The author has traveled at least 15,000 miles around the state of Colorado establishing 17 Local Broadband Planning Teams covering 42 of the state's 64 counties for the purposes of improving the local broadband environment of the state's rural and remote communities. An unscientific approach to determining the speed of the internet infrastructure for a given community is to pose the question "Can you stream Netflix?" If not, then the simple assumption is that broadband, as defined by the FCC, is not available in that community. In addition, the author has collected thousands of speed test surveys from across the state and, very simply put, determined that broadband is not available for some majority of the state's rural and remote communities.
What is a community to do if broadband is not available to them? It is important for community leaders to realize that, without taking action themselves, they may be dependent on Wall Street or Washington for a solution that may not come. Those communities that realize that broadband is a utility just like power, water, roads, etc., and establish control over their broadband environment will succeed in enjoying access to 21st century healthcare, education, public safety and economic development, and, of course, a positive Netflix HD (and like services) streaming experience.
This book explains a five-step process (the "5 A's") for communities that seek to gain control of their broadband environment. Breaking a generations-long cycle of dependence on outside entities to plan, fund and build telecommunications infrastructure is not easy. In Colorado, a number of rural and remote communities have embraced "the 5 A's" described in this book and have either succeeded or are in the process of gaining control over their broadband environment.
It is hoped that this book can guide communities around the world in gaining control of their broadband environment and enjoy all that 21st century broadband has to offer. By applying the "5A's" and adhering to a three-part mantra of a) all solutions are local b) no one size fits all and c) it does NOT cost millions of dollars to bring broadband to rural or remote communities any community can succeed in gaining control of their broadband environment.
