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Community Broadband Networks

@communitynets.bsky.social

Internet access touches almost every aspect of our daily lives. At CommunityNetworks.org, we have assembled the nation's largest storehouse of information on communities building publicly-owned networks directly accountable to the communities they serve.

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Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 4d ago

As Digital Inclusion Week 2026, the Building for Digital Equity webinar series returns this Thurs w/a timely question: With fed support for digital equity work in retreat, what does it actually take to keep this work alive, growing & reaching people at the local level? Join us! Reg link in story

Sustain, Empower, Evolve: Next Building for Digital Equity Marks Digital Inclusion Week, Looks at What's Actually Working | Welcome to Community Networks

As Digital Inclusion Week 2026 kicks off October 4-10, the Building for Digital Equity webinar series — co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiat...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 5d ago

Citizen-led efforts to bring community-owned solutions don't always succeed But even when they fail, it can improve the material condition for everyone Exhibit: Falmouth, Massachusetts Our story here 💻🌐⬇️

Falmouth Didn’t Build Its Own Network, But a Citizen Led Effort Still Brought Fiber to Town | Welcome to Community Networks

At long last, fiber-to-the-home connectivity is coming to Cape Cod. Gateway Fiber, a Missouri-based Internet service provider already operating in western and central Massachusetts, has announced it h...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 2w ago

Lots of detail in this discussion! Legal references if you dig them, but plenty of context even if you don't!

Christopher Mitchell@sportshotchris.bsky.social · 2w ago

Glad to see @gbsohn.bsky.social and @berinszoka.bsky.social defending the Constitution and Freedom of Speech against the FCC. We talked about the Disney lawsuit, the out-of-control FCC, and what comes next! Unbuffered Podcast in your podcatcher of choice. ilsr.org/article/comm...

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 3w ago

Los Alamos is splitting the broadband monopoly atom Big Telecom wouldn't deliver so the county decided to build its own open access fiber network to create choice and deliver affordable fiber Internet connectivity to all county residents Love to see local self-reliance in action Our story here ⬇️

Los Alamos Prepares To Light Up Open Access Fiber Network | Welcome to Community Networks

Los Alamos County, New Mexico is inching closer to the launch of its “Atomic Fiber” county-wide open access fiber network, which aims to dramatically improve affordable Internet access to the county’s...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 4w ago

🚨Save the date: Oct. 8th for our next B4DE livestream🚨 It will feature an exploration on the volunteer army aiming to bring wireless connectivity to Seattle's tiny-home communities Also: Digital Navigators are evolving — see how and why it matters in a political era where federal funds falter

Sustain, Empower, Evolve: Next Building for Digital Equity Marks Digital Inclusion Week, Looks at What's Actually Working | Welcome to Community Networks

As Digital Inclusion Week 2026 kicks off October 4-10, the Building for Digital Equity webinar series — co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiat...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 4w ago

"GAO’s recommendations seem unlikely to be taken seriously under an FCC chaired by Brendan Carr, who appears far more interested in approving mega-mergers, stripping consumer protections, and punishing late-night TV show hosts for airing content critical of the Trump administration..." 😮‍💨

Federal Agencies Still Can't Get Their Broadband Data Straight, GAO Finds | Welcome to Community Networks

A recent Government Accountability Office report reveals what’s been obvious to broadband deployment experts for years now: the federal government’s multi-agency approach to closing the digital divide...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · last mo.

Can local governments build public safety infrastructure w/o sacrificing citizen privacy or handing millions to private vendors? On the latest Unbuffered pod, Former Shreveport CTO Keith Hanson joins us to break down the hidden costs of vendor-owned surveillance and the realities of municipal IT

Local Tech, Big Surveillance: Rethinking Municipal IT - Episode 24 of Unbuffered

YouTube video by Institute for Local Self-Reliance

youtu.be

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · last mo.

After Trump administration changed the spending rules of the flagship federal BEAD program to favor Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service, reality is starting to dawn that satellite Internet company is not a panacea Our story today from @karlbode.com provides an insightful look at the latest

Can't See the Sky for the Trees: Obstruction Could Plague Ohio’s Planned Starlink BEAD Plan | Welcome to Community Networks

Researchers say they’re concerned that a massive influx of new federal grant money being redirected to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband company in Ohio will be thwarted by the simple fact that...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🎉Municipal broadband for the win - in East Longmeadow, MA🎉 "Every time a bill is paid, that money will stay in East Longmeadow rather than outflow to a corporate entity. We are taking care of our own infrastructure and not relying on an outside entity to take care of that.” Our story here ⬇️💻🌐

East Longmeadow Approves $43.5 Million for Municipal Fiber Network | Welcome to Community Networks

Three months after town meeting voters in Longmeadow, Massachusetts rejected a $8.6 million proposal to kickstart the construction of a municipal fiber network, Town Councilors in the neighboring town...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Mayor Mamdani isn't the only one in NYC trying to serve the people NYC Mesh's all-volunteer ISP is doing big things in the Big Apple Check out the story @karlbode.com wrote for us today on NYC Mesh expanding deeper into Brooklyn

With State Backing, NYC Mesh's Volunteer-Run Mesh Network Pushes Into Central Brooklyn | Welcome to Community Networks

Officials for the volunteer-run nonprofit NYC Mesh have been been awarded a new $898,000 grant from New York State’s ConnectALL initiative that should help the project expand affordable wireless Inter...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 2mo ago

For years, Cleveland was labeled as one of the worst-connected cities in the nation despite the presence of AT&T and Charter Spectrum But all of that is changing, thanks to the nonprofit DigitalC, offering high-speed Internet citywide for just $18/month Local community organizing is where its at 👊

DigitalC Beats 2025 Targets, Now Tests If ‘Cleveland Model’ Can Be Replicated | Welcome to Community Networks

For years, Cleveland was labeled as one of the worst-connected cities in the nation despite the presence of AT&T and Charter Spectrum. But all of that is changing, thanks to DigitalC, an innovative no...

communitynetworks.org

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In the U.S. northeast, there's a number of states with housing stock that has antiquated wiring that won't support high-speed Internet access Massachusetts is one of the few states doing something about that w/its Residential Retrofit Grant Program Our @seangon.bsky.social writes about it here ⬇️📶

Massachusetts' Residential Retrofit Program Hits Its Stride | Welcome to Community Networks

Officials from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and Community Broadband Networks America — an independently-owned fiber Internet service provider — gathered with dozens of residents at two Southb...

communitynetworks.org

Lazarus \o/@heylazarus.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The shortlist is the argument. "Community-owned" isn't sentiment — it's a different answer to who the network is accountable to when a line goes down in a valley with forty customers on it. Scale never fixed that part. Ownership does.

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 3mo ago

While billions in BEAD $ is going to the big guys, the 2026 "Provider of the Year" shortlist tells a different story — 8 community-owned & independent networks proving bigger isn't always better From UTOPIA's 85,000+ subs to DigitalC in Cleveland connecting 21,000 residents, see who made the cut

Broadband Communities Names Its 2026 Provider of the Year Shortlist — and It's Not the Usual Suspects | Welcome to Community Networks

Eight community and independently-owned networks are in the running for this year’s Broadband Provider of the Year Award. The winners will be revealed live during a special awards ceremony at the end ...

communitynetworks.org