Thursday, October 1st, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW ORLEANS, October 1, 2009 – Top officials from Connected Nation, BroadbandCensus.com and One Economy will discuss key issues in broadband data and mapping – including controversial questions about public disclosure of carrier information on broadband maps – here on Thursday.
The debate will take place at the annual conference of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and will feature Phillip Brown, National Policy Director of Connected Nation; Drew Clark, Executive Director of BroadbandCensus.com; and Ken Eisner, Managing Director of One Economy Ventures.
The
description for the panel reads as follows:
It has been said that you can't analyze what you can't measure. Broadband mapping has the potential to provide policy makers and citizens with information needed to develop effective strategies around broadband deployment and adoption. Mapping projects in a number of states have raised concerns about transparency, conflicts of interest, and the accuracy and usefulness of the information developed. Speakers representing a variety of interests will discuss pros and cons of the nation's mapping projects and will evaluate the Federal Government's efforts to date.
BroadbandCensus.com has long urged that broadband mapping be conducted in a public and transparent matter, and that broadband data must also serve the...
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Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
For Immediate Release
Editor's Note: This press release, issued earlier this evening, is reprinted here as a public service by BroadbandCensus.com. Broadband Census Data LLC is a memer of the U.S. Broadband Coalition, and Executive Director Drew Clark serves as co-chair of the Metrics Working Group, with Rob Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. For more information about the news and data operations of BroadbandCensus.com, please see below.
WASHINGTON, September 23, 2009 – The U.S. Broadband Coalition, an unprecedented coalition of more than 160 organizations pressing for a comprehensive national broadband strategy, announced the release of its report at the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, September 24, 2009.
The non-profit coalition includes large and small communications providers of all kinds, high technology companies, manufacturers, labor unions, educational institutions, utilities, consumer groups, public interest organizations, units of state and local government, and many other stakeholders committed to advancing America’s broadband future.
The “Report of the U.S. Broadband Coalition on a National Broadband Strategy,” to be released at 9 a.m. in the main commission meeting room of the FCC, is the culmination of more than 18 months’ of effort to coalesce a wide variety of views into a single document.
The report...
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Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Map Presents a Census Block-by-Census Block Display of Availability, Technologies and Carriers Offering Broadband Within and Around Columbia, S.C.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, September 2, 2009 – BroadbandCensus.com announced that it has released a beta version of a public broadband map of Richland County, South Carolina, which is available at
http://BroadbandCensusMaps.com.
The map presents a Census block-by-Census block display of the availability, technologies and carriers offering broadband service within the area of Columbia, S.C. This beta map continues to be under active development by BroadbandCensus.com, and feedback is encouraged.
Unlike some other broadband maps in existence, the Broadband Census map includes carrier data at the Census block level. The map presents a detailed footprint of the major cable provider, Time Warner, and the major digital subscriber line provider, AT&T.
For each of the 8,078 Census blocks in Richland County, the map displays the presence or absence of broadband, the speed at which the broadband is promised, and the carriers that offer the service.
Because the interactive map renders thousands of polygon data within the display, load times can be long. Additionally, the beta map is best viewed using the Firefox or Safari web browsers.
As part of its efforts to create the broadband map, BroadbandCensus.com also...
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Thursday, June 11th, 2009
In Federal Communications Commission Filing, BroadbandCensus.com Urges Transparency in Identifying Speeds, Prices, Availability, Reliability and Competition in Broadband Marketplace
'A National Broadband Plan Must be Accompanied by a National Broadband Mashup'
Press Release
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2009 - In comments filed before the Federal Communications Commission, BroadbandCensus.com said that basic broadband data -- information about the speeds, prices, availability, reliability and competition of local service -- is not proprietary and should be part of a public and transparent national broadband database.
The comment, filed by BroadbandCensus.com Executive Director Drew Clark, said that the FCC should take a two-fold approach to broadband data as part of its national broadband strategy. First, the FCC should publicly release the basic broadband data collected from broadband carriers by the agency. This basic data should include the carriers that operate within each Census Block, together with the speeds and technologies that they offer.
