Illinois Munis Partner with Local ISP for Gigabit Network – Community Broadband Bits Episode 160

The southern Illinois cities of Urbana and Champaign joined the University of Illinois in seeking and winning a broadband stimulus award to build an open access urban FTTH network. After connecting some of the most underserved neighborhoods, the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (UC2B) network looked for a partner to expand the network to the entire community.

In this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we talk with UC2B Board Chair Brandon Bowersox Johnson and the private partner iTV-3's VP and Chief Operating Officer Levi Dinkla. The local firm, iTV-3, already had a strong reputation as an Internet Service Provider as well as operating other lines of business as well.

In our conversation, we talk about iTV-3's commitment to customer service, their expansion plan, and how the network remains open access. Read our continuing coverage of UC2B here. See the neighborhood signups here.

Read the transcript from this show here.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 20 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed.

Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.

Thanks to bkfm-b-side for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “Raise Your Hands.”

Catching Up on UC2B in Illinois – Community Broadband Bits Podcast #42

The home of the first web browser (Mosiac) is now building an exciting open access network – the twin cities of Urbana-Champaign received a stimulus award for UC2B (2B = Big Broadband). Episode #42 of Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] features Carol Ammons of the U-C Indepedent Media Center and Brandon Bowersox-Johnson, who is on the policy committee for the network and an Urbana City Council member.

In our interview, we discuss how Urbana-Champaign received a unique stimulus award – the only urban FTTH network and what they are doing with it. It came after many years of organizing and working toward a broadband solution for the community. Now the Independent Media Center is helping to teach people how to take full advantage of the network.

The network also received funds from the state, as Broadband Illinois has taken an active role in pushing for better broadband access and usage across the state.

Read the transcript from this discussion here.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address.

This show is 20 minutes long and can be played below on this page or subscribe via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed. Search for us in iTunes and leave a positive comment!

Listen to previous episodes here. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.

Find more episodes in our podcast index.

Thanks to Mount Carmel for the music, licensed using Creative Commons.