Zawodny:

5 Mbps down /2 Mbps up = $39 15 Mbps down /2 Mbps up = $49 30 Mbps down /5 Mbps up = $199

Via Glenn Fleishman:

Read the full Mother Jones article on municipal broadband (enter code MJZL6Y to read full article): The fine folks at Mother Jones sent me an access code and permission to post it so you can read the full article they published in this month’s issue about the Tri-Cities, Illinois, battle with SBC and Comcast on one side and the city’s business-backed goals of providing municipal broadband on the other.
Interestingly, the Tri-Cities now have substantially greater broadband services: the two incumbents spent hundreds of thousands to defeat two ballot initiatives, and then probably tens of millions to upgrade their networks.

David Isenberg has more on Japan continuing to kick our butt in FTTH (fiber to the home), including some interesting numbers to single family homes.

Hmmm. I wonder if Shawano will have WiFi before the Madison (Dane County) Airport?

Very useful interactive map that includes project and legislative information. Wisconsin comparatively, has very little activity, despite recent stories that we are at the “center of the wired world”.

Mother Jones covers SBC & Comcast’s efforts to “scare local voters” to vote against a broadband initiative. Seems counter-intuitive. Read on. Via Glenn. More on municipal efforts to promote local broadband.

LA Mayor releases a report on gaps in broadband coverage. We’re still working on getting rolling in Madison. When on travel, I continue to be pleasantly at the amount of free wifi available around the country.

Talk of the nation covers municipal networking. This was a useful show – very pro consumer/municipal broadband.

Andrew Wallmeyer argues that “Madison-area consumers have a ringside seat” to telco battles between cable, phone and internet firms. Is this true? I think not. Here’s why:

• Madison lacks wifi at the airport – lagging other communities who have had this for years.
• There is no production fiber to the home or premise happening here.
• Currently available “broadband” services (Charter cable, SBC DSL and TDS DSL) substantially lag those available in Japan & Korea, in terms of performance and cost.

I have quite a few links on broadband – click to check them out.
I think Wallmeyer should revisit this with a comparison of services available elsewhere – in the US and around the world. Fiber is coming to the home, in a few places, just not Madison. WiFi is widely available in some communities now, just not generally here. We’re behind, it’s as simple as that.

UPDATE: Japan’s NTT is now offering 100mpbs to the home for Y4,700/month ($45)…. We’re further behind….

Todd Wallack visits with Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg:

The head of the country’s largest phone company ridiculed San Francisco’s interest in building a municipal Wi-Fi network that is designed to offer cheap or free Internet service throughout the city.

“That could be one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chief executive officer of Verizon Communications, during a meeting with Chronicle editors and writers on Friday. “It sounds like a good thing, but the trouble is someone will have to design it, someone will have to upgrade it, someone will have to maintain it and someone will have to run it.”

I might agree with Seidenberg IF the incumbent telco’s provided true broadband, which they don’t (we’re stuck at very slow, costly speeds compared with Japan & Korea).