Posted by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson I’ve been working on a piece about the Federal Communications Commission’s request for public comment about the future of the Internet. But Wally Bowen’s June 29 article does it so much better than I can that I’m placing it here, in full, except for his illustrations. If you want to [...]

Posted on June 30th, 2010 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, FCC, Internet | No Comments »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Here in Tiny Town (at the end of this post I’ll stop being coy abut the town’s real name) our locally built and operated broadband  enterprise is profitable, and we expect to have paid back the $40,000 the August 2008 town meeting voted to lend us by some time in 2012. [...]

Posted on June 16th, 2010 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Telecommunications | 1 Comment »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Not that I begrudge this hiker his rescue, but this story makes my teeth itch. A man hiking on Granite Mountain, near Seattle, was trapped in an avalanche that swept him 100 feet from the trail. Normally, that would be the end of the story and the rest of this blog [...]

Posted on April 20th, 2010 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Cell phones, Telecommunications | 2 Comments »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Not only could we start our own tiny town’s broadband system, we did it. In August, 2008, this town of 750 people voted to borrow $40,000 to start building a wireless broadband system that we hope will eventually serve the entire town.  As it has turned out, we didn’t need to [...]

Posted on February 23rd, 2010 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Telecommunications, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Photo: flickr / rabinal The chair of my tiny town’s broadband committee is in Thailand, on a vacation that has me turning a brighter shade of kale.  (If you don’t get the musical reference, ask an elder.) She sent us this dispatch: Today I was in a remote HmongTai village in [...]

Posted on July 13th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Telecommunications | 1 Comment »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson I’ve found a new toy.  Actually, it may turn out to be a very useful toy, but I won’t know that until I’ve played with it for a while. You can play, too. OpenStreetMap is a map of the entire world, completely editable. You can take part in the editing if [...]

Posted on June 26th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Rural Issues, Telecommunications | 2 Comments »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Photo: studio.miller / flickr Anyone with a shred of common sense would know that the risk of picking up a flu virus would be greater in the city than in a rural area. Cities are more crowded. You stand on lines, get packed into buses and elevators, and stand with dozens [...]

Posted on June 5th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Health Care, Internet, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson I’ve been in WildBlue hell since last week, which is why you haven’t heard from me.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to stay online, but for now I’m using our tiny town’s broadband internet system (more about that in a minute.) My WildBlue story is, I think, emblematic  of why [...]

Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Telecommunications | 4 Comments »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson photo: beel@l / flickr For an explanation of this image, go to the end of this post. Here’s an opportunity to say what you think about bringing Internet access to all Americans, regardless of where they live.  Free Press, an organization devoted to freedom of the press and unhampered communication — [...]

Posted on April 16th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Telecommunications | 4 Comments »

By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Jonathan S. Adelstein, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, will be President Obama’s nominee for Administrator of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS), formerly the Rural Electrification Administration. The nomination requires approval by the Senate. Before he came to the FCC in 2002, Adelstein was a Senate staffer for 15 [...]

Posted on March 26th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Broadband, Internet, Telecommunications | 1 Comment »