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communitynets.bsky.social
Community Broadband Networks
@communitynets.bsky.social
Internet access touches almost every aspect of our daily lives. At CommunityNetworks.org, we have assembled the nation's largest storehouse of information on communities building publicly-owned networks directly accountable to the communities they serve.
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Although we have been in this work for nearly two decades, if you are not familiar with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team, allow us to introduce ourselves in this thread...

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A new study shows that the now expired Affordable Connectivity Program helped low-income Americans get better access to jobs, with particularly strong effects for women

“Overall, when these employment impacts are factored in, the benefits of ACP far outweigh its costs.”

Our story here 🌐💻⬇️
Affordable Broadband Subsidy Boosts Jobs, Especially for Women, New Study Shows | Welcome to Community Networks
A new study shows that the now expired Affordable Connectivity Program helped low-income Americans get better access to jobs, with particularly strong effects for women. The ACP program ended in May 2...
communitynetworks.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:18 PM
And on our own Community Broadband Bits podcast ...

Mauricio Rodriguez joins @sportshotchris.bsky.social to talk about permitting challenges, land negotiations, environmental surprises, and why setting standards and hiring the right people early is the key to actually getting fiber in the ground
Building Broadband from the Ground Up - Episode 667 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast | Community Broadband Bits | Episode 667
Mauricio Rodriguez joins Chris to talk about permitting challenges, land negotiations, environmental surprises, and why setting standards and hiring the right people early is key to actually getting f...
share.transistor.fm
December 2, 2025 at 5:20 PM
On The Divide podcast, our Sr Researcher Jessica Auer & Ashfield resident David Kulp break down our new report on how rural western Massachusetts pulled off what big ISPs wouldn’t

They explain how local leaders organized & delivered future-proof fiber to 19 small rural communities
The Divide: Western Massachusetts' battle for broadband
Jess Auer and David Kulp on ILSR's new report exploring how 19 Massachusetts towns connected their communities to municipal broadband between 2018-2022.
www.lightreading.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Traverse City, MI residents and businesses are thankful for the city's utility now building out a community-owned, gigabit-capable fiber network operating as TCLPfiber👏

Came in way under budget and the city has already been listed on the 2025 Broadband Communities Top 100 list! 🎉

Our story here
Traverse City, Michigan Finalizes Citywide Fiber Expansion | Welcome to Community Networks
Traverse City, Michigan’s public, community-owned utility, Traverse City Light and Power (TCL&P), is putting the finishing touches on its $14 million plan to deliver affordable fiber to the community ...
communitynetworks.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Community Broadband Networks
In an era filled with tech dipshits who never developed emotionally past the age of 13 & use their wealth to become odious monsters ...

... listen to Steve Wozniak.
November 21, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Yesterday's Connect This! was 🔥

S/o Alexis Schrubbe from Ready.net for bringing her clipboard and Top 10 BEAD facts and outliers now that states have been forced by the Trump admin to give more BEAD $$ to satellite-based broadband instead of future proof fiber

www.youtube.com/live/sHafVCN...
Recent Broadband News | Episode 124 of the Connect This! Show
YouTube video by Institute for Local Self-Reliance
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Municipal broadband continues to cook

Fort Collins, Colorado’s popular Connexion municipal broadband network has unveiled SmartHome, a new network management app that helps subscribers better manage the security & bandwidth-consumption of their home networks

communitynetworks.org/content/fort...
November 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
There’s a quiet power play going on w/BEAD funding where federal agencies are engaging in "secret negotiations" — pushing satellite projects instead of future proof fiber

