. So that's, still probably 90% of people's local access will still come from fiber but we'll do about 10% business to consumer direct and more than half of the long distance traffic." Anyone want to read the FCC filing? RAN From christopher at newrules.org Tue Nov 22 09:54:15 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2016 11:54:15 -0600 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of Thanksgiving! Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* Community Fiber Network Diversifying Economy in Louisiana Tue, November 15, 2016 | Posted by hannah Acadiana, the southern region of Louisiana, is seeing a resurgence of industry thanks in large part to it publicly owned fast, affordable, reliable network. Years ago, the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, built the LUS Fiber network to connect homes and business. Now, LUS Fiber is helping to diversify Acadiana?s economy, which once almost exclusively relied on the oil industry. Fiber networks offer much potential for economic development. *?The State of Business? in the Silicon Bayou* The October-November issue of the Acadiana Profile at MyNewOrleans.com ran an article on the changing landscape of Acadiana?s businesses . Author Kimberly Singletary provides an overview of three growing industries: technology, manufacturing, and healthcare. All three need access to reliable, high-speed connections. ... Read our Full Coverage of New Jobs in Lafayette Due to Muni Fiber ... City of Lincoln Conduit Spurs FTTH, School Network Innovation - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 228 Tue, November 15, 2016 | Posted by christopher When we last spoke to people from Lincoln, Nebraska, about their innovative conduit program to improve Internet access, we focused on how they had done it - Conduits Lead to Competition, podcast 182 . For this week and episode 228 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, we focus more on the community benefits their approach has led to. We are once again joined by David Young, Fiber Infrastructure and Right of Way Manager in the Public Works Department. We offer a shorter background about the history of the project before focusing on the franchise they developed with local ISP Allo . Allo is building citywide Fiber-to-the-Home and has agreed to provision 15 VLANs at every endpoint. We talk about what that means and implications for schools specifically. We also touch on permitting issues for local governments and David explains his philosophy on how to speak to the community about potential projects in an engaging manner. ... Listen to the Show ... Read the transcript of the show here ... Estes Park, CO, Moving Ahead One Year After Opt Out Vote Mon, November 14, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Estes Park, Colorado, recently moved into the design engineering phase as it considers how to bring high-quality connectivity to businesses and residents. *One Step At A Time* With a $1.37 million grant from the Energy Mineral Impact Assistance Fund, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) is providing the funding to proceed with the engineering phase. Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority (LETA) is providing additional grant funding to extend the project further to include a wider geographic area for 911 and public safety purposes. This phase of the project should be complete by next summer and will result in a shovel-ready plan. At that time, the Town Board will consider the information and decide how to proceed. The goal is to develop a network to make Gigabit per second (1,000 Mbps ) capacity available to the Estes Park Light and Power service area. ... More Background on Estes Park Here ... Blair Levin Urges Repeal of North Carolina's Restrictive HB129 Wed, November 16, 2016 | Posted by Scott At a recent WRAL TechWire event , former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chief of staff Blair Levin urged North Carolina communities to seek a repeal of a state law that restricts local telecommunications authority, reports WRAL TechWire. ?When the new General Assembly returns to Raleigh, tell the assembly to tear down the law that prevents faster, cheaper broadband,? Levin said in a keynote address at the WRAL TechWire Executive Exchange in Wilson, N.C. Wilson's municipal Greenlight network is among the first in the nation to offer high-quality Fiber-to-the-Home ( FTTH ) Internet access. Currently, North Carolina law HB 129 prevents Wilson from expanding its Internet access service area beyond Wilson County and discourages other communities from investing in similar infrastructure. HB 129 was the subject of a legal battle when the city of Wilson (pop. 50,000) wanted to provide Internet access to neighboring Pinetops (pop. 1,400) and other communities beyond the limitations of the state law. They challenged the law, as did Chattanooga, which faced slightly different restrictions in Tennessee. ... More Coverage, Including the Full Text of Blair Levin's Speech Here ... Bozeman Fiber Breaks Through Phase One Wed, November 16, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Downtown Bozeman businesses can expect fast, affordable, reliable connectivity via the Bozeman Fiber network within the coming weeks, reports the Bozeman Daily Chronicle . Phase one is now complete. *Businesses Up Next* Bozeman City offices, Gallatin County offices, and local public schools are already connected to the open access network, which is owned and operated by the nonprofit entity Bozeman Fiber. There are already three Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating on the community network but local officials do not expect residents to have Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH ) Internet access just yet: ?Within a few hundred feet of where the fiber currently is will be available day one of commercial operations,? said Anthony Cochenour, president of the board of Bozeman Fiber. ?As far as expanding the network and running under our own steam, (we want to) get business first, fill the coffers, then in years two and three make a bigger push into residential areas.? ... More on Bozeman's Pioneering Approach Here ... Missoula Schools Set To Save With Self-Provisioning Thu, November 17, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez The Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) plans to *save $150,000 per year *by investing in its own fiber infrastructure. Over a 20-year period school