Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Community Broadband Bits is a weekly audio show hosted by Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell featuring interviews with people building community networks or otherwise involved with Internet policy. You can listen to episodes below or download via Apple, Google, or Spotify. Alternatively if you know what to do with it, copy the feed here.

We also produce a semi-regular video show called Connect This! that has its own site. Find other podcasts from ILSR here.

We also have an index of all episodes and links to transcripts. Keep up with new developments by subscribing to our one-email-per-week list sharing new stories and resources. We’d love to hear your feedback! Email us.

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

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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 Bits 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.

Morristown Explains Why it Built a Fiber Network for Itself - Community Broadband Bits #35

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Morristown, Tennessee, is one of very few communities where anyone in town can immediately get a gigabit delivered to their home and business. General Manager and CEO Jody Wigington of the municipal electric utility, Morristown Utility Systems, joins me to discuss why they built their network and how it is has benefited the community. The network has also attracted businesses that otherwise might not consider the community for an investment.

Scarlett McGrady Explains Virginia's Wired Road

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The Wired Road is an ambitious fiber optic and wireless project offering Internet access to several underserved areas in rural Virginia. For the 31st episode of our Community Broadband Bits Bits podcast, Scarlett McGrady joins me to discuss its history and impact on the region. McGrady is the Director of the Grant Community Computing Center [link to Facebook page], which providers a variety of services including computer literacy courses.

Jason Bird Explains how Princeton Kept Jobs in Community with Publicly Owned Fiber Network

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Jason Bird is the Electrical Superintendent at the city of Princeton Utilities in Illinois. He joins us for the 30th episode of our Community Broadband Bits Podcast to explain why Princeton built a rather unique network. Princeton has built a fiber network to connect some of the local businesses and uses broadband over power lines (BPL) to provide a low cost option for area residents. Princeton offers another example of how a community can build and own the infrastructure while partnering with a local company that will provision the services.

Community Broadband Bits 28 - Bruce Kushnick

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If you think the United States cannot afford to take a fiber optic cable to just about every home in the country, you might be surprised to find out that we have already paid for it. We just haven't received it. Our first podcast guest in 2013, Bruce Kushnick of the New Networks Institute, explains the $300 billion ripoff. Bruce and I discuss how the big telephone companies promised to build a fiber optic Internet in return for being allowed to increase their prices.