Truckee, CA Gets Green Light for Muni Fiber
The Truckee Donner Public Utility District won a court case against the incumbent broadband provider clearing the way for a new municipal fiber system in the California town of under 14,000. It looks likely that they will partner with SureWest Communications, a medium telco, to build and operate the network. Seems more like replacing one incumbent with another if you ask me.
(See full article here.)
Vermont Passes New Universal Service Law
Vermont's Legislature passed a bill requiring universal broadband and cell phone service. The mountainous state is notorious for cell phone dead spots and most of the rural state doesn't have access to broadband services, even under the weakling 200K definition. It includes provisions for faster approval for new facilities (including towers) as well as gives municipalities the right to build their own communications systems for residents. Sounds like Vermont is going to be ahead of the curve on this one.
(See full article here.)
Qwest Moves Closer to FTTx
Remember how Qwest had been inquiring about a FTTH, FTTP or FTTC network a few months ago? The word on the street is that they're now going to announce a big purchase of equipment that supports all three technologies for rolling out a brand new fiber network. It'll probably be a lot like UTOPIA… except move expensive, slower and with crappy customer service.
(See full article here.)
Moving to New Digs
If you’re seeing this, welcome to the new webserver! Due to traffic demands on the old server, I’ve relocated FreeUTOPIA.org to Slicehost. This should mean a definite increase in both speed and availability. Be sure to let me know if you experience any oddities.
As a side note, I’ve also migrated to WordPress 2.1 to improve security and the features available. It takes a lot of work to get that accomplished (especially since botched database installs are a common complaint), though I think I have everything worked out now.