Next Generation Broadband in Montana

– Internet service providers are beginning to test a new technology that has the potential to greatly change how we get Internet access.

Imagine if you could take the convenience of cellular data and combine it with the superfast download speeds associated with fixed, wired broadband. What might that look like?

Please join BroadbandUSA, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce for a Regional Broadband Workshop featuring keynote addresses by national broadband leaders.

A unique community-owned broadband cooperative will free dozens of tiny towns and farms from reliance on slower corporate providers.

The "Big Sky Broadband Workshop" will bring together state, local and federal officials; industry representatives, community leaders and other key stakeholders to share real-world broadband success stories and lessons learned from across the region.

Libraries, schools, and clinics are key for delivering affordable access but these institutions won’t have the speed we need without changes in public policy.

Adding broadband to city services, especially on a citywide scale, is a relatively new concept that nonetheless can provide tangible benefits to the municipalities that offer it.

"Telemedicine is one of the most intuitive and effective ways to connect rural communities with the nurses, physicians, and healthcare providers they need," Tester said. "So I am doing all I can to make sure Montana’s medical centers have the capabilities to utilize this technology and reach rural residents directly."

And people have just really embraced it, they’ve been very excited about it, they have traveled around and they come back and say ‘Oh my God, you can’t find this anywhere else," said Leslie Wetherbee, co-developer of Polley’s Square.

More band width at lower costs, and better availability for higher band width that we can get today. Its one of the barriers to entry that Bozeman has to attracting increasingly large and interesting businesses, the business that we want to be here.