<div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i style="font-size:13px">Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the </i><i style="font-size:13px">Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom.  Send feedback.  Forward Widely.</i></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i style="font-size:13px"><br></i></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i style="font-size:13px">This was supposed to go out yesterday but apparently didn't?  Sorry for any duplicates and confusion...</i></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i style="font-size:13px"><br></i></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i style="font-size:13px"><br></i></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/epb-turns-speed-10-gigs" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">EPB Turns Up The Speed To 10 Gigs</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:14px;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Thu, October 15, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">lgonzalez</a></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/epb-turns-speed-10-gigs" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/epbfiber.jpg" alt="" title="" width="125" height="93" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px">Chattanooga's EPB Fiber Optics now offers 10 gigabit Internet service to all households and businesses in its service area. The ultra-fast service is available for $299 per month with free installation, no contracts, and no cancellation fees, announced community leaders at a press conference on October 15th.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">In addition to 10 gig service, EPB is also offering "Professional" products available in 3 gig, 5 gig, and 10 gig for large businesses. Smaller businesses have the option of choosing 5 gig or 10 gig Internet products. According to the press release, prices on all the new products vary.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">Since the network was launched in 2010, Chattanooga has transformed from one of the "dirtiest cities in America" to a <a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/chattanooga-best-place-startups-and-outdoor-play" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">haven for the entrepreneurial culture</a>. Chattanooga experienced explosive economic development leading to thousands of new jobs, <a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/epb-fiber-keeps-electric-rates-check" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">substantial public savings</a> due to the network's smart grid capabilities, and <a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/epb-and-chattanooga-will-lower-price-internet-low-income-students" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">new educational opportunities</a> for students and workforce development.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/epb-turns-speed-10-gigs" target="_blank">... Why? Because They Can Do Whatever They Want. They Are in Charge, not Comcast ...</a><br><br></p></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/school-district-will-cut-connectivity-costs-85-public-fiber-iowa" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">School District Will Cut Connectivity Costs 85% With Public Fiber in Iowa</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:14px;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Wed, October 14, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">lgonzalez</a></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/school-district-will-cut-connectivity-costs-85-public-fiber-iowa" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/logo-storm-lake-ia.png" alt="" title="" width="125" height="39" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px">Plans for a fiber network collaboration between the city, school district, and county will save hundreds of thousands of dollars in Stormlake, Iowa. The school district recently voted to take advantage of significant savings for connectivity by switching to the publicly owned infrastrucutre as soon as the network is ready.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">The <a href="http://www.stormlakepilottribune.com/story/2233118.html" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Storm Lake Pilot recently reported</a> that under the current contract with Vast Broadband, the district pays <strong>$7,500 per month</strong> to lease two strands of fiber. The new arrangement will allow the district to lease 12 fibers from the city-owned network for $14,000 per year or <strong>$1,167 per month - a reduction of approximately 85 percent. </strong>The city and the school district will enter into a 10-year agreement to ultimately <strong>save the district a total of $760,000 or approximately $6,333 per month</strong> during the term of the lease.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/school-district-will-cut-connectivity-costs-85-public-fiber-iowa" target="_blank">... More Details about This Network Here ...</a></p></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i style="font-size:13px"><br></i></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/open-access-engineering-options-community-broadband-bits-podcast-172" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">Open Access Engineering Options - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 172</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:14px;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Tue, October 13, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/christopher" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">christopher</a></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/open-access-engineering-options-community-broadband-bits-podcast-172" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/logo-community-bb-bits_0.png" alt="" title="" width="125" height="125" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px">The holy grail of Internet access for many of us continues to be a situation in which multiple providers can compete on a level playing field, which should lower costs to subscribers and encourage innovation. Often called <a href="http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term625" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(0,136,0)"><cite title="An arrangement in which the network is open to independent service providers to offer services.  In many cases, the network owner only sells wholesale access to the service providers who offer all retail services (ie: triple play of internet, phone, tv).  Open access provides much more competition from which potential subscribers can choose.">open access</cite></a>, this may involve a municipality building a fiber optic network and making it available on a wholesale level - a model that has been tried to various degrees of success.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">This week, we talk with Tim Pozar, a long time Internet entrepreneur and community network enthusiast, about why he supports that model and his ideal method of engineering such a network. We talk about different possibilities for how to design the network and trade-offs involved with those choices.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">Tim has worked for many years to encourage this model in San Francisco, which already has some of the locally rooted ISPs that we would hope would ultimately thrive if the City had that type of network available.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">... <a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/open-access-engineering-options-community-broadband-bits-podcast-172" target="_blank">Listen to the Show Here</a> (with ongoing discussion in comments) ... <a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/transcript-community-broadband-bits-episode-172" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Read the transcript from this show here</a> ... </p></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/tiny-mount-washington-pursues-muni-massachusetts" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">Tiny Mount Washington Pursues Muni in Massachusetts</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:14px;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Mon, October 12, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">lgonzalez</a></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/tiny-mount-washington-pursues-muni-massachusetts" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/seal-mt-washington-ma.png" alt="" title="" width="125" height="85" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px">Mount Washington's 167 residents will not let their small size defeat their big plans for a municipal fiber network. The community is seeking permission from the state legislature to finance, own, and operate a municipal Internet network. The bill granting Mount Washington the authority to do so, <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/Senate/S1978" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">S1978</a>, recently passed in the Senate and then moved to the House to await review.