Next Generation Broadband in Montana

The airwaves that FCC officials want to hand over to the public would be much more powerful than existing WiFi networks that have become common in households.

Genachowski also announced the FCC’s plan to provide a clearinghouse for best practices on speeding gigabit deployment.

Prices are too high and speeds too slow. A third of Americans opt not to buy high-speed Internet access at home, often because they can’t afford it.

Tennessee’s fourth-largest city is now a member of a small, but elite group of world-class cities that can offer residents and businesses Internet service of up to one gigabit per second, 200 times faster than the average broadband speed in America, according to The New York Times.

According to an August report study from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, approximately 19 million people live in areas where highspeed Internet isn’t available.

Councilwoman Caitlin Copple, who chairs the Economic Development Subcommittee, said research shows fiber – not "free" Wi-Fi – drives economic development, but pulling cables up to businesses isn’t always easy because of the cost.

Does you Missoula business have access to what it needs to thrive?

Internet access in America remains relatively slow – particularly when it comes to upload speeds, the very feature necessary for cloud computing and creating user-generated content.

"This is an ability — think about 4G — this is like 4G times a billion."