Allband All-in For Rural Michigan Internet Access Community Broadband Bits Podcast 276
b"After being told by the large telephone incumbent that he could pay a nominal fee in rural Michigan to get phone service, John Reigle built a home. And when\\xa0the telephone company changed its mind after quoting an outrageous price, he created a cooperative that is building fiber networks in a very rural region of Michigan.\\xa0General Manager Ron Siegel of Allband Communications Cooperative joins us for episode 276 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. We talk about the realities of connecting the most rural unconnected, while fighting for what meager support is available from state and federal sources.\\xa0Along the way we talk about how the cooperative grew up and where its future lies in an uncertain time for local networks\\xa0as the federal government showers money on the biggest incumbents that aren't really investing in rural America.We previously wrote about Allband here.Read the transcript of this show here.We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please\\xa0e-mail us\\xa0or leave a comment below.This show is 29 minutes long and can be played on this page or\\xa0via iTunes\\xa0or the tool of your choice\\xa0using this feed.You can download this mp3 file directly from here. Listen to\\xa0other episodes here\\xa0or view all episodes\\xa0in our index.Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is\\xa0Warm Duck Shuffle\\xa0and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license."