Municipal networks are cheaper and faster than the ones that cable and telephone duopolists build after being given exclusive franchises to serve cities, which is why the FCC had to issue an order banning cities to stop building them — in the absence of such an order, it seems likely that most of America would end up using municipal internet connections (unlike today, when 100,000,000 Americans are served by a single ISP). But what is surprising is the political composition of these towns and cities: they are most frequently conservative-leaning, Republican-voting places. This is presumably bad news for the Congressional Republicans who are likely to have to publicly vote to support or oppose Congressional review of the Trump FCC’s Net Neutrality-killing order. This map tracks a variety of ways in which local governments have invested in wired telecommunications networks as well as state laws that discourage such approaches. Our map includes more than 750 communities (updated January, 2018): * * * * * * More Than 750 American Communities Have Built Their Own Internet Networks [Karl Bode/Motherboard]
Thus it should come as no surprise that 750+ US communities have already built their own municipal internet networks, often in the teeth of vicious, multimillion-dollar scare campaigns from ISPs, featuring such laughable lies as “this means state-funded pornography production.”
55 municipal networks serving 108 communities with a publicly owned FTTH citywide network.
76 communities with a publicly owned cable network reaching most or all of the community.
197 communities with some publicly owned fiber service available to parts of the community (often a business district).
More than 120 communities with publicly owned dark fiber available.
More than 130 communities in 27 states with a publicly owned network offering at least 1 gigabit services.
258 communities served by rural electric cooperatives. 10 communities served by one broadband cooperative. (Communities served by telephone cooperatives will soon be on the map as well).
Community Network Map [Muninetworks.org]
Despite the FCC, more than 750 predominantly conservative US communities have built their own publicly owned ISPs
