friends of FIBER

"DSL and cable networks cannot offer the speeds required by a city wishing to compete in the digital economy. Business, government, and citizens all need affordable and fast access to information networks....fiber solves the speed and capacity problems; and public ownership offers a network built to benefit the community."
Source: New Rules

Current Research

Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options

This January 2008 policy brief examines how the United States, creator of the Internet, increasingly lags in high-speed access to it. In the absence of a national broadband strategy, hundreds of communities have invested in broadband infrastructure to solve their problem locally. This report highlights how communities are continuing to invest in broadband networks - both wired and wireless - and digs deeper into these technologies and the tradeoffs of each. The solution: wireless solves the mobility problem; fiber solves the speed and capacity problems; and public ownership offers a network built to benefit the community.