Category «Videos»

Virtual Western Mass forum on community broadband shows many towns and cities are exploring municipal networks

Monday a number of local leaders participated in a virtual forum on municipal networks. Two members of the Northampton City Council attended: Bill Dwight (councilor at large) and Gina-Louise Sciarra (councilor at large, council president and mayoral candidate). You can watch the video below: Participants also included representatives from Holyoke, Agawam, West Springfield and Springfield. …

Sanford, Maine orients its broadband project around businesses to bring growth

We spoke with the city manager of Sanford, Maine a year ago when we were looking into what cities of similar size to Northampton were doing. In Sanford’s case, they were looking for ways to attract businesses. Their municipal broadband project was centered around this need. They are making great progress (see video) and expect …

Jeff Christensen’s complete presentation in Florence

Here’s EntryPoint Network’s Jeff Christensen’s complete presentation last Thursday to members of the Northampton High-speed Network Coalition and interested members of the public. One hour and forty-seven minutes were recorded. Our thanks to Northampton Community TV for recording Jeff’s presentation. There’s plenty to dig into here if you are curious about this technology including the …

Meet Jeff Christensen this Thursday at FreePress in Florence

Jeff Christensen and his company, EntryPoint Networks, is helping communities create entrances to the Internet using municipal networks that are open to ALL service providers. This approach dramatically reduces costs, empowers ownership of networks by subscribers and allows multiple service providers to compete for your business over a shared community platform. Jeff has already met …

Think your internet service costs too much? Be glad you aren’t a business

Many of us living in Northampton are outraged by the prices Comcast charges for high-speed Internet access. Not only are their most popular plans like the “up to” 15mbps (megabits per second) not really high speed anymore, they are pricey. The 15mbps service costs $49.95/month as of this writing. Still, whether paying $49.95/month to Comcast …

City council gives final approval to mayor’s capital fund plan

Last night, the Northampton City Council gave final approval to the mayor’s capital plan for FY20 – FY25. The plan includes funding for a study of a municipal network for Northampton in FY20 and FY21. City Council Chairman Ryan O’Donnell noted before the vote that approving the plan does not obligate the city council to …

Why separating a digital infrastructure from a digital service is a great idea

This TED Talk by Jeff Christensen is good and worth thirteen minutes of your time. The idea of citizens becoming owners of their data networks instead of renters is one of this coalition’s key ideas too. It would not surprise us if in twenty years ISPs like Comcast are no longer here. ISPs like Comcast …

City Council approves in concept study of Northampton Municipal Network

Note: This post was updated to note the City Council’s approval was in concept. Last night, the Northampton City Council approved in concept funding for a study of a Northampton municipal network. The issue was discussed as part of Mayor Narkewicz’s capital fund plan, which was presented to the Council last night. By approving the …

Community networks can bring Northampton privacy online: Lee Feldscher

Florence resident Lee Feldscher discusses the powerful privacy advantages that a community network could bring residents of Northampton. Lee owns Northampton IT, a local information technology business.

Why a publicly owned network in Northampton is a good idea – Cheevers

Ryan Cheevers-Brown, a Northampton High School senior, explains why a city-owned community network has major advantages over a private network like Comcast.

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