 Cedar Falls Utilities received major recognition last week as PC Magazine named them the fastest ISP (internet service provider) in America. The designation comes from PC Magazine, which does an annual assessment of the fastest ISP's in the United States based on individual speed tests. In order to qualify for the rankings, an ISP must have at least 100 submissions using the PC Magazine speed test. The magazine's editors couldn't find enough good things to say about CFU, one of the first municipal telecommunications providers in Iowa. Cedar Falls Utilities (CFU) out of Cedar Falls, Iowa, has the fastest average PCMag Speed Index we've ever seen. Even individual towns with fast speeds were never capable of this in our previous tests. (Pick your jaw up off the floor so you can start searching Zillow for house listings there.) Its PSI of 1,350.4 shows what's possible when your state doesn't block municipal ISPs that are part of a town/city utility. (They are blocked in about half of the US.) CLICK HERE to read the complete article by PC Magazine. And congratulations to Cedar Falls Utilities for this well-earned recognition!
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 After several weeks of offering service to beta testers, the Vinton Municipal Communications Utility (iVinton) is now fully operational. The final pieces of the puzzle to come into place were billing system integration and IPTV. Once those steps were finalized in early June, it was full speed ahead with service installations, which have now reached over 100 and increasing by 40 or so per week. Another landmark was reached last week: the first bills were mailed to customers. iVinton conversion contractor Patriot Communications (a CBAN Vendor Member) has their work cut out for them - over 700 Vinton homes and businesses have already placed product orders. Several hundred more requested a service drop and are expected to make the switch in the coming months.
 After several months of preliminary research and investigation, the City of Fort Dodge (a CBAN Community member) has hired HR Green to conduct a feasibility study for a possible city-owned fiber-to-the-home network. HR Green (a CBAN Vendor Member) will spend the next three months putting together a preliminary design and cost estimate for a city-owned fiber network as well as a business case that establishes if such a city network is feasible. In parallel, the City will be conducting a partner identification process. During this process, the City will seek to identify private companies that would be interested in some level of partnership with the City for operation of a gigabit network. The Request for Information for that partnership identification will be released later this week.
The next edition of CBAN's "Lunch and Learn" webinar series will explore the use of New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) as a financing source for community broadband projects. New Market Tax Credits for Broadband ProjectsModerator: Shawnna Silvius, Montgomery County Development Corp Panelists: Myriam Simmons, Ryan; Jonathan Klassen, Rural Development Partners Session summary: Many companies find it challenging to manage and take advantage of the ever-changing tax issues and opportunities available surrounding federal tax credits incentives in a timely manner. The mechanics of a NMTC transaction are complex. Several parties are involved in the transaction, allocation needs to be identified, and credit price and agreements negotiated, multiple meetings to be coordinated, and an eventual unwind of the transaction at the completion of the NMTC holding period. This session will help attendees navigate through this tough terrain with best practices and strategies with “real world” applications.
Learning Objectives After attending the session, the attendee will be able to:
 Pella Fiber, the new municipal fiber-to-the-home network in Pella, Iowa is now under construction. Crews from the principal outside plant contractor Excel Utility Contractors began work this week in the central Iowa community of just over 10,000  A directional boring rig being used on the Pella project. Vermeer, the manufacturer, is headquartered in Pella. Construction started almost two years after a public referendum that saw 91% of voters approving of the new utility. This spring Pella began accepting pre-applications from households and residents wanting a service drop, and already over 1,400 premises have signed up. The City of Pella also operates municipal electric and water utilities. Construction of the outside plant will continue throughout 2020. The City hopes to begin hooking up customers by the spring of 2021.
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Broadband Bytes NewsPresented by the Community Broadband Action Network and curated by Curtis Dean. Archives
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