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Gigabit in the Cowboy State
Reinvesting in their community is what differentiates independent operators from their competition. Silver Star Communications, which serves northwestern Wyoming and eastern Idaho, exemplifies the difference a local operator can make. It was an honor to spend the day with Silver Star Communications as they launched the first Gigabit communities in Wyoming. In the above interview,…
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Moving the Cheese to a Smart Rural Community
Who moved the cheese? It was Cabot Cheese as they recently moved their administration and marketing office to the service territory of Waitsfield Champlain Vermont Telephone. WCVT’s fiber infrastructure was a key element for Cabot Cheese’ move to Waitsfield, VT. Similar to many rural operators, Cabot Cheese is a cooperative consisting 1,200 family farms in…
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A Pioneer For Its Customers
“It was a long-term solution,” said Catherine Moyer, General Manager of Pioneer Communications, a Communications Service Provider (CSP) serving rural Western Kansas. Moyer was referring to their decision to offer its customers the Google platform for email and associated applications via the Google Apps Partners Edition™ program. They chose the platform both because of its…
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Competing on a Two-Way Basis
Jeff Leslie of ITS Fiber and ITS Telecom, a last-mile provider of broadband and data center services in south central Florida, explains the importance of the just enacted modification to NECA Tariff #5 that will allow rural carriers to competitively price symmetric services on their fiber to the home networks. ITS Telecom is an incumbent LEC that serves…
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“Rural America Is a Big Part of America” #Summit21
It’s one thing to talk about or even see pictures of rural America, but it doesn’t compare to experiencing it first hand. Last April at the ACA 2014 Convention, I had a chance to catch up with the lone Representative from the very rural state of Vermont. Interspersed in the above interview with Representative (D-VT) Peter Welch are some images captured…
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A Teacher Teaching Tech to Telecom
Telecom cooperative director, mother of young children, entrepreneur, technologist and educator are adjectives that could describe Carissa Swenson of TechTECS. It is this last adjective, educator, that is the common thread that binds her numerous activities. Prior to starting her own business, Swenson was a teacher with the state of North Dakota, which led to helping schools…
