During a Town Hall meeting last Tuesday, 133 of the town’s 471 registered voters unanimously approved spending $400,000 for the construction of a town-owned broadband network. “We did this to make sure that we can pay the bill the day that construction begins,” said Board Chairman Howard Bronstein. The town is working with Westfield Gas and Electric, which is providing design, engineering, and project management services, to build the network. As planned, the town’s fiber-optic network will provide high-speed Internet and telephone service to every residence and business in town.
America desperately needs fiber internet, and the tech giants won’t save us
In a conversation on fiber with Recode’s Peter Kafka and Harvard Law School professor Susan Crawford, Crawford "explained why nationwide access to high-speed fiber internet — already standard in parts of Asia and Europe — is important for everything from the future of work t...
Broadband reforms welcome, but public must remain vigilant
The Sun Community News Editorial Board published an editorial highlighting concerns about New York State’s broadband program. The editorial encouraged "local lawmakers to develop a systemic structure to capture and direct all telecommunications-related concerns" from residen...
Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes to tackle broadband in first term
One of the first things that North Carolina Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes wants to focus on in the legislature is "expanding broadband coverage in rural areas of her district." Barnes said that "lack of broadband access cuts her constituents off from educations and health care opportunit...
Report: Charleston lags behind other SC towns in high-speed Internet availability
A report from BroadbandNow shows only 9.4 percent of Charleston County residents have access to high-quality, high-speed fiber Internet service. Meanwhile, 17.9 percent of South Carolinians can buy fiber Internet if they wish, and 27.1 percent of all Americans can. The Charleston ...
Saratoga Springs to lay fiber networks
Over the summer, city officials in Saratoga Springs, NY signed a long-term contract with SiFi Networks to design, install and maintain a fiber optic network, "making it the first municipality in the state and one of only a handful in the nation to embrace the technology." The agre...
Smyth County is striving to expand broadband access
Smyth County Board of Supervisors in Virginia "gave its OK for county administration staff to pursue funding that would help bring high-speed internet access to a portion of eastern Smyth County." A resolution adopted by the supervisors said that Comcast "has recently discussed it...