officials expect to save approximately $3 million. *Fiber For Education And Savings* MCPS will be the first in the state to self-provision its wide area network (WAN), the connections between district facilities. Right now, the school pays approximately $287,000 per year to lease its WAN connections and for Internet access; about $200,000 of that figure is dedicated to leasing the WAN. School officials were already leasing lit fiber service when they began investigating options to compare cost and service. They also looked at leasing dark fiber, which would mean they would need to maintain the equipment to light the fiber themselves, and investing in an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU). The IRU would give the school district the ability to use a designated number of fiber strands to use as they wished for a fixed period of time. ... More Information on Missoula's Savings Here ... Short Policy Report on Munis and Education From ECS Thu, November 17, 2016 | Posted by hannah Digital learning initiatives for K-12 grades and online coursework for college programs both require high-speed connectivity in school and at home. Policymakers cannot overlook this issue when discussing municipal networks. The Education Commission of the States addressed connectivity in the classroom and at home in a short policy report, entitled *Inhibiting Connection: State policy impacting expansion of municipal broadband networks *in September 2016. ... Some Notes from Inside the Report Here ... Gigabit Speed in Red Lake Nation in Minnesota Fri, November 18, 2016 | Posted by hannah Native American communities throughout the United States have rather bleak figures when it comes to Internet access. That?s about to change. In Minnesota, Red Lake Nation now has access to some of the fastest Internet service in the entire country. The telephone cooperative Paul Bunyan Communications has extended its GigaZone, offering a Gigabit (1,000 Megabits) per second Internet service, to the tribal nation. ... Paul Bunyan Towers Above the Rest - More Here ... Alford, MA, Releases RFP: Deadline Dec. 21 Sat, November 19, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Alford, Massachusetts, located along the western border of Massachusetts, recently released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for fiber optic network design and contractors; the community wants to deploy a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. Deadline for proposals is *December 21, 2016*. *A Long Journey To Now* Alford is home to approximately 500 residents and has pursued better connectivity since the early 2000s , when it first approached the incumbents. As is often the case, national providers continued to pass by Alford over the years leaving them with old, unreliable technology. During 2012 and 2013, the community took the necessary steps and voted to create a Municipal Light Plant (MLP), the entity that manages publicly owned networks in Massachusetts. Since then, they have formed a broadband committee, conducted surveys of local interest and requirements, and examined financial models. ... More Details Here ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Wed Nov 30 11:42:16 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:42:16 -0600 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 11/29 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* New Look At MuniNetworks.org! After months of planning, we?re excited to launch our new website design! We still have daily news, a huge cache of resources, and the information you need to learn about community networks. We?ve updated our look and organized so everything is even more accessible. As you explore you may even find some information you never knew we had available at our former site. ... We Still Have a Few Bugs - See if you Spot Them! ... Rural Electrics Solve Rural Internet Access Problems - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 229 Tue, November 22, 2016 | Posted by christopher Rural electric co-ops have started delivering high quality Internet access to their member-owners and our guest this week on Community Broadband Bits episode 229 is dedicated to helping these co-ops to build fiber-optic networks throughout their territories. Jon Chambers is a partner at Conexon and was previously the head of the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. Jon is a strong proponent for ensuring rural residents and businesses have at least the same quality Internet access as urban areas. We talk about his experience and frustration at the FCC, which was content to shovel money at telcos for the most basic infrastructure rather than setting higher expectations to ensure everyone had decent Internet access. We talk about how Co-Mo rolled out fiber to its members without federal assistance, inspiring electric cooperatives around the nation to follow suit. In our discussion, I reference Jon's blog post "FCC to Rural America: Drop Dead ." In it, he cites some of the reactions in the FCC from his advocacy for real rural solutions rather than signing big checks to big telcos for delivering slow and unreliable Internet access. One of quotes from a Democrat: "Republicans like corporate welfare, so we?re going to give money to the telephone companies to keep the Republicans on the Hill happy." Neither political party comes off looking very good when it comes to rural connectivity, which fits with our impression. But Jon confirms another of our experiences when he says that when he works with rural communities, politics doesn't come up. They just focus on solutions. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript of the show here ... Rural Tennessee Economy: Digital Divide, Connectivity Chasm Mon, November 21, 2016 | Posted by hannah Rural folks without fast, affordable, reliable Internet access face challenges with common tasks such as doing homework, completing college courses, or running a small business. Although Tennessee has an entrepreneurial spirit, a large swath of the state's rural residents and businesses don't have the connectivity they need to participate in the digital economy. A September article in the Tennessean looks deeper at the state's digital divide between urban and rural areas. National Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have failed to make good on promises made over recent decades to bring high-quality Internet access to the entire country, *both urban and rural*. Several telephone cooperatives and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are already actively investing in better Internet access to improve rural Tennessee?s economy. ... Read our Full Story Here ... Connectivity In Kitsap: LUD In Lookout Lane Tue, November 22, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Residents in the Lookout Lane neighborhood of Kitsap County, Washington, tired of shoddy DSL do they joined forces to take advantage of publicly owned fiber. By the end of 2016, this group of organized neighbors anticipates connecting to the Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) open access fiber network. *How Did They Do It?