Next Generation Broadband in Montana

It’s 2015 and too many Americans still lack broadband Internet service. What’s the problem and who should fix it?

The city of Sanford plans to start work next year on the state’s largest municipal broadband network, building a 32-mile extension of fiber-optic cable off the state’s open Three Ring Binder system.

The utility company, Fibrant, said the service would offer the highest citywide speeds available in any U.S. community. "Salisbury is now America’s first 10-gigabit city."

Christopher Mitchell has called the idea "open access on steroids" and the "best shot at demonstrating what can be done as far as innovation on an open network."

In one example around the Lake of the Ozarks, a power cooperative is providing blistering speeds to homes and business.

Now Patterson has created a fiber network that experts say could become a model for future municipal networks throughout the country.

The plan, under development by Design Nine, will suggest ways to pay for the system, how it should operate and who will claim ownership. A draft is expected by October and the early steps of implementation could begin the following year.

Salida-based technology firm Fire2Wire is bringing free wireless Internet service to downtown Modesto to help it attract more visitors.

“They wanted this agency to be about consumers and how we could better meet their needs,” she said Wednesday. “Creating a new agency helps create a critical mass around this issue and legitimizes the focus.

The structures, which are 28 feet long and 9 feet tall, will be the backbone for the Google Fiber high-speed Internet network, said Mike Basham, Raleigh’s broadband manager.