neweconomy

Mark here: Your ability to affect change in your community is a difficult question to answer because it depends on several variables. How big if you community? If it's too big, any attempt to improve service will be met with fierce (and deep pocketed) resistance, especially if your current provider is one of the bigs. If your community is too small, you may not be big enough to put together a business plan that will cash flow without bringing other communities in the mix. We put together our 10 community project (largest town is 2,300 people and smallest is 400) but gathering stakeholders (city government, county, townships, area foundations) and putting dollars into a pot to hire a good consultant. The consultant laid out several paths we could take. You will need a champion or champions to move forward. Education about the opportunity that fiber to the home (best wired alternative) is key. We found that when our rural citizens understood the opportunity they more or less demanded that we move forward with a plan. We spent a couple of years hosting more than 100 information meetings to garner support and work on a business plan.

Deb here: One thing you can do as a city council member is to join Next Century Cities (www.nextcenturycities.org). We are a nonprofit that works specifically with communities and their elected officials to find solutions that can ensure fast, affordable, reliable broadband. And it's free to join.

From Mark: Anything that is a monopoly is a gatekeeper by definition. The business models of the large incumbents are focused on maximizing the bottom line (for the shareholders). Our fiber project (rsfiber.coop) is a cooperative. That means we are focused on maximizing benefit to our customers and not the bottom line. Additional profits in a cooperative either go back to the patrons (customers) in the form of an annual dividend or to buy down the cost of service to keep monthly subscribers costs as low as possible. Many think the inability of the large incumbents to make the necessary investment in new technology is a market failure. I'm not sure it's an simple as that, but it's not too far off the mark.

Debra here: In cities where access is sporadic, for example in low-income neighborhoods, there is an opportunity for the city to step in and provide support. Some support non-profits who build networks (like the mesh network in DC) others build free wifi (like Boston).

Boston: https://www.boston.gov/departments/innovation-and-technology/wicked-free-wi-fi

Personal question. Just looking at your wikipedia page, it's clear you've had quite a diverse career from working inside the government, to being a TV personality and columnist, to now as a leader and thinker advocating for pretty radical systemic transformation.

How did you get to a place where you were calling for systemic change? Was that always your mindset even when you were working "in the system?"