Rural Broadband Archives

Much of the Southeast Spent 5 Hours without Internet

Guarding against Internet downtime is hard, and sometimes major outages can occur in vast territories over the U.S. These outages, like this Southeast Internet outage, can happen across carriers and take hours to fix.

Last week users took to social media to decry a major network outage that affected Internet and Cellphone access for a huge swath of the Southeast United States, according to USA Today. The article details reports of Internet outages that began on 3pm Tuesday, August 4, 2015 and lasted for approximately 5 hours.

According to MetroSafe, based in Louisville, KY, emergency procedures ensured police […]

By Alex Rawitz|2017-05-08T03:25:10-06:00August 10th, 2015|Battery Management Blog, News|1 Comment

$175 Million per Year to Windstream for Expanded Broadband

The $175 million is just another example of increased funding for rural broadband development. The promise of connecting the entire country with high-speed, reliable Internet access has never been more imminent.

Windstream, a leading national telecommunications provider, announced on Wednesday, August 5 that it would accept $175 million annually for seven years beginning in 2015 to support expanded broadband. The money comes from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with aim of providing 400,000 rural locations in17 states improved Internet access.

Specifically, the FCC funds are from Phase II of the Connect America Fund (CAF), an initiative to “expand the benefits […]

By Alex Rawitz|2017-06-24T03:27:21-06:00August 6th, 2015|Battery Management Blog, Internet of Things, News|1 Comment

USDA Announces $85.8 Million in Funding for Rural Broadband

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced July 20 the funding including $74.8 million in telecom loans and $11 million in Community Connect grants with the goal of increasing broadband access for rural Americans in seven states. About the funding, Vilsack said “”Broadband is fundamental to expanding economic opportunity and job creation in rural areas, and it is as vital to rural America’s future today as electricity was when USDA began bringing power to rural America 80 years ago.”

The telecommunications loans will support upgrades to fiber, electronics, network upgrades and infrastructure additions. These improvements will provide greater bandwidth, new and improved services, […]

By Alex Rawitz|2017-03-14T19:40:47-06:00July 27th, 2015|Battery Management Blog, News|1 Comment