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">"The Town Among The Clouds" sought special legislation to avoid being bound by the state's requirement that communities establish a Municipal Light Plant (MLP). The MLP is a separate department responsibile for municipal electricity and broadband service. Town leaders believe an MLP would be an administrative burden for such a small community; the State Senate agrees.</p></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/tiny-mount-washington-pursues-muni-massachusetts" target="_blank">... Read the Rest of the Story Here ...</a><br><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/businesses-fort-collins-colorado-advocate-local-authority" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">Businesses in Fort Collins, Colorado, Advocate for Local Authority</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:14px;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Thu, October 15, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/tom-ernste" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Tom Ernste</a></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/businesses-fort-collins-colorado-advocate-local-authority" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/logo-fort-collins-co.gif" alt="" title="" width="125" height="83" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px">As the city of Fort Collins <a href="http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/09/11/fort-collins-broadband-business/71983390/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">prepares for a November ballot issue</a> seeking to reclaim local telecommunications authority, local business leaders are articulating their support. Walt Lyons, the owner of a Fort Collins-based video production company and member of the <a href="http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/08/24/fort-collins-citizens-broadband-committee/32291415/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Fort Collins Citizens Broadband Committee</a>, believes slow broadband access should be a central priority for this city of more than 150,000:<br></p><blockquote style="margin:1em 2em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:0.9em;line-height:1.5em;font-style:italic">“This is more important than widening I-25,” Lyons said. “This is not going to make much difference to me because I’m getting ready to retire. But it will make a difference for my kids and my grandchildren. The kinds of places they will work and what they do will depend upon it."</blockquote><p style="margin:1em 0px"></p><p style="margin:1em 0px">The city has access to many miles of fiber optic networks as Fort Collins is connected to a ring that the <a href="http://www.publicpower.org/Media/magazine/ArticleDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9587" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Platte River Power Authority (PRPA)</a> built to connect its four partners: Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park and Longmont. At present, only government-owned facilities in Fort Collins can use the fiber network. </p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/businesses-fort-collins-colorado-advocate-local-authority" target="_blank">... Read On for More Details Here ...</a><br><br></p></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/leverettnet-meets-demand-better-connectivity-ma" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">LeverettNet Meets Demand for Better Connectivity in MA</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:14px;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Fri, October 16, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">lgonzalez</a></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,'DejaVu Sans',sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/leverettnet-meets-demand-better-connectivity-ma" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/logo-leverettnet.png" alt="" title="" width="125" height="23" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px">On October 2nd, a group of residents, business owners, and educators met with elected officials to celebrate the early success of <a href="http://lmlp.leverettnet.net/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">LeverettNet</a>. The municipal gigabit fiber network now serves 650 of 800 households in the <a href="http://www.leverett.ma.us/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Massachusetts town</a> of 1,800.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">This spring, the <a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/leverett-starts-light-massachusetts" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">network began serving</a> limited areas of town, offering telephone service and gigabit Internet access. LeverettNet's instant success is no surprise, considering a number townsfolk<a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/leverett-massachusetts-ponders-community-owned-network" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">depended on unreliable</a>, slow dial-up service over antiquated copper infrastructure for years. Some in town used <a href="http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term9" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(0,136,0)"><cite title="Digital Subscriber Line - or Internet access offered over the phone lines.  DSL allows users to use the Internet at speeds greater than dial-up while also using the phone line for telephone conversations.  DSL uses frequencies not used by human voices.  Unfortunately, these frequencies degrade quickly over distance, meaning customers must live within a mile of the central office to get the fastest speeds.">DSL</cite></a>, satellite, and wireless devices; others had no Internet access at all. Telephone service was equally dismal - sometimes the community would lose service when it rained.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px">Leverett connects to <a href="http://broadband.masstech.org/building-network/massbroadband123" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">MassBroadband 123</a>, the statewide middle-mile network deployed by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. Greenfield, Massachusetts Internet service provider <a href="http://www.crocker.com/about" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Crocker Communications</a>, is partnering with Leverett to offer gigabit service via the publicly owned infrastructure. </p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/leverettnet-meets-demand-better-connectivity-ma" target="_blank">... Read the Rest of the Story Here ...</a><br><br></p><h2 style="line-height:1.3em;margin:0px 0px 0.5em;font-family:Tahoma,Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/community-broadband-media-roundup-october-16" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration:none">Community Broadband Media Roundup - October 16</a></h2><div style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-style:italic;margin-bottom:10px;line-height:18.004px"><span style="font-size:0.9em">Mon, October 19, 2015 | Posted by <a href="http://muninetworks.org/users/rebecca" title="View user profile." target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">rebecca</a></span></div><div style="line-height:18.004px"><div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px 1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/community-broadband-media-roundup-october-16" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://muninetworks.org/sites/www.muninetworks.org/files/imagecache/teaser/media-roundup-community-bb.png" alt="" title="" width="125" height="125" class="" style="border: 0px;"></a></div><p style="margin:1em 0px"><strong>Community Broadband News By State</strong></p><p style="margin:1em 0px"> </p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><strong>Colorado</strong></p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/gardner-pushes-broadband-bill-in-senate" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Gardner pushes broadband bill in Senate </a>by Charlie Ashby, The Daily Sentinel</p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/10/11/fort-collins-broadband-election/73800262/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Fort Collins voters to weigh in on broadband services </a>by Kevin Duggan, The Coloradoan</p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/ci_28955631/gigabit-city-fort-morgan-putting-together-shopping-list" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Gigabit city: Fort Morgan putting together 'shopping list' for building out fiber system to residents, businesses</a> by Jenni Grubbs, The Fort Morgan Times</p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://www.summitdaily.com/news/18620003-113/mountain-law-summit-county-cell-tower-referendum-explained" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(121,80,37);text-decoration:none">Summit County cell tower referendum explained</a> by Noah Klug, The Summit Daily</p><p style="margin:1em 0px"><a href="http://muninetworks.org/content/community-broadband-media-roundup-october-16" target="_blank">... Read the Full Community Broadband Media Roundup here ...</a></p></div></div></div></div>

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