Sascha Meinrath joins @sportshotchris.bsky.social to unpack how BEAD $$ is drifting toward satellite solutions that can’t scale
The Satellite Solution That Won’t Scale - Episode 666 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast | Community Broadband Bits | Episode 666
Sascha Meinrath joins Chris to unpack how BEAD funding is drifting toward satellite solutions that can’t scale—and why misleading speed data, space congestion, and political pressure could derail real...
share.transistor.fm
November 21, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Sascha Meinrath joins Chris on our Community Broadband Bits podcast to unpack how BEAD funding is drifting toward satellite solutions that can’t scale—and why misleading speed data, space congestion, and political pressure could derail real broadband progress 🌐💻📶⬇️
The Satellite Solution That Won’t Scale - Episode 666 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast | Community Broadband Bits | Episode 666
Sascha Meinrath joins Chris to unpack how BEAD funding is drifting toward satellite solutions that can’t scale—and why misleading speed data, space congestion, and political pressure could derail real...
share.transistor.fm
November 21, 2025 at 4:43 AM
If you missed it, you can watch our webinar co-hosted w/ @aapbroadband.bsky.social in its entirety on our YouTube channel

“Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing” was packed w/insights on the infrastructure needed and the ROI communities w/o fiber networks are leaving on the table
Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing
YouTube video by Institute for Local Self-Reliance
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Community Broadband Networks
Tune in to this webinar, I am about to watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cij0...
Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing
YouTube video by Institute for Local Self-Reliance
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Join us @ noon ET for another cool webinar w/ @aapbroadband.bsky.social “Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing”

We'll explore how some cities turned infrastructure into opportunity, the economics behind these investments, and the future of intelligent infrastructure

Register here ⬇️
Webinar To Explore ‘Smart City’ Infrastructure and the Costs of Ignoring It | Welcome to Community Networks
The livestreamed event will bring together community-driven broadband champions who are redefining what it means to be a “smart city” — and what communities risk when they fail to invest in modern con...
communitynetworks.org
November 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Our friends over at Broadband Breakfast are reporting the first 15 states who had their BEAD plans approved:

Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wyoming
Trump Commerce Department: 18 BEAD Proposals Approved by NTIA
BREAKING NEWS: One state, Louisiana, had access to its BEAD funds Tuesday, the agency said.
broadbandbreakfast.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:35 PM
🚨New report out today🚨

In it, we detail how 19 tiny towns in western MA created the most concentrated cluster of municipal broadband in the U.S.

It serves as both a history and a roadmap for other small communities seeking to bridge the digital divide through local ownership and cooperation💻🌐
How Small Towns and Public Partnerships Transformed Internet Access in Western Massachusetts
The story of 19 small Western Massachusetts towns that worked together over a decade and a half to build an alternative to the monopoly marketplace.
ilsr.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:17 PM
🎉 Congratulations to the Pueblo of Jemez and their tribal-owned ISP JNET

They are being honored with a Project Excellence Award for their fiber-to-the-home build that’s bringing high-speed Internet to over 670 rural & tribal homes
Jemez Pueblo’s JNET Project Celebrated for Expanding High-Speed Internet to Rural Tribal Homes | Welcome to Community Networks
The Pueblo of Jemez Tribal community was honored with a Project Excellence Award for its efforts to build-out a fiber network to reach hundreds of Tribal households, government buildings and businesse...
communitynetworks.org
November 13, 2025 at 5:23 PM
🚨 Webinar alert! 🚨

Join us Nov 20 @ 12 noon ET for “Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing” — a free, 60-minute live discussion on why smart fiber infrastructure matters and what cities lose if they sit still

Story w/registration link here ⬇️

communitynetworks.org/content/webi...
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Decorah, Iowa is building a city-owned fiber network through a new public-private partnership — bringing fast, affordable Internet to every home

Bravo to Decorah who took matters into its own hands — proving small towns can lead the way on digital equity + local control

Our story here 🌐💻 ⬇️
Decorah, Iowa Strikes Partnership to Build City-Owned Fiber Network | Welcome to Community Networks
Decorah, Iowa has launched a public private partnership with West Union Trenching to deploy a modern fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network that passes every household in the city. The project is the culmin...
communitynetworks.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Four years after Congress mandated broadband nutrition labels, a new study shows that many ISPs aren’t doing a great job

Meanwhile, the Trump FCC recently announced it's taking formal steps to weaken the rules as part of the agency’s frontal assault on consumer protections

