Community Leaders: Network Connectivity Handbook

Good news for community leaders! Gig.U and the Benton Foundation have published a guide: “The Next Generation Network Connectivity Handbook: A Guide for Community Leaders Seeking Affordable, Abundant Bandwidth” (PDF).

This is a handbook for city officials seeking the affordable, abundant bandwidth their communities will need to thrive in the decades ahead. Designed for local decision makers, it reviews the current landscape of broadband networks, including next generation, gigabit capable networks, outlines best practices, summarizes existing models, and presents a framework through which community leaders might begin preliminary project steps given their city’s specific strengths and circumstances. Our purpose is to lower the initial, daunting information barrier that exists between cities already immersed in these Internet infrastructure issues and those just beginning to navigate them.

This looks to be an outstanding guide that includes topics like the economic case for faster speeds, what other communities have done, a high-level strategy framework and preliminary steps, funding, and challenges.