* According to the October newsletter from the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet), neighbors in the Lookout Lane area had dealt with slow DSL for some time, paying $60 per month for speeds that rarely reached 1 Megabit per second (Mbps). Some of the residents have careers in the tech industry and required high-speed connections to work from home, but the national incumbent would not invest in upgrades. Lack of high-quality Internet access also caused several home sales to fall through. Members in the neighborhood decided to petition the KPUD to form a Local Utility District (LUD), to fund their portion of the cost of a fiber expansion to their homes. KPUD would finance the cost of deployment to the edge of the neighborhood. Residents decided the investment was worth an assessment on their property rather than contending with the outdated technology offered by the incumbent. ... Get More Details From This Exciting Approach in Washington ... Colorado Conversation: New ILSR Podcast! Wed, November 23, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez In early November, voters in 26 additional Colorado communities chose to opt out of SB 152. The state?s restrictive law took away local telecommunications authority in 2005. The results in many of the towns and counties were overwhelming majorities - loud and clear in favor of local authority. Now, 95 local communities across the state have reclaimed local authority. We covered the election results in detail on MuniNetworks.org and what those results say about local communities? desire for better connectivity. We spoke with local community leaders . As part of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance?s Building Local Power podcast, episode #5 , Christopher and I also discussed what those results say about the desire to make connectivity choices at the local level. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Highland Telephone Cooperative Gains Gigabit Recognition Thu, November 24, 2016 | Posted by Scott The NTCA-Rural Broadband Association this month awarded the Highland Telephone Cooperative (HTC) of Sunbright, Tennessee, its national certification as a ?Gig-capable? provider, reports the Independent-Herald . HTC serves Scott and Morgan counties in Tennessee and McCreary County in Kentucky and is now one of 85 Gig-certified company/cooperative providers in the nation. The certification recognizes rural communities that are at the cutting-edge of broadband technology, offering Internet service of up to at least 1 Gigabit per second (1,000 Megabits per second or Mbps). The association launched this national campaign in the fall of 2015. ... Read Our Ramblings on This Here ... Comcast Follows AT&T's Litigious Lead In Nashville Fri, November 25, 2016 | Posted by Scott Comcast is the second Internet Service Provider (ISP) suing the mayor and metro government of Nashville, Tennessee (pop. 680,000) to stop a new ordinance to give streamline access to utility poles in the city, reports Cnet.com news . Comcast?s October lawsuit over the Google Fiber-supported One Touch Make Ready ordinance (OTMR) comes on the heels of AT&T's legal action in late September. We wrote about AT&T?s lawsuit shortly after the filing. Cnet.com reported that most of the utility poles are owned by Nashville Electric Service (NES) or AT&T, but Comcast has wires on many poles and has control over how these wires are handled. ?When Google Fiber wants to attach new wires to a pole, it needs to wait for Comcast to move its wire to make room, and this is where the new ordinance becomes controversial.? ... More Details In Our Full Story Here ... Nominations Open for Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards Sat, November 26, 2016 | Posted by Scott Next Century Cities, a nonprofit advocate of high-speed Internet accessibility for all communities, and Internet Service Provider (ISP) Google Fiber are joining forces to support the second annual Digital Inclusion Leadership awards. The competition recognizes city governments that are spearheading or investing in community-based organizations that are tackling barriers to high-speed Internet service adoption, or what is commonly known as the ?digital divide.? Next Century Cities is comprised of more than 150 mayors and city leaders dedicated to ensuring that all communities get access to fast, affordable, and reliable broadband Internet service. The 2017 Digital Inclusion Leadership awards will feature two categories: Leader in Digital Inclusion Best Practices and Most Promising New Plan. There will be two winners in each category. All contest submissions are *due February 10, 2017* and winners will be announced in spring, 2017. ... More Information In the Full Post ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - November 28 Mon, November 28, 2016 | Posted by Nick *Alabama* Here's why Huntsville Internet customers should soon see lower prices by Travis Leder, TechAlabama *California* As Google Fiber scales down its broadband business, San Francisco moves ahead on its own by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times Google?s strategic shift shouldn?t have come as a surprise, says Christopher Mitchell, a broadband expert at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Signs abounded that the company, now called Alphabet, didn?t see broadband service as a core business and was becoming more interested in other ventures, including self-driving cars. Its insistence on building on its own terms should have been a warning for companies that thought it would be the answer to their digital dreams. ?When you?re begging for something from a big company like Google,? Mitchell says, ?you take what you can get.? ... Read Our Full Community Networks Media Roundup Here ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: