Some towns have taken matters into their own hands, experimenting with novel solutions to connect unserved residents or give them new options to existing services.
Why it matters: Some less-populated areas may technically have internet, but it's slower satellite, or DSL service delivered over old copper phone lines. Sometimes there's only one provider charging high prices.
"It's kind of like getting electricity in the 1940s and 1950s. It's nice, but the communities that really thrived are the ones that got it in the 1920s and 1930s. If you want to be the centers of commerce and culture, you've got to have the networks."— Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance
What some communities are doing:
The catch: City-owned networks would compete with the major ISPs who operate there, and incumbents have successfully lobbied states to pass laws preventing or discouraging towns from building their own broadband networks.
