Next Generation Broadband in Montana

Woodman School has one of the slowest internet connections of any school in Montana, a mere 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth to go around. (By comparison, Spectrum advertises 60 Mbps for its residential service).

Ahrens and the Misners are among the members of the Missouri River Residents for Improved Telecommunications Service who were part of what is now being called a historic victory in 2015 when CenturyLink reached an agreement with the state to provide them and about 500 homes along the river with better telephone service. That, in a quirky twist, meant improving broadband as well.

Join a conversation on successful broadband projects that will highlight three approaches that network owners have used to achieve their communities connectivity goals.

More and more small communities are coming together to explore ways to access high-speed broadband, even if that means changing some existing laws.

Too often, reports on the feasibility of municipal broadband networks in smaller markets are sponsored by large telecom companies with a financial stake in the game. Many communities with muni networks wonder if these researchers are measuring success the wrong way.

The more fiber the city installs, the more customers Ting can reach. The more customers Ting signs up, the more the company pays the city.

Citing figures from the FCC, Cooper said that 34 million American lack access to 25 mbps broadband service, and that there is a big disparity between those living in urban and rural areas, where more than 39 percent of people lack access to "advanced telecommunications capability." Looking to level the playing field, SpaceX plans to launch high-speed, reliable and affordable broadband internet to users in the US and around the world.

Students in well-off, urban areas do much of their learning online. But many rural schools have almost no bandwidth, and kids are losing out.

‘When regulators get out of the way, they hand the market to incumbents.’

From small cities like Ammon, Idaho, and Sandy, Ore., to large metro areas like San Francisco and Montgomery County in Maryland, local governments have found that they can improve Internet access in apartment buildings, low-income neighborhoods, or even the entire community with a variety of new tools ranging from public investment to enacting truly pro-competition policies.