Seattle City Council Votes Down Municipal Broadband Pilot Project

From Geekwire's Jacob Demitt:

"The mayor’s office has opposed the larger municipal broadband initiative, saying the $480 million to $665 million project simply isn’t possible without some type of outside funding. Seattle CTO Michael Mattmiller and Ben Noble, director of the Budget Office, wrote a letter to the council ahead of today’s vote discouraging members from supporting the pilot program.

Today’s vote essentially ends the possibility of the North Beacon Hill project for the time being. But Upgrade Seattle, a grassroots movement pushing for municipal broadband, says this will by no means end the larger debate.

'I don’t consider it a blow,' Upgrade Seattle organizer Sabrina Roach told GeekWire on Monday. 'I think more people in Seattle now have awareness that municipal broadband is possible.'”

Small Businesses Face "Internet Dead Zone" in Sodo After Sprint Shutters Wireless Network

From the Stranger's Ansel Herz:

"At midnight on November 6, Sprint began disconnecting thousands of customers across from the country from its WiMax Internet network, which it's shutting down. That's left at least two Seattle small businesses in a virtual "Internet dead zone," because their area of Sodo isn't serviced by CenturyLink or Comcast, the city's two major Internet providers, or Wave Broadband.

"It sucks not having options," Mary Milliron, the owner of Pork Shop Screen Printing, said. "They're just like, 'Nope, we don't service your area.'"

Council Will Vote on City-Run Beacon Hill Gigabit Broadband Network

From the Stranger's Ansel Herz:

"The city council is going to vote next month on whether to build one anyway. Council Member Kshama Sawant, with the support of Nick Licata and Bruce Harrell, has proposed a budget amendment to create such a project. Harrell has been advocating for years for more private broadband options on Beacon Hill, where Internet speeds are notoriously slow (comedian Brett Hamil made good fun of this fact). And earlier this year, a city-commissioned study of municipal broadband recommended that Seattle pursue a broadband pilot project.

"If the City pursues a pilot," the report, by consulting firm CTC, stated, "it should consider the project not only to demonstrate the technology and gather insight for a citywide deployment, but also to build excitement and send the message that the City is prepared and ready to bring next-generation connectivity to its residents and businesses. In other words, it might be used to help drive demand."

Municipal Broadband is Far from Dead in Seattle

From Upgrade Seattle's own Devin Glaser:

"The second option, which is getting very little press, would be to introduce a property tax to build out the network. This option has the benefit of a smaller overall price ($440 million), and allows the City to provide gigabit Internet for just $45 a month. CenturyLink currently charges about $130 to $150 a month for gigabit Internet. Let’s see them undercut $45.

This option is just one of many potential ways moving forward in which the city could build out a public network. We’re excited to work with the mayor and the city council to fine tune a plan. But we’re definitely far from deterred.

Beyond funding specifics, the report also laid out a clear explanation of why we need a municipally-owned broadband utility:"

Municipal Broadband in Seattle? New group lobbies city for public Internet

From Geekwire's Taylor Soper:

"Karen Toering was at the Rainier Beach Public Library in Seattle one year ago when a man came to the front desk, panicked and frustrated. He was filling out a job application when the library computer shut down.

Upgrade Seattle members Karen Toering, left, and Sabrina Roach speak at Wednesday’s Energy Committee meeting.

The librarian understood his problem, but couldn’t do much — library patrons were only allowed up to 90 minutes on the computer each day. The man lost everything he’d been working on, and would have to wait another day to apply for a job."

Seattle City Council hears case for public Internet

From King 5's Josh Green:

"We're starting from a different place in terms of the infrastructure," said Karen Toering with Upgrade Seattle. "The city already has in place hundreds of miles of dark fiber that we're not even using right now that were already laid in the years previous to now."

The group presented in front of the council's energy committee, saying building a public broadband system would pay off for consumers.

"What we're talking about is a competitive system where the government acts as an additional player," Toering said. "I think that consumers will see better service if they choose municipal broadband. They will see better service if they choose to go with private corporations … because the competition is very different."

Seattle activists push for city-run, high-speed Internet service

From the Seattle Time's Daniel Beekman:

"In January, the president made a speech in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which recently upgraded with new optical-fiber technology to one-gigabit-per-second Internet.

“Folks around the nation want these broadband networks,” he said. “They’re good for business. They’re good for communities. They’re good for schools. And they’re good for the marketplace because they promote efficiency and competition.”

Another way the world has changed is Seattle’s economy is booming.

When McGinn was mayor, he hoped to do more than create a community network like Cedar Falls and, closer to home, like Tacoma, he now says.

McGinn wanted to secure a property-tax levy to pay for universal high-speed access, so that turning on the Internet would be like turning on the water faucet. Building a citywide, city-operated network had been one of his 2009 campaign promises."

Group fighting for Seattle broadband to become a public utility

From MyNorthwest's Kipp Robertson:

"A widespread Internet outage in Seattle that left more than 30,000 customers in the dark prompted a grassroots organization to kick-start its campaign early.

Upgrade Seattle, a group pushing for municipal broadband, wasn't planning on announcing itself until June. The Comcast outage on Thursday, however, changed things.

"We're getting calls from folks we know who work in Capitol Hill about how they had to leave work," said Sabrina Roach, an organizer and Doer with Brown Paper Tickets. "They weren't able to get things done."

Centurylink Apologizes for Misleading Customer About Its Gigabit Internet Service

From The Stranger's Ansel Herz:

"As I've reported before, Seattle desperately needs affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service, and a lot of people are pissed off that the city's two dominant providers—Comcast and CenturyLink—haven't yet made it available in all parts of town. President Obama says he stands behind any city that wants to take matters into its own hands, over those companies' objections, by creating municipal utility-run gigabit broadband networks.

Mayor Ed Murray has said he's considering the municipal broadband option, pending yet another city-commissioned study about its feasibility that's due this month. But he's also said he wants to give CenturyLink and Comcast (both major donors to his mayoral campaign) a chance to "step up" and provide fiber-optic gigabit service throughout Seattle."

New Group Pushes for Municipal Broadband in Seattle

From King 5 News' Ted Land:

"President Obama mentioned during his State of the Union Address Tuesday the need for fast, affordable internet access for all Americans.

Some people think the best way to do that is to set up municipal broadband service run by cities and regulated much like water or electricity.

A group is once again pushing the city of Seattle to do just that."