2015

Today the National League of Cities (NLC) and Next Century Cities (NCC), in partnership with Google Fiber, announced a new program to celebrate city-led efforts to bridge the digital divide. The first-ever “Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards” will recognize city governments who are leading successful approaches to tackle barriers to internet adoption. Winners will be announced […]

I’m working this summer with a rising senior at St. Paul’s School, Sun Woo Lee, who lives in Seoul when she’s not at boarding school here in the States. It’s been astounding to hear her describe the contrast between communications in Concord, New Hampshire, where her school is, and what happens in South Korea. And

A committee in Congress yesterday held a hearing on promoting broadband infrastructure investment. That is, getting more wires put in the ground so more people can get online faster and more reliably. That’s a laudable goal that we here at Consumerist tend to cheer on. But one theme became clear from the testimonies of the

The City of Santa Monica was highlighted in a new policy agenda from Next Century Cities as a model of how best to develop a high-quality broadband network. “Connecting 21st Century Communities: A Policy Agenda for Broadband Stakeholders” cites the City of Santa Monica as an example of a city whose taken charge of its

The San Diego City Council candidate you vote for is probably more important than the presidential candidate you vote for. Let’s be frank. The strength of America’s economy and as well as our political prowess in the world are inextricably linked. Smart Cities, using information technology to transform everything they do — not the federal

The US is behind in the speed and price of internet compared to other countries, such as Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. In these countries, a high-definition movie would take around seven seconds to download on a $30-a-month connection. On a $300-a-month connection, the movie would take around 1.4 minutes for people in New York, Washington,

The US has a big and rather complicated internet speed problem. Its broadband infrastructure is woefully behind in speed and price compared to a broad swath of other countries, and much of this has to do with its tenacious commitment to maintaining the status quo: that is, giving big telecommunications companies a lot of our