Second, whether or not the FCC releases this basic, public data, the agency should take a consumer-focused approach to broadband data by encouraging efforts to independently collect broadband data from consumers, rather than merely relying on broadband providers. This latter approach will allow internet users to independently verify carrier data.
The resulting publicly-available repository of broadband data will...
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Saturday, January 10th, 2009
BroadbandCensus.com Executive Director Drew Clark to Co-Chair Working Group with Robert Atkinson of Information Technology & Innovation Foundation; Other Groups Announced
Press Release
WASHINGTON, January 10, 2009 - The National Broadband Strategy "Call to Action" on Friday announced the co-chairs of six working groups that are seeking to craft national policies to help promote universal broadband throughout the United States.
BroadbandCensus.com Executive Director
Drew Clark will co-chair the working group on "Metrics" together with
Robert Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
Since its launch in January 2008, BroadbandCensus.com has been at the forefront of ensuring that information about local broadband deployment, competition, speeds and quality of service is available and publicly usable.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank has been been a key player in the effort to formulate and promote public policies advancing technological innovation and productivity.
The National Broadband Strategy initiative has has been described as "an unprecedented display of consensus, a broad and diverse array of groups concerned about America's broadband future," and an effort aimed at "providing President-elect Obama and the incoming Congress a policy framework for a comprehensive national broadband strategy."
The Working Group on "Metrics" has the following charge:
Timely, accurate,...
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Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Press Release
Presentation, 'Legislative Update: Broadband Data Improvement Act,'by Drew Clark, Executive Director, BroadbandCensus.com
SAN JOSE, November 6 - Below is the Power Point Presentation made by BroadbandCensus.com at the Federal Communications Commission-National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioner's Joint Summit: Connecting America.
Please note: The bottom of some of the slide are clipped in the presentation below, but all slides are visible by clicking through on the presentation below.
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Press Release
Executive Director Drew Clark to Provide Legislative Update on Broadband Data Improvement Act
WASHINGTON, November 3 - Drew Clark, Editor and Executive Director of BroadbandCensus.com, will speak in Silicon Valley on Thursday, November 6, at the
summit on broadband data sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Clark, the journalist who launched BroadbandCensus.com in January 2008 as a means of providing the public with an objective measure of where broadband is available and which carriers offer it, was invited to speak at the "Broadband Summit: Connecting America." The joint FCC-NARUC summit is co-located with the Wireless Communications Association Symposium and Business Expo in San Jose, Calif.
Clark will provide a "Legislative Update: Broadband Mapping Bill," from 12:40 p.m. to 1:10 p.m. He will speak in particular about the Broadband Data Improvement Act, S. 1492, which passed Congress and was signed into law by President Bush on Friday, October 10. He will also address other versions of broadband data legislation.
Clark's remarks at the conference will be preceeded by FCC Chairman
Kevin Martin, FCC Commissioner
Deborah Taylor Tate, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner
Larry Landis, California Public Utility Commissioner...
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Saturday, November 1st, 2008
Blog Entries
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, November 1 - BroadbandCensus.com applied on Saturday for a News Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The application, which can be viewed
online at the newschallenge.org web site, lays out a plan of action for the future work of this web site.
Here's the text of the application:
Project Title:
BroadbandCensus.com is Crowdsourcing Internet Access Community-by-Community: It's the Building Block
Requested amount from Knight News Challenge:
$900,000
Expected amount of time to complete project:
1 [year]
Total cost of project including all sources of funding:
$1,100,000
Describe your project:
You are probably reading this on a computing device. You probably have either a wired or a wireless internet connection. You probably have broadband access. What else do you know about your broadband connection? How well does your connection work? Is your carrier limiting your bandwidth? Do your neighbors have the broadband speeds and services that they need to connect to you?
BroadbandCensus.com wants you to know everything about your broadband options. We want communities to know. The internet is international, but all broadband is local. BroadbandCensus.com understands this. We are building the knowledge base about broadband – through data, news and now through video. Just as the market for...
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