Broadband

Links to go along with June 10 "broadband" community roundtable at Williamstown, Mass.

• When are we going to get access to fiber-optic line running along the Boston & Maine tracks?

http://greylocknews.blogspot.com/2015/01/when-are-we-going-to-access-fiber-line.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/03/business/mci-gets-rights-for-laying-cable.html

Municipal Broadband Services in Concord, Mass.

• What's happening in New York State?
  

"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to have state wired for ... minimum speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps)" / graphic from Capital Magazine

• The Lafayette, La., community-owned broadband network
  

"The municipal network, which took on its first residential customers in 2009 and now offers 1-gigabit-per-second service for as little as $70 a month, has also given the city a tech-forward sheen . . . At least 500 communities have community-owned broadband networks, according to data from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an organization that promotes the idea."

• After a decade and two referenda, Longmont, Colo., begins connecting businesses to public-owned broadband
  

"Vince Jordan and the Colorado city of Longmont took on the major Internet-providing telecommunciations companies -- and won. But it was only round one. Now he's working to prove that Longmont Power & Communications -- the city owned utility -- can use 144-strand fiber-optic cabling installed in the 1990s to deliver exceptionally fast Internet to city's businesses and residents."

• It’s time for western Mass. to get up to broadband speed (B.J. Roche)
  

"Monica Webb . . . chairs the board of directors of WiredWest — a group trying to bring broadband Internet to Western Massachusetts . . . In about 30 communities up and down the hilly spine of Western Massachusetts, voters this year will decide whether to spend tax dollars to build out the “final mile” of broadband."

• LINKS about the Leverett, Mass., municipal broadband project
  

"Frustrated with slow Internet and spotty telephone service, residents approved a $3.6 million bond in 2012 to build its own fiber-to-home network. The 39-mile aerial fiber-optic cable system is being constructed by Millennium Communications of New Jersey. Holyoke Gas and Electric has been contracted to run it and another firm will be hired to maintain it . . . 'Leverett will be on par with the fastest networks in the world and will have the fastest residential network in Massachusetts,' according to the statement from Crocker."

• http://www.valleyadvocate.com/2014/04/30/leverett-gets-local-broadband/
• http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-the-tiny-town-of-leverett-got-itself-the-internet
• http://leverett.ma.us/content/broadband-committee
• http://www.leverett.ma.us/content/leverett-broadband-frequently-asked-questions
• https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/leverett-broadband-project
• "• Long-term leadership, planning, and community engagement by Leverett's public officials prompted the citizens of Leverett to approve a modest property tax increase in return for the long-term benefits of a FTTH network."

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

• The WiredWest.net "We can bring you broadband if all of us pull together" campaign:
• https://register.wiredwest.net/
• https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/crowdfibersp/campaigns/images/000/000/001/campaign/slide-pulltogether770x440.jpg?1425374651
• http://stopthecap.com/2015/06/03/broadband-excitement-continues-in-western-mass-big-support-for-wiredwest/




• Broadband competition: Cajun style -- the Lafayette, La., story (Boston Globe)
• http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/05/23/broadband-competition-cajun-style/cOfdIzHm4JhMigFmVl8buI/story.html




• The coming fiber-optic capacity crunch
• http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/17/fiber-optic-capacity-crunch/
  




• AUDIO: The Takeway: The fight against dead zones / Monica Webb / WiredWest:
• http://www.muninetworks.org/content/monica-webb-talks-wiredwest-take-away
  


The FCC now defines "broadband" as 25 megabits or higher speed

• http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/f-c-c-sharply-increases-definition-of-broadband/
  




• The world's coming broadband divide over "online activities tha tincreasingly matter in hte global economy"
• http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/the-coming-broadband-divide/

MORE LINKS

PROVIDERS:

• http://www.axiamassbroadband123.com/Portals/16/Documents/Service%20Providers%20MassBroadband123-revised-Aug2014.pdf
• http://corporate.axia.com/documents/investors/news/2011/110228_MBI.pdf [corporate.axia.com]
• http://corporate.axia.com/open_access_networks/Massachusetts.asp [corporate.axia.com]
• http://www.axiamassbroadband123.com/ServiceProviders/BecomeaServiceProvider.aspx [www.axiamassbroadband123.com]
• http://www.axiamassbroadband123.com/ServiceProviders.aspx [www.axiamassbroadband123.com]

The MassBroadband123 standard Network Connection Agreement

Source page for Excel sheet list of "community anchor institutions" connected to MassBroadband 123

Connecting to the MassBroadband 123 network at home -- (617) 535 - 7530

Williamstown's Economic Development Committee home page

List of broadband connection points in the Greylock Region

LINK: MGRHS's Richard Scullin's Open Path location-based learning project (requires broadband)

EMAIL COMMENTS from John McAlister, IT director at MassMoCA:

Here at MASS MoCA I use Time Warner Business Class coax cable connection (50x5) for internet with a Verizon DSL (15x1) connection as backup. Needless to say I’ve been let down by both Time Warner and Verizon over the last 8 years. I’m in negotiations with TWC for a 20 Mbps fiber connection right now, but it hasn’t been easy. The price has come down but still not where I need it to be...which is why I am indeed interested in this very topic.