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The US Federal Trade Commission and several states are suing Frontier for misrepresenting internet speeds and charging customers for speed tiers that it could not deliver. In the complaint, the FTC and the states of Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin claim that Frontier capped service at speeds lower than what customers paid for. Ars Technica has a great article on the subject. CLICK HERE to read.
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 We are starting to put together an agenda for the 2021 CBAN Summit, scheduled for October 19, 2021 in Johnston, Iowa (suburb of Des Moines). And to gather YOUR feedback, we're dedicating our weekly Broadband Brunch Clubhouse room to the topic. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Clubhouse is a new audio-only social media platform that's just starting to roll out widely. CBAN has established a club called Broadband Action to serve as a forum for various topics of interest to the CBAN community. Each week (Fridays at 10:30am Central) we've been hosting a room called "Broadband Brunch" to discuss broadband topics. To this point the only way to get on Clubhouse was to get an invitation from someone already on. Well, because we have a club, we've got a link that allows you to SKIP THE WAITING LIST and get on Clubhouse in time for this week's Broadband Brunch show! CLICK HERE for the invitation to join Clubhouse (now available on both iOS and Android) and you'll be automatically directed to our Broadband Brunch. You can join the Broadband Action club and be automatically alerted to future rooms.
Sometimes you see survey results that make you scratch your head. A Morning Consult survey recently released did just that. The survey, which was touted widely by the NCTA-The Internet and Television Association (the trade group representing America's largest cable operators) 86% of respondents listed their internet service as good or excellent. And 82% were satisfied with their internet service reliability. It's unclear what methodology was used by Morning Consult to reach its conclusions, other than the fact that it represents a sample of 2,200 adults. Also, did the NTCA guide the sample selection so that the survey would make big cable look good? And, if satisfaction is so high, my are so many communities across America looking for better alternatives, including municipal broadband?
 The Clinton County, Iowa Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to conduct a county-wide study designed to identify gaps in broadband availability and facilitate new networks in those areas. Clinton County is in far eastern Iowa. Parts of the county have fiber-to-the-home coverage from local providers such as CBAN members Grand Mound Cooperative Telephone and Miles Communications and several others. Other portions of the county are covered by legacy phone companies Windstream and CenturyLink and Mediacom. County leaders have expressed interest in using a portion of the county's allocation from the American Rescue Plan for broadband infrastructure in order to facilitate the extension of broadband in areas that don't have access to service today.
 Mediacom has added an appeal to the FCC in its attempts to block the City of West Des Moines, Iowa from building a conduit network in partnership with Google Fiber. Mediacom's Iowa subsidiary filed the FCC complaint under Section 253 of the Communications Act of 1934. As cited in an article in Telecompetitor: The filing with the FCC claims that West Des Moines is imposing discriminatory burdens on competitors and denying residents in developing areas of the city and elsewhere access to low-cost broadband choices. The filing claims violation of Section 253 in three ways: The City of West Des Moines has consistently maintained that it has followed the law in its efforts to bring fiber to every home and business in the community, and that following a period of Google Fiber exclusivity, the conduit network will be available to other providers. Construction of the conduit network is underway.
It's not too late (as of this morning anyway) to sign up for the latest edition of CBAN's Lunch and Learn. At Noon Central today (Wednesday, May 12, 2021) we will be turning our focus to CBAN Provider Member Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Reedsburg Utility Services GM Brett Schuppner will discuss how RUS's LightSpeed became Wisconsin's only municipal broadband provider, how they've grown overthe years, and their plans for further expansion. CLICK HERE to register and join us today!
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning Wednesday, May 19, 2021 CLICK HERE to register FREE Presented by IAMU and CBAN Associate Member ISPN Business continuity and disaster recovery planning should be the forefront of every business during 2021. Specifically relating to issues of the current pandemic around customer support, operations and the associated lessons learned. How has the increased network traffic influenced customer installs now that customers are working from home, schooling and teaching from home and telehealth sessions increased? How should you think about redundancy from a back-end support and operations standpoint? How can your company better plan for this in the future? This session will discuss the key areas of business continuity, disaster recovery and focusing on moving forward in 2021.
After working around the edges of the Des Moines metro area, Indiana-based Metronet has announced it will build fiber-to-the-home to the capitol city of Iowa itself. Local media had previously reported that the City of Des Moines had been in discussions with Google Fiber, which has already signed a deal to build fiber using city-owned conduit in West Des Moines. But Friday's announcement appears to close the door on Google Fiber in Iowa's largest city. When announcing expansion into other recent markets, Metronet generally promised to deliver fiber to a high percentage of homes, but not 100%. The Des Moines announcement does not mention what, if any, areas of the city will not receive service.
 11 counties in central Iowa, in coordination with the Greater Des Moines Partnership, are conducting a comprehensive study of broadband availability, adoption, and consumer attitudes in the region. The Central Iowa Broadband Internet Study was launched last month and is being led by CBAN member HR Green. CBAN members SmartSource Consulting and Kielkopf Advisory Services, along with Baton|Global are performing the work for the consortium. The 11 counties are: Adair, Dallas, Guthrie, Jasper, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Polk, Poweshiek, Story, and Warren. The current phase of the project is designed to gather data about broadband in the region. A key component of the data collection is the Central Iowa Broadband Internet Survey, which asks a series of questions about residential or business internet experiences and captures speed test data for analysis. A series of public forums are also being held to gather input from citizens on the rural broadband experience, remote learning, remote health care, and remote work. If you are a Broadband Bytes reader living in one of the counties listed above, we strongly encourage you to take the survey and spread the word to your neighbors, friends, and family. The survey will be open through May 14th.
 After a L-O-N-G absence due to COVID-19 precautions, CBAN is planning to hold its 2021 Community Broadband Summit on October 19, 2021 at Stoney Creek Hotel in Johnston. As with past events, the Community Broadband Summit will be held the day before the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities annual Broadband Conference. Both events were originally scheduled for March 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19. Over the next few weeks, we'll be putting together the agenda for the Summit, linking up speakers, and reaching out with registration members. For now, please mark it on your calendar and plan to attend!
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