Next Generation Broadband in Montana

Dave Schmit lives out on 88th Street West and last week got a notice in the mail that his telecom provider, Nebraska-based USA Communications, had sold its Montana operations to Wyoming-based TCT. Shortly after, Schmit’s internet and phone lines went dead.

This policy brief provides an overview of the work that cooperatives have already done, including a map of the cooperatives’ fiber service territories. We also offer recommendations on ways to help cooperatives continue their important strides.

An interesting picture of which countries are doing it right, and those where short term gain for the telcos has prevailed.

So downloading an HD movie in Rhode Island, on average, would take 27 minutes and 54 seconds, less than one-third of the time of in Montana, where it would take 1 hour and 33 minutes.

What are you going to do about it?

"When it comes to connecting households, inhabitants of rural areas especially benefit from having internet access, even when they are the hardest to connect."

It is our goal to gain an understanding of what broadband services, if any, are needed in rural Montana so that we may plan for future broadband policies and projects and better serve communities like yours. We would greatly appreciate your help by completing this survey

A city in eastern Idaho figured out how to build a gig network for its city of 13,800 residents with no debt and a strong sign-up rate. Maybe there’s a lesson for other communities here.

WISPs are starting to make a difference in metropolitan areas.

Big Telecom has little interest in expanding to small towns and farmlands, so rural America is building its own solutions.