Local Internet Improvement Districts in New Hampshire – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 179

Local governments in New Hampshire are quite limited in how they can use public financing to invest in fiber optic networks, but Hanover is exploring an approach to create voluntary special assessment districts that would finance open access fiber optic networks. Town Manager Julia Griffin joins us for Community Broadband Bits Episode 179 to explain their plans. Though New Hampshire does not have any explicit barriers against municipal networks, the state has not authorized local governments to bond for them, which has certainly limited local authority to ensure high quality Internet access. But Hanover is one of several communities around the country that is exploring special assessment districts (sometimes called local improvement districts) that would allow residents and local businesses to opt into an assessment that would finance construction and allow them to pay it off over many years. This approach is well suited to Hanover, which has access to the Fast Roads open access network. Read the transcript from this episode here. We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below. This show is 18 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here. Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “Warm Duck Shuffle.”

Self-Financed EC Fiber Continues to Grow – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 177

Carole Monroe is back on Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] for Episode 177 this week, to discuss the East Central Vermont Fiber network and its unique financing model. Carole is now the General Manager for EC Fiber. She previously joined us for episode 36 to discuss FastRoads in New Hampshire. And we previously discussed EC Fiber with Leslie Nulty in episode 9. Years later, EC Fiber is approaching 1,200 subscribers in rural Vermont and is growing much more rapidly with some open access dark fiber connections created by the state in a specific effort to enable last mile connectivity. We discuss the impact on the community, how much people in rural regions desire high quality Internet access rather than slow DSL, and also a brief mention of some progress in New Hampshire to expand the Fast Roads network. Read the transcript from this episode here. We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below. This show is 21 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here. Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “Warm Duck Shuffle.”

Carole Monroe Explains New Hampshire's Fast Roads Initiative – Community Broadband Bits #36

The New Hampshire Fast Roads Initiative is bringing great Internet access to rural New Hampshire. Project CEO Carole Monroe joined us for this week's Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast.

Fast Roads is the culmination of years of local organizing and several efforts to improve access to the Internet in the region. The project is already benefiting the community and is not fully built out yet.

We discuss the project and the challenges they face — from pole attachments to a host of hostile lobbyists in the state capital.

Read the transcript from this episode 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 30 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 D. Charles Speer & the Helix for the music, licensed using Creative Commons.