Our story here 💻🌐⬇️
Trump FCC Votes To Weaken Broadband ‘Nutrition Label’ Rule That Already Saw Mixed Compliance | Welcome to Community Networks
The Trump FCC has announced that it's taking formal steps to weaken or eliminate the rules as part of the agency’s broad, frontal assault on consumer protections. On October 30, the The Trump FCC unde...
communitynetworks.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
NTIA admin Arielle Roth recently said her agency will withhold federal broadband deployment funds fr any state that enacts affordability laws

Legal experts say it should be "laughed out of the room"

But it may be enough to dissuade some states from moving bills forward. Our story here 💻🌐📶⬇️
Experts: Withholding BEAD Funds Because of State Affordability Laws On Shaky Legal Ground | Welcome to Community Networks
Legal analysts are questioning the recent assertion by the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that the agency can legally withhold federal broadband deployme...
communitynetworks.org
November 4, 2025 at 12:43 AM
More cities are discovering the power of open access networks in transforming the digital landscape to bring competition to markets long dominated by monopoly providers offering subpar service

In Superior, WI its new city-owned network is now live!

Our story here on the transformation underway 🌐💻⬇️
Superior, Wisconsin’s ‘Game Changing’ Open Access Fiber Network Goes Live | Welcome to Community Networks
Superior, Wisconsin’s community-owned open access fiber network has gone live in its first two deployment neighborhoods, as the city works toward providing affordable next-generation fiber access to t...
communitynetworks.org
October 31, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Electric co-op's are at the leading edge of bringing fiber Internet service to rural America

Congrats to Conexon Connect for completing its seventh fiber to the home project in Georgia

Our story here 💻🌐⬇️
Connexon Completes Grady EMC Fiber Build In Cairo, Georgia | Welcome to Community Networks
Conexon Connect, the ISP arm of fiber broadband builder Conexon, says it has completed its new fiber build in Cairo, Georgia in close collaboration with Grady Electrical Membership Corporation (EMC). ...
communitynetworks.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:39 PM
A new Federal Reserve Bank of NY study details how to more accurately measure the elusive nature of affordable broadband

It also points to the state of local infrastructure and how it can force poor households to choose between cell service or home Internet service

Our story here 🌐💻⬇️
Federal Reserve Study Offers Broadband Affordability Advocates ‘Novel New Measure’ | Welcome to Community Networks
A recently published study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York details how to more accurately measure the elusive nature of affordable broadband costs at the community level. It also pinpoints mul...
communitynetworks.org
October 28, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Insightful story here by Route 50 that cites our own @sportshotchris.bsky.social on how federal policy failures and disinvestment keep Native and Black farmers offline but also includes examples of how community broadband is providing a way forward in solving the digital divide
Broadband’s broken promise: How federal failures and funding fights keep Native and Black farmers offline
Across the US, Indigenous and Black farmers face ‘digital redlining,’ a web of barriers to affordable broadband even as billions in federal dollars flow to internet providers. Rooted in high costs, po...
www.route-fifty.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:06 PM
The Trump administration's illegal “termination” of the Digital Equity Act continues to have devastating real world impacts on everything from affordable broadband access to protecting Americans from skyrocketing online scams

Our story here on how the legal fight expands as the fallout increases 🌐💻
A Constitutional Crisis in Broadband and The Fight to Restore Digital Equity Funding | Welcome to Community Networks
The Trump administration's illegal “termination” of the 2021 Digital Equity Act continues to have devastating real world impacts on everything from affordable broadband access to protecting Americans ...
communitynetworks.org
October 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
As part of our ongoing series highlighting the complex challenges of bringing high-speed Internet access to multi-dwelling units...

Our story on a new California law that lets renters opt out of bulk-billing arrangements that force them to pay for Internet service from a specific provider 🌐💻📶⬇️
California Law Lets Renters Opt Out Of Landlord ‘Bulk Billing’ Broadband Arrangements | Welcome to Community Networks
California lawmakers approved new legislation letting renters opt out of bulk-billing arrangements that force them to pay for Internet service from a specific provider. Lawmakers say they didn’t ban t...
communitynetworks.org
October 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM