New FBA Training Program Prepares People for Rewarding Fiber Careers

The FBA Optical Telecom Installation Certification (OpTIC) program teaches hands-on skills. Newly trained techs can help expedite fiber builds across the country, delivering much-needed high-speed internet.

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Six Themes for Multifamily in 2022

The National Multifamily Housing Council explores tectonic shifts that will set the stage for the 2021 NMHC OPTECH Conference and the year ahead.

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The Action’s Still On-Site

MDU providers can proactively mitigate potential churn and gain significant insight into how well their service performs by conducting in-person customer visits.

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Bandwidth Hawk: New Broadband Funding, New Ways to Finance Deployments

The U.S. is on the brink of having enough money to connect all businesses and residences with high-quality broadband – and having the financial and regulatory tools to spend wisely.

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Editor's Note: Note to Developers, MDU Providers: Make Your MDU Broadband Connections Stand Out

As more multifamily buildings are built, opportunities for developers to give their properties a competitive advantage with stellar broadband connectivity abound.

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Could Libraries Be the New Clinics?

Public libraries have the potential to be new hubs for telehealth services in urban and rural markets, broadening the availability of health care.

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Fiber Connect 2021: A Focus on Fiber, Open Access, Community Broadband And Public-Private Partnerships

The Fiber Broadband Association’s annual conference, Fiber Connect, held in Nashville in July, showcased many fiber community success stories and a variety of innovations that promise to expand fiber deployment. As one of the telecom industry’s first in-person trade shows since the pandemic began, it highlighted fiber’s role as the preferred way of delivering symmetrical broadband speeds, state and federal funding mechanisms, open-access, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks and pricing. It also brought to light how broadband newcomers, particularly municipal broadband providers, need to overcome political and lobbying challenges from incumbents and think tanks, and the significance of public-private partnerships.

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Connecting the Caribbean’s Unconnected

Submarine cable networks can help address the challenges and opportunities in providing robust broadband in the Caribbean.

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Closing the Digital Divide Requires Expanded Skilled Workforce

Multiple strategies are helping overcome the fiber workforce shortage that could slow broadband expansion.

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The Death of the Cable Modem

Could emerging fiber-to-the-home innovations such as 10 Gbps and 25 Gbps PON finally make copper-based coax cabling as antiquated as the Wright Flyer?

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The Pandemic, Education and Broadband: Lessons From SXSW EDU

Students, teachers and parents see the value robust broadband can bring to education.

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Combining Resort-Style Living With Instant-On Gigabit Broadband: Desert Color in St. George, Utah

Desert Color is banking on attracting residents and businesses with its resort-like feel and fiber-based, gigabit-speed internet. Broadband Communities thanks Ryan Coates, marketing manager for Desert Color, and CenturyLink for helping develop this profile.

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Fiber Connect 2021: If It’s Not Fiber, It’s Not Broadband

The annual, in-person event highlighted what could be the beginning of the biggest broadband investment cycle in the nation’s history bridging the gaping digital divide.

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Bandwidth Hawk: More Federal Money for Broadband, Greater Role for States

Congress seems likely to pass a national infrastructure bill that potentially could provide broadband connectivity to almost everyone. But watch the details, not just the money pile on the table. And act quickly! Easy money, public and private, won’t last forever.

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Editor's Note: Let’s Talk About Broadband – In Person

The 2021 Broadband Communities Summit brings together industry luminaries to talk face-to-face about emerging trends, challenges and opportunities.

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Transforming Aggregation Network Architecture with XR Optics

XR optics will offer fiber-to-the-home providers improved coherent-level capacity, reach and management performance with flexible deployment over point-to-point or point-to-multipoint and single- or dual-fiber architectures.

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2021 Fiber-To-The-Home Top 100

Fiber-to-the-home leaders and innovators for 2021

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Get Ahead of the Curve

Service providers can address the trifecta of high prices, substantial growth and strong demand by offering bulk internet plans to their multifamily customers.

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How Telecom Infrastructure Players Will Help Bridge the Digital Divide

Connecting more parts of the world with affordable broadband will require collaboration between governments, businesses, service providers, telecom infrastructure companies and other players.

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Fiber Provides a Competitive Advantage for Multifamily Communities

With remote here to stay, retrofitting multifamily buildings with fiber has never been more important. But it can be expensive and challenging for a host of reasons.

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Deploying Fiber Faster and Cost-Effectively With Microtrenching

This technique is gaining popularity across the country because it costs much less than other deployment methods and can be done in days instead of weeks.

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Creating a Frictionless Fiber Broadband Experience: Sunbridge in Central Florida

Offering homeowners instant-on, 10 Gbps, fiber-based gigabit service, Sunbridge, a master-planned community, stands out from other developments in Florida’s competitive real estate market. Our thanks to Alex Figuero, vice president of operations at Tavistock; Karlee Kunkle, senior communications manager at Tavistock; and Matt Hirsch, sales account manager at ADTRAN for helping compile this profile.

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Bandwidth Hawk: Stop the Infighting Over Federal Funding. Now!

With $20 billion already committed for deployments and customer subsidies, and another $45 billion quite possible, the broadband industry should be in booster mode. Broadband stakeholders must stop arguing about which technologies and entities get the most funding.

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Editor's Note: Going All in on Fiber

As broadband becomes a necessity, Broadband Communities’ Fiber-to-the-Home Top 100 winners are making big investment bets on expanding their FTTH network reach.

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Subsea Connections Enable Quick Expansion and Increased Opportunities

By leveraging subsea cables, Canadian businesses can reach new audiences, expand enterprises and connect to operations in the Asia Pacific to drive post-pandemic growth.

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Addressing Military Veterans’ Economic, Broadband Needs

State and local governments can leverage $350 billion in federal funding to provide immediate relief and long-term support for U.S. veterans and military spouses.

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Overeagerness Does Not Help Close the Digital Divide

Resolving broadband affordability and coverage issues for low-income families requires accurate, reliable data.

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Public-Private Partnerships Offer Digital Divide Solution

Communities seek to overcome the challenges of providing broadband to residents and businesses by leveraging federal funding and private capital, enabling risk sharing in the creation of networks powered by open-access infrastructure.

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Could Fixed Wireless Access Bridge the Digital Divide?

With the ability to be deployed more quickly than fiber at a possible lower cost – especially in rural, hard-to-reach areas – fixed wireless access offers service providers another tool to give more people access to internet connectivity.

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Q&A with Mignon Clyburn: How the Telecommunications Act of 1996 Unleashed a New Era of Competition

The former FCC commissioner looks back at the legacy of the legislation.

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MoCA and Translite Global Offer MDU Owners No-New-Wires Path to Gigabit Services

A case study demonstrates how MoCA member Translite Global solves gigabit networking MDU challenges for broadband service providers using existing coaxial cabling.

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How to Attract Gen Z’s 68 Million Prospective Renters

Multifamily owners and operators would do well to invest in high-speed Wi-Fi, smart technology and sustainability initiatives to appeal to Gen Z.

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WISPs Have Opportunity to Enable Broadband in More Affordable MDUs

Policy changes can remove some barriers to closing the digital divide by addressing physical impediments and facilitating bulk purchasing on behalf of affordable housing residents.

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Is It Time for MDUs to Embrace Bulk-Managed Broadband Access?

The growing adoption of bulk, high-speed internet is driving a paradigm shift in how market-rate and luxury MDU communities serve their residents.

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What’s Your Connectivity Score?

The launch of a new digital connectivity certification program for multifamily aims to rewrite the rules around the value of connectivity by providing a transparent measure.

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Streaming Is Killing Broadcast TV

Will local TV broadcasts go the way of the noble landline telephone call?

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Overcoming Speed Bumps on the Road to Fiber

Transitioning to fiber may pose a number of installation challenges, but they’re easily outweighed by the need for symmetrical broadband.

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Public-Private Partnerships Bring Fiber to Rural New Hampshire

Westmoreland, New Hampshire, is one of many rural towns partnering with Consolidated Communications to provide Gbps FTTH broadband to businesses and residents.

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Saddleback Communications’ Fiber Network Serves as Blueprint for Advancing Tribal Broadband

The tribal provider makes good on 10-year plan to replace aging copper plant with fiber in a bid to create new opportunities for residents, students and businesses.

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Public and Private Rural Broadband Can Make Financial Sense

Community-based providers that understand the market and manage capital carefully find success where others have failed.

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In Maine, Rockport and Camden Set Fiber Broadband Vision for Region

The two towns devise a plan to bridge the state’s digital divide through collaboration, advanced tools and new federal and state funding.

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Showcasing Managed Wi-Fi Potential in Multifamily Communities: Beckert’s Park in Washington, D.C.

Beckert’s Park is taking a big shot at making managed Wi-Fi a key amenity for multifamily properties. Our thanks to Judd Ullom, director of development for Foulger-Pratt; Herb Sharpe, vice president of multifamily sales for Boingo; and Chris Cauthen, director of multifamily sales for Boingo.

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Fiber: The State of Legislation

The latest round of broadband funding proposals should focus on long-term effects and return on fiber investment with an emphasis on the economy, the environment and subscriber satisfaction.

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What Biden’s Broadband Infrastructure Plan Could Mean For Multifamily

Is this finally the silver bullet broadband solution that multifamily has been looking for?

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Turn It Around, Just Like Chipotle!

Multifamily providers have an opportunity to turn a bad property owner and end-user experience into something positive by enhancing services and communicating with staff and residents.

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Editor's Note: Bridging the Main Street–Back Road Broadband Divide Requires a Local Touch

Communities engage in diverse broadband buildout strategies to accommodate long-term residential and business needs.

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Hot Products: Broadband Communities’ 20th Annual List Of Leading Broadband Technologies and Services

The latest offerings from top broadband hardware and software suppliers, distributors and service providers

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INCOMPAS 2021 Policy Summit Highlights Regulatory and Network Buildout Issues

The event covered key issues for competitive broadband providers, including the homework gap, net neutrality, broadband mapping and the FCC’s RDOF reverse auction.

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Can You Trust Your Business Case for Broadband Expansion?

Access to quality data will make or break service providers financially as they work to provide high-performance broadband to communities in the post-pandemic world.

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Three Big Telco Predictions for 2021

Chassis-based systems will end, new vendors will enter the market, and access networks will be the focus of innovation.

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Pandemic Spurs Broadband Bump

Tier-1 and rural telcos enhanced their broadband speeds and reach to meet the needs of consumers who relied on Zoom conferencing, remote learning, video streaming and the use of multiple internet-connected devices when the COVID-19 pandemic turned their lives upside down.

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G.hn Is Vital to Gigabit Broadband Services Rollouts

G.hn has emerged as competitive to fiber to the home because it now enables service providers to offer higher data rates by leveraging existing copper assets.

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The Key to Boosting Network Resilience? It’s in the Data.

Data-driven insights reduce network downtime and repair costs.

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Building Competitive Advantage With Automation

ISPs can use autonomous technologies to help networks grow with companies as their business needs and markets change.

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Gigabit Fiber Comes to Los Altos Hills

Residents of an underserved town use a micro-scale community model to get gigabit broadband.

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A Michigan FTTH Network Rebuild Sets Stage for Greater Bandwidth, Smart-City Applications

Wyandotte, Michigan’s municipal utility provider is rebuilding its hybrid fiber coax network with fiber to the home to retain and attract new residents and businesses with 10 Gbps broadband, IP video and smart IoT services.

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Rural Communities Launch Publicly Owned Fiber Networks

Rural communities are deploying fiber as a way to future-proof and meet the long-term communications needs of homes, businesses, community anchor institutions and government agencies.

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A Fiber Network Spurs a New Northern New Hampshire Tech Corridor

Planning, perseverance and strategic alliances pay off for the rural community of Bristol, NH, as it overcomes obstacles to bring better broadband and better jobs to residents.

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Broadband Essential to Post-Pandemic Economies

The results of a new survey of economic development experts indicate the changing role and value of broadband and digital technology as development tools.

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National Efforts to Close the Digital Divide Require Local Empowerment

Findings from a survey of more than 120 state and local leaders confirm a need for investment in broadband infrastructure nationwide and a new approach to funding deployment.

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Closing the Digital Divide for Low-Income and Special-Needs Residents: Main Street Connect

Main Street Connect is a new apartment complex in Montgomery County, Maryland, that offers symmetrical 50 Mbps internet services and digital training for low-income and special-needs residents via a partnership with the county government’s Department of Technology Services. Broadband Communities thanks Joseph Webster, the department’s chief broadband officer in the Office of Broadband Programs; Marjorie Williams, the department’s broadband, cable and franchise division manager; and Pierre Trudeau, CTO of Positron, for helping compile this profile.

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LEO Satellites: A Path to Nowhere?

Low-Earth-orbit satellites face various challenges meeting Rural Digital Opportunity Fund requirements.

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How the Pandemic Created Urgency for Smart-Tech Adoption

The importance of seamless connectivity is amplified as broadband and intelligent-home needs rise.

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The New Face of Economic Development

The pandemic has redefined economic development for many rural communities.

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Multifamily Broadband Gets a Shot in the Arm

Broadband remains the glue that holds the multifamily broadband industry together.

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Bandwidth Hawk: Get Ready for USDA ReConnect Round Three

As the USDA prepares for a third round of about $600 million in ReConnect rural broadband grants, here’s a detailed look at the results of the first two rounds.

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A New Transition

Broadband Communities may be passing the editor torch but will continue to provide insight and perspective on the ever-changing broadband industry segment.

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Changes in the Geospatial Industry Will Transform Broadband

Augmented reality, reality capture, computer vision, and machine learning will automate data capture of physical broadband infrastructure for service providers.

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A Service Provider’s Guide to the Three Changes in Wi-Fi

A group of new innovations – including Wi-Fi 6, 6 GHz spectrum and Wi-Fi 7 – will open new opportunities for delivering and supporting Wi-Fi services over the next three years.

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The Year Ahead in Telecom

5G may continue to grab headlines in 2021, but the telecom industry will be dominated by the edge and by automation, enabling service provider networks to adapt to shifting traffic and usage patterns.

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25G PON: The Future of Broadband

As the broadband industry looks to transform fiber to the home to fiber to everything, the advent of 25G has the potential to play a key role in connecting consumers, enterprises and cities and accelerating 5G.

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Fiber’s Community Presence Transforms Consumer, Business Opportunities

The first virtual edition of the Fiber Broadband Association’s annual conference, Fiber Connect, held in December, showcased many fiber community success stories and a variety of innovations that promise to expand fiber deployment. The show highlighted how communities are banding together and working with state and federal agencies to build out broadband in underserved communities. It also brought to light the need to increase bandwidth and provide flexible service during the pandemic, along with the problem of permitting obstacles and other challenges.

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Q&A with Gary Bolton of the Fiber Broadband Association: On Making Fiber-Based Broadband the Nation’s Priority

The new head of the Fiber Broadband Association shares his vision for the industry.

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Digital Disruption, the Pandemic And What It Means to Carriers

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven carriers to provide the platform for essential services such as telehealth and e-commerce, but providers must increase capacity and advance automation to keep pace with demand.

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Fiber Trends: What 2021 Promises For the Broadband Industry

The 2021 broadband plans of incumbent telcos, independents, cable operators and electric co-ops will have a ripple effect on consumers and businesses.

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Building a Foundation for a Broadband-Enabled Smart Community: The Reef at Winkler

The Reef at Winkler, a new luxury multifamily community owned by MJ Development Southeast and managed by Greystar in Fort Myers, Florida, leverages Boingo Wireless managed Wi-Fi services to deliver consumer broadband and smart-community applications. Our thanks to Matt Valentine, a partner at MJ Development Southeast; Ben Vander Velden, senior channel manager at Boingo Wireless; and Layne Spencer, vice president of sales and marketing for IOTAS, for helping assemble this profile.

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Multifamily Broadband Council Transitions Its Membership to WISPA

Synergies between the organizations made the choice a natural one.

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On to Bigger and Better Things

As UpStream Network becomes part of Single Digits, the company becomes part of a large, well-capitalized organization that will be better able to serve current and future clients.

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Bandwidth Hawk: FCC’s RDOF Auction Dissected

More than 5 million premises are likely to get broadband connectivity, but for some, it may not be as good as promised.

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Editor's Note: Only Connect

Broadband should bring people together, not drive them apart.

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Q&A with Charlie Vogt, CEO of DZS: Reigniting a Focus on North American Broadband, 5G Wireless and Cable Opportunities

Charlie Vogt, a telecom veteran who has led a mix of voice, video and optical vendors, took the reins of DZS in August. He aims to solidify the company’s position in fiber to the home (FTTH), 5G, smart homes, connected building/city solutions and software-defined networking.

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MetroNet Technicians Get Hands-on Training – and Then Some

At MetroNet University, technicians are trained in a faux house to mount equipment, run wire throughout the home and complete other tasks that prepare them for any situation they may encounter during real installations.

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Getting Ready for 10G in Cable Networks

The operational simplicity of capacity upgrades becomes increasingly important as bandwidth explodes.

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What the Broadband Industry Learned from COVID-19

A reflection on how networks coped with unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic, how it changed the way the industry thinks about connectivity, and how broadband networks can prepare for what’s next.

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Closing the K–12 Digital Divide in The Age of Distance Learning

Because of COVID-19 facility closures, 50 million K–12 public school students have had to learn remotely from home.

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Beyond Speed: Where Is the United States Going?

Americans know how to design and build fast networks. Now we need to identify how to use them to make our lives better.

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Open-Access Networks Make Smart Cities Viable

Open-access networks can make cities more efficient, environmentally friendly and desirable to prospective residents and businesses.

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Want to Compete on an Open-Access Network? Better Read This First!

To succeed on an open-access network, providers must treat customers well, assess the competition, and take a modern approach to marketing.

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Fiber Connect: A Preview

In its annual conference, which will be held virtually from December 14–16, 2020, the Fiber Broadband Association will bring together experts in all aspects of fiber to the home (FTTH).

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Welcome to (Virtual) Fiber Connect!

This year’s event is our best ever – 30 sessions with more than 100 of the industry’s top experts plus plenty of opportunities to network and engage.

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Service Providers, Communities Seek Partners, New Methods To Overcome Rural Broadband Challenges

At the Broadband Communities Virtual Summit 2020, participants shared stories about finding new methods to extend broadband into underserved and unserved rural markets. Following are some highlights of conference sessions focused on the rural broadband market.

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Electric Cooperatives, Investor-Owned Utilities Form New Pacts to Expand Rural Broadband

Electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities are partnering with competitive providers and telcos to close the systemic rural broadband gap.

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Public Infrastructure/Private Service Model For 21st Century Broadband Proves Worthy

The emerging model presents a scalable option for communities that lack the expertise or interest to operate networks or act as ISPs themselves but want to own and control the core communications assets in their communities as a means of securing the benefits of broadband internet. Here’s a look at the model’s business case, technical elements and risks.

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Bridging the Indoor, Outdoor Learning Experience With Fiber and VoIP: Windham Woods School

Windham Woods School employs FirstLight Fiber’s fiber-based internet and unified communications services to increase reliability and responsiveness for its growing student body. Broadband Communities thanks Matt Taffel, assistant head of school and middle/upper school director for Windham Woods School, and Chris Canney, enterprise account executive at FirstLight Fiber, for helping assemble this profile.

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Not Ready to Build? Be Broadband Ready.

A town may not be ready to take the plunge on building a network, but there are steps it can take to attract private investment.

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Making Big, Once-in-a-Decade Decisions Is Tough

MDU owners should conduct careful research before entering into new contracts with broadband service providers.

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Bandwidth Hawk: Low-Earth Orbit Satellites: Great Idea but Not for Everything – And Not Cheap

Investors have been needlessly spooked about new satellite technology. Individual satellites are cheap, but thousands must be deployed and periodically replaced. So satellites are competitive – and welcome – but only in limited situations.

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Editor's Note: Working Together

Broadband partnerships can take many forms. Communities in search of better broadband should familiarize themselves with a wide range of successful solutions.

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5G and the IT Edge: What’s the Fit?

The IT edge will play an important role in what 5G becomes and how it is optimized, but ownership of that edge remains an open question. The answer could be transformative for telcos and data center operators alike.

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CenturyLink Takes Aim at XGS-PON FTTH

CenturyLink cites time to market and network speeds as the reasons to migrate to XGS-PON as the next evolution in its fiber-based broadband plan for consumers and business customers.

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Alexandria, Virginia, Makes 911 System Remote During COVID-19

The city is the first in the nation to enable 911 staff to take and dispatch calls from home during the pandemic.

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Making Difficult Projects Financially Feasible – With or Without RDOF

Rural communities need to understand their options and make the most efficient decisions to stretch their funds.

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Emtelle and Deutsche Glasfaser Overcome Cost Challenges to Bring FTTH to Rural Germany

The partnership takes on Germany’s goals to nationally expand gigabit networks by 2025 and to expand fiber infrastructure in schools and local enterprises.

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Successful FTTH Systems Can Be Built in Rural Areas – Without Government Subsidies

It’s actually cheaper to build in rural than in urban areas, and FTTH systems in rural areas can be profitable even with very few subscribers.

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Service Providers, Vendors Create New Foundations for Multifamily Broadband, IoT

At the Broadband Communities Virtual Summit 2020, participants shared stories about how they are driving broadband into multifamily properties to enable higher speeds and provide a host of IoT services for residents and building owners. Following are some highlights of conference sessions focused on the multifamily market.

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A Boon for Network Deployers: Record MDU Construction

Private construction of multiple-dwelling-unit buildings is hitting a new record this year, with about 525,000 housing starts expected.

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More Than an Amenity: Connectivity Takes Center Stage

The pandemic has laid bare the critical importance of network infrastructure and the importance of the multifamily industry’s relationship with connectivity providers.

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New Options to Serve Gigabit to Small MDUs and Home Clusters

Gigabit services often bypass MDUs and home clusters because of the construction disruption and high cost of bringing fiber to each housing unit.

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MDUs and Device Evolution

Emerging broadband technologies and smart devices have the potential to provide strong value for channel partners and their MDU customers.

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High-Speed Broadband for MDUs: A Look at Today’s Options

New solutions promise faster installation of high-speed broadband in MDU buildings.

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TV as a Service for Multifamily Service Providers

New business models by technology suppliers are making TV as a Service a possibility for MDU specialists. Can the industry benefit from these changes, or are the quality of service risks too high?

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Managed Wi-Fi Shows New Utility for Providers, Vendors

Service providers find new opportunities to build managed Wi-Fi networks that support voice, data and building-management applications.

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Connecting Retirees With Families During COVID-19: Angelus Plaza in Los Angeles

Bandwidth reseller Commercial Connectivity Services (CCS) is giving retirees in Angelus Plaza a way to communicate with their families via fiber-based broadband. Our thanks to Jeff Skolnick, president of CCS, and Brian Higgins, CEO of Aditum, for help assembling this profile.

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Telecommuting From the Slopes: Roam at Winter Park, Colorado

Roam at Winter Park, Colorado, hopes to draw outdoor enthusiasts with its access to the Fraser River, skiing, open space and fiber-based broadband. Broadband Communities thanks Chip Besse, managing partner at the Fraser River Land Company, and CenturyLink for help gathering information for this profile.

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Bandwidth Hawk: Broadband for Everyone Means Higher Earnings Nationwide

Expanding broadband access and consumer cost-reduction subsidies is a cost-effective way to reduce child poverty. In fact, it can easily pay for itself.

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Broadband and Telehealth: Doing Well Financially by Doing Good for the Community

With demand for remote health care and mental health services on the rise, pursuing telehealth is a smart marketing strategy for broadband service providers.

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Lack of Broadband Access Linked to Childhood Poverty

There’s a new reason to provide more funds for broadband deployments, and a new tool for deployers to target the counties most in need – especially in rural areas.

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A Powerful Tool to Expand Internet Connectivity

The I3 Connectivity Explorer allows users to assemble and analyze essential data needed to assess their communities’ current situations, envision their goals, and develop action plans.

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Momentum Growing for Gigabit Wireless Access and Backhaul Using V Band and E Band Spectrum

The FCC’s support for mmWave wireless systems in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund gives rural operators another option to extend broadband services to more customers.

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Think Fixed Wireless Is Cheaper? Think Again.

Service providers bidding on the FCC’s RDOF auction should consider the long-term cost variables of using fixed wireless or FTTH to extend broadband to rural areas.

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5G: Technology That Will Release The Full Potential of FWA

Fixed wireless access is set to become a key driver in current and future 5G deployments, offering greater bandwidth and better spectral efficiency than LTE networks.

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To Reduce Network Operating Expenses, Choose FTTH

New research by the Fiber Broadband Association shows that all-fiber networks are much less expensive to operate than cable or copper networks.

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When a High-Touch Industry Goes “No Touch”

COVID-19 is accelerating tech adoption in multifamily housing. Technologies that remain relevant post-pandemic will need strong connectivity, underscoring the importance of critical broadband infrastructure.

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How States Are Expanding Broadband Access

New research identifies tactics for connecting unserved communities.

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Rural Communities Turn to Electric Co-ops for Fiber

The FCC’s upcoming RDOF auction, scheduled for October, will give rural communities a chance to bid on support for fiber-to-the-home networks.

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Broadband Models for Unserved and Underserved Communities

Communities hoping to improve their broadband service have several different models to choose from. Here’s how to go about making the choice.

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Broadband Master Planning: A Holistic Approach to Meeting Broadband Goals

By defining goals, gathering data and asking the right questions, communities can develop broadband master plans that lay the groundwork for high-speed networks.

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SEMO Electric Cooperative Takes Personal Broadband Approach

The co-op overcomes cultural challenges using a collaborative approach to bring broadband to Missouri’s underserved rural areas.

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Little Falls, Minnesota, Undertakes Grassroots Broadband Effort

As the community overcomes its business-sector broadband challenges, it looks for ways to extend services to residents who have poor broadband access options.

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Q&A With Roger Timmerman and Kim McKinley, UTOPIA Fiber: A Recipe for Rural Fiber

UTOPIA Fiber is expanding through Utah and beyond, proving that fiber-to-the-home deployments can succeed even in small, rural towns.

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Anacortes Is First City in Washington to Become an ISP

When the city wanted to upgrade radio frequency communications between its water and wastewater systems, it turned to fiber optics – and in the process installed the backbone for high-speed internet.

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Landmark on Grand River Offers Students a Better Broadband-City Connection

Landmark on Grand River offers MSU students a 10 Gbps high-speed broadband network and a connection with the rest of the East Lansing, Michigan, community. Broadband Communities thanks Richard Laing, CEO of Spartan Net, and Brian Bell, COO of Harbor Bay Real Estate, for helping gather information for this profile.

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To Stack, or Not to Stack

Stacking subsidies may be the only way to get fiber to the home built in some of the most rural areas.

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Editor's Note: Communities Can Control Their Broadband Destinies

There’s more than one way to get better broadband – but how should communities decide what’s best?

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Bandwidth Hawk: Small Is Beautiful

It is suddenly cost-effective to borrow money for small deployments, or to arrange a self-amortizing lease. Here’s why – and how.

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Is Wi-Fi Security Top of Mind? It Should Be.

Bulk managed Wi-Fi must have airtight network security plans to protect multifamily owners and residents. Here’s what that takes.

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Cleaning Up After Disaster: How to Get Fiber Networks Back on Track

Fiber networks are susceptible to failure when damaged by extreme weather such as hurricanes, floods, fires, snowstorms and earthquakes. Disaster recovery plans that include proper procedures and tools are essential to keep networks functioning.

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How Next-Gen PON Actively Transforms Networks

Service providers have a wide variety of last-mile optical PON platforms to converge multiple wireline consumer broadband, business and wireless services.

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We Are All Members of the Gigabit Society – or Are We?

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights how the U.S. broadband deficit remains a glaring and painful gap between haves and have-nots.

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COVID-19, Education and Robust Broadband

The pandemic sheds light on the gaps in online education today – and opportunities for improving it now and in the future.

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Varcomm Keeps Rural California Schoolkids Engaged During COVID-19

The independent rural telco steps up to bridge the staggering homework gap by helping economically challenged students access low-cost broadband.

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COVID-19 Widens the Digital Divide

Communications infrastructure has the power to help rural, underserved areas of the United States achieve greater success, but it means the broadband industry must ramp up its commitment to connect more of the country.

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Beyond Business as Usual: How Consolidated Communications Is Navigating the Pandemic and Preparing for the ‘New Normal’

Speed, continuity, flexibility and creativity enabled the company to meet the challenges staff and customers face as COVID-19 changed the ways people live and work overnight.

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Fiber Deployers Overcome Hurdles

As pandemic-related disruptions make the United States more dependent than ever on reliable broadband, FTTH deployers find ways to continue building out their networks.

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Why FTTH ‘Shines’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lisa R. Youngers, president and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, delivered this testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation in March.

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2020 Fiber-To-The-Home Top 100

Fiber-to-the-home leaders and innovators for 2020

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Vantage Gives Temple University Students XFINITY’s Wi-Fi, IPTV Combo

Temple University students who reside at Vantage, an off-campus housing property, have access to two new amenities: XFINITY’s IPTV and buildingwide Wi-Fi. Our thanks to Mark Caltabiano, VP of asset management for The Goldenberg Group, and Adrian Adriano, VP of strategic initiatives for XFINITY Communities, for helping compile this profile.

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Predictions for Broadband After COVID-19

The pandemic will have a lasting impact on the way people live and work through technology.

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The State of Multifamily Broadband Services During the Pandemic

Independent providers are tackling the challenge of being an essential service for MDU residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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COVID-19’s Impact on the Broadband Business

The pandemic highlights the ways broadband is essential to how people work, study and play.

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Bandwidth Hawk: Broadband: Broadband as a COVID-19 Cure

New technologies, new funding programs, and the vastly expanded need for work-at-home broadband have trashed old business plans but made many new plans possible. Here are key strategies for deployers to consider, and ways to fund their dreams and to make necessary changes in federal rules on such issues as spectrum use and lien priority.

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Editor's Note: Good Enough Broadband

Fiber to the home proves its worth during the pandemic.

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Hot Products: Broadband Communities’ 19th Annual List Of Leading Broadband Technologies and Services

The latest offerings from top broadband hardware and software suppliers, distributors and service providers. 

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Help Is on the Way: Rural Broadband Funding Update

The USDA’s ReConnect Program and the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will help bridge the digital divide and drive the community broadband movement.

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CenturyLink Modernizes Dams With Fiber

The telco is upgrading key Army Corps of Engineers dam sites to enhance reliability and provide access to high-speed cloud services.

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Closing the Broadband Student Performance Gap

The Michigan Moonshot initiative addresses the student and community broadband access gap in Michigan by leveraging the efforts of a broad coalition of stakeholders.

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From Smart Highways to Connected Ports, 5G Promises Big Gains in 2020

The technology is slated to support a broad range of applications for business and government in the year ahead.

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Wireline Broadband Network Trends for 2020

Although 5G will capture headlines, the fiber-based wireline network will serve a dominant role for supporting wireless traffic as well as providing high-bandwidth services to residential and business customers.

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Two Emerging Trends Forge The Apartment of the Future

As the multifamily industry embraces intelligent buildings and self-service apartments, the importance of telecom infrastructure comes into greater focus.

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Fresh Ideas to Deliver Gigabit Services in MDUs

Internet providers and building owners are taking advantage of G.hn technology to deliver gigabit internet access and other services over existing copper wiring or coax cabling.

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COS Systems and Nokia Bring Automated Open-Access Networks To the US Market

Automated open-access networks enable any number of independent service providers to lease capacity, so customers can choose different services at competitive prices.

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Incompas 2020 Policy Summit: Unraveling Broadband Challenges And Opportunities for Competitors, Communities

The Incompas 2020 Policy Summit, held in Washington, D.C., in March, covered key issues for competitive broadband providers. Topics included the homework gap, the modernization of UNE rules, the need for workforce training, and new partnerships between service providers and electric utilities.

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The Power of Partnerships: Scott County, Minnesota

With dark fiber and a series of partnerships, Scott County laid the groundwork for an economic boom.

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A2D Builds Open-Access Fiber in Warner Robins, Georgia

The mission of this competitive carrier is unusual for a private company: bridge the digital divide by building open-access, wholesale fiber-to-the-premises networks in underserved communities.

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Blue Ridge Mountain EMC Transforms Broadband Have-Nots Into Broadband Haves

The electric cooperative’s fiber broadband service attracts second homeowners and telecommuters to communities in the Southeast where broadband was once nonexistent.

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Passive Optical LAN Enables Operational Savings: Idaho Falls’ Thunder Ridge High School

A high school in Idaho adopts a passive optical LAN system to reduce operational costs. Our thanks to Dave Lawes, RCDD, PMP, account manager for System Tech, and John Hoover, director of marketing at Tellabs, for helping gather information for this profile.

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Don’t Miss Feasibility Study Opportunities

A feasibility study can sometimes seem like a necessary evil, but it can be a major contributor to the long-term success of a community’s broadband project.

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Local ISPs: Get Ready to Grow Your Business

New challenges for ISPs mean if you aren’t growing, you’re dying.

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Fiber Dominates First Batch of ReConnect Awards

~ This article will appear in the March/April issue. ~

The Rural Utilities Service made good on its promise of world-class service. The first ReConnect grants and loans offer convincing proof that private investment could work in unserved and underserved areas, even though Wall Street shuns them.

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Operating Networks in the Age of IoT and 5G

The advent of 5G requires equipping network operators with the visibility they need to identify and manage service and operation issues across entire networks.

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OPTECH Highlights Technologies, Opportunities, Challenges for MDU Owners and Broadband Providers

The National Multifamily Housing Council’s annual conference, OPTECH, held in Dallas in November 2019, showcased how service providers are extending fiber and other technologies into new and existing MDUs to deliver high-speed broadband. The conference also highlighted how wireless technologies – mmWave wireless, Citizens Broadband Radio Service and Wi-Fi – complement MDU wireline connections.

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Overcoming Barriers to Telehealth

A new report from the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee suggests strategies for increasing the use of telehealth.

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Why Is Providing Rural Broadband So Difficult?

Several state-level political strategies can help convince policymakers to provide support to broadband providers that wish to deploy in unserved or underserved areas.

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Measuring Broadband Quality

Everyone agrees the FCC should prioritize the construction of better broadband. What does that mean in practice? Two new studies commissioned by the Fiber Broadband Association help clarify.

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Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s

Key strategies to deploy broadband in the areas that need it most.

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Q&A with Chrystie Walker Brown, Ceo, Walker and Associates: Putting the ‘Value-Add’ Into Value-Added Distribution

The CEO of a leading distributor reflects on the challenges network deployers face – and how distributors can help them meet those challenges.

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Broadband to Make Key Transitions In 2020

Large incumbent telcos, independent telcos, cable operators and electric cooperatives set bold broadband plans for 2020.

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Clarksville Connected Utilities Sees Potential In FTTH, Business Services

Clarksville Connected Utilities enhances its economic development plans with a multipurpose fiber network to satisfy residential, municipal and business needs.

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Watch Out for FTTH Gigabit Deployment Weak Links

There’s more to delivering a gigabit connection than stringing fiber around town.

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There Has Never Been a Better Time To Invest in Multifamily Technology

Residents expect the convenience of on-site seamless connectivity. The right network is key to protection.

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2020 Broadband Market Predictions

Streaming video, managed Wi-Fi, bulk internet, smart-home technology and skinny TV bundles are five hot items that will impact the MDU broadband market in 2020.

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Editor's Note: Welcome to the Roaring ’20s

Broadband Communities authors look forward to the fiber future.

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Bridging the Broadband Availability Gap

At Broadband Communities’ 2019 economic development conference, held in October in Alexandria, Virginia, participants shared stories about how communities are improving broadband access to facilitate economic development, digital literacy and consumer choices. Following are some of the highlights of the conference sessions.

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The Value of Blown Fiber Technology in an FTTH Environment

Blown fiber systems offer numerous advantages over traditional fiber systems, including reduced material and installation costs, fewer fiber connection points, simplified repair and maintenance, and a migration path for future applications.

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Rural Broadband and the Next Generation of American Jobs

Rural broadband providers are leveraging their networks and working closely with educational institutions to provide the training necessary for jobs in industries ranging from health care to technology.

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Let’s Make Internet Access Affordable And Accessible for Everyone

At the Broadband Communities economic development conference in October, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks delivered a powerful call to make internet inequality across the United States a thing of the past. A data-driven review of what has and hasn’t worked over the past 10 years will help determine the path forward, he says.

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Private Investors Take Interest in Open-Access Fiber Networks

As open FTTH networks emerge again in the United States, investors dedicate capital to community networks that will support an array of traditional internet, telehealth and building management services.

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Municipal Fiber in Sweden

In Sweden, municipal broadband is the rule rather than the exception. That changes everything.

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Ocala Fiber Network Finds Its Residential Service Identity

Ocala adds residential internet-only FTTH services to a multipurpose fiber network that will help it become a smart city.

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Planning and Design Strategies for 5G Evolution

Building out a 5G network will require a new set of network standards and operational methods. Operators should establish a set of best practices around planning, cost-to-revenue analysis, and architecture choices.

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Wi-Fi Becomes Sound Backbone for Motion Sensing and Smart-Home Monitoring

Service providers should look to their already deployed Wi-Fi networks to support emerging motion-sensing and smart-home monitoring services.

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Springfield, Missouri, and CenturyLink Expand Fiber Network

In CenturyLink’s first major venture outside its traditional service area, it is leasing fiber from Springfield City Utilities to make Springfield a gigabit city.

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UTOPIA Fiber: A Model Open-Access Network

The largest open-access network in the United States has been a boon to its 11 member cities and is expanding to make broadband accessible even in sparsely populated rural areas.

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Rejuvenating a Building With Wireless and Automation Technology: Los Angeles’ FourFortyFour South Flower

Coretrust Capital Partners is transforming Los Angeles’ FourFortyFour South Flower with new wireless and automation technology. The property owner tapped Connectivity Wireless Solutions to install a distributed antenna system that will improve current 4G and upcoming 5G wireless technologies. Our thanks to Mark Niehus, director of strategic accounts for Connectivity Wireless Solutions, and Thomas Ricci, managing principal for Coretrust Capital Partners, for helping gather information for this profile.

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No One Needs a Gigabit Today. Here’s Why That Doesn’t Matter.

Broadband providers must take the long view and build networks that will meet consumers’ rapidly rising demand for bandwidth well into the future.

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TikTok: Friend or Foe?

Individuals and government alike worry about TikTok’s foreign ownership.

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A Targeted Way to Grow a Changing Business

The rise of streaming doesn’t mean traditional pay TV is dead. With some creative strategies, it can even thrive.

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Reimagine Delivery of Gigabit Services in the MDU or MTU

Internet providers and building owners that want to offer gigabit services should investigate G.hn technology and reuse the existing copper wiring or coax cabling.

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Journal Squared: Case Study of an Intelligent Building

Residents of this new luxury high-rise in Jersey City appreciate the high-speed internet access and other technological amenities that fiber broadband enables. Behind the scenes, an intelligent building platform makes the building operate smoothly and efficiently.

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