Tag: Broadband Internet access

Estes Park EDC Meeting to Discuss Fast, Affordable Broadband for the Estes Valley

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Adam Shake, Estes Park EDC – For the Trail Gazette

The Estes Park Economic Development Corporation (Estes Park EDC) invites you to attend a public meeting on Monday, March 5, 2018, to learn about the future of nationally competitive, fast, affordable, reliable broadband services in Estes Park. The meeting will be held from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm in the Town Hall Board Room, 170 MacGregor Avenue.

“Estes Park EDC supports the Town of Estes Park implementing a build-to-demand, phased approach for building a fiber optic network that can support robust broadband services, as well as enhanced communication services and allow the Town to implement electric power smart grid technologies” said Jon Nicholas, President/CEO of Estes Park EDC.  Continue reading

Dave Clark: Why I voted no to Loveland broadband

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By Dave Clark

On Feb. 6, the City Council voted to spend $2.5 million to get a “build ready” design for a public municipal broadband service in the city of Loveland and additional measures for this process. I voted no on each of those measures. Did I vote no because I am against broadband service in Loveland? Am I a supporter of Comcast and want to make sure they have no competition? Am I against “progress” in the future? The critics will answer yes. Well, they are wrong. Below is a list of my concerns and questions.

One of my biggest concerns is the lack of information we have received. Again, the critics will argue that the City Council has had 16 or more meetings to review this issue. While that is true, the real issue is the lack of information on all of the options available to the city, not just the option of a municipal broadband service. They say they have done their due diligence; I say the information presented has been fairly one-sided. To counter that, some of us on council (namely, Councilors Overcash, Olson, Jersvig and myself) finally requested a special meeting be held where the other side could be heard. So, on Jan 30, there were six private companies that presented to council their proposals for city broadband services — either to expand/improve existing services or provide new.

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Will San Francisco realise its dream of a city-wide Gigabit network?

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© Flickr/cc-licence/Gunther Hagleitner

San Francisco performed an impartial and thorough review of  different options to deliver broadband service throughout the city and determined open-access is the least riskiest and best way to offer broadband service in the city. This is just an analysis with recommendation. The city council will ultimately determine which direction to go, and as we know it may not always be the most prudent for citizens.

By Guy Daniels
  • New report looks at financing models for a municipal Gigabit network
  • 12% of the city’s population does not have Internet access at home
  • Public and private development and ownership investigated
  • Network build-out costs range from $393m to $867m

Given its proximity to Silicon Valley, and the large numbers of wealthy tech founders who have managed to push up local housing prices to astronomical heights, you would think that San Francisco would be a shining beacon in the world of high-speed broadband and connected cities. Think again. Around 12 per cent of the population of San Francisco do not have any Internet access at home, and an additional 6 per cent only have access to dial-up speed Internet. But things may be about to change; and we don’t mean the selective, cherry-picked approach from Google Fiber. City Supervisor Mark Farrell had asked the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office for a financial analysis of a municipal fibre network to provide Internet access to all residential, commercial and industrial premises in San Francisco at speeds of a least 1Gbps, with the capacity to increase in the future as the definition of high speed or broadband changes. He wanted to evaluate three different approaches: Continue reading

Father of the World Wide Web says it’s getting worse all the time

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Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the ...

Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I find it ironic that Tim Berners-Lee finds that increasing government surveillance and censorship on the Internet should be stopped by more government control. It is that increased government control that is making the Internet less free.

By Martyn Warwick

A new report from the World Wide Web Foundation concludes that the web is becoming less free and more unequal with users increasingly subject to state and government surveillance  as laws to prevent, or at least circumscribe and control, mass interception of private data and communications are either pathetically weak or even non-existent in 84 per cent of the world’s countries. Meanwhile state censorship of access to and the content of web sites is also increasing. And with dedicated server hosting plans, websites can now easily handle high levels of traffic. Continue reading

Ultra high-speed broadband is coming to Kansas City, Kansas

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Google Fiber Logo As part of our overall goal to make the web better for users, last year we announced a new project: to provide a community with Internet access more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today. The response was overwhelming—nearly 1,100 cities felt the need for speed—and we were thrilled by the enthusiasm we saw across the country for better and faster web connections. Thank you to every community and individual that submitted a response, joined a rally, starred in a YouTube video or otherwise participated.

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Florida (MA) Approves First Step For Broadband System

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By Kathy Keeser

Image via Wikipedia

FLORIDA, Mass. — Voters on Wednesday night approved the establishment of a municipal lighting plant, taking the first step in the development of a cooperative broadband system.

About 30 voters took time out to decide four articles at Wednesday’s special town meeting, deciding on school repairs, broadband and wind projects.

The first two articles gave town approval to the continuance of repairs to Gabriel Abbott Memorial School, including to the roof and to the water main. Both warrants quickly passed 28-0.

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Raleigh City Council adopts resolution against limiting municipal broadband

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Yesterday, Raleigh City Council passed a resolution opposing legislation under consideration by the North Carolina General Assembly that would limit or eliminate local governments’ ability to provide high-speed Internet and other broadband services to their citizens. The proposed legislation, House Bill 129 and Senate Bill 87, are known as Level Playing Field/Local Government Competition.

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