Colorado Sun
Tens of thousands of Colorado kids still lack internet access. State stimulus dollars will only offer a short-term fix.
Colorado state lawmakers passed a bill providing $20 million in grants for districts to broaden internet access to students at a time the internet has become the main mode of learning across much of the state and country. But the dollars, part of a state stimulus package at the center of a special legislative session this week, won’t ensure every young Coloradan has a reliable internet connection. The investment is widely viewed — by lawmakers, educators and education advocates — as a short-term fix.
Spurred by the threat of wildfires, an Estes Park broadband project moved at the speed of light
As the Cameron Peak fire burned in the distance on the morning of Oct. 17, Josh Cramer sprung into action. He worried the fire might reach Estes Park (CO) and cause a literal meltdown that could wipe out the town’s internet, emergency lines and prevent reverse 9-1-1 calls. The town needed access to backup broadband. But where? And how? Cramer, network architect at Trailblazer Broadband, began making calls and learned the Platte River Power Authority was worried about the same thing.
Colorado will miss its goal to hit 92% broadband coverage in rural areas by June 2020
The state’s goal to get 92% of rural Colorado connected to decent broadband by June will miss the mark. No single factor was to blame — and it had nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic. But an overall reason is that determining the figure is a crapshoot. “There’s no place for us to go to get more accurate information,” said Anthony Neal-Graves, executive director of the Colorado Office of Broadband, which is focused on getting rural Colorado coverage to 100%.
Little-known internet network plans Western Colorado expansion to link students, nonprofits to supercomputers
GigaPop, long exclusive to universities and federal research labs, offers unthinkably fast speeds and access to the brightest minds — and their data. And now, this decades-old network wants to expand to connect as many western Colorado educational institutions, K-12 classrooms, nonprofits, health care services, and community organizations it can, from Denver to Durango and Grand Junction. The idea that an exclusive research network could spread to the Western Slope and connect students, telemedicine patients and telecommuters is being pitched as BiSON West.
Internet service in western Colorado was so terrible that towns and counties built their own telecom
Internet outages became a distant memory in April as a good chunk of western Colorado turned on a new broadband system. But this wasn’t built by a typical telecommunications company. It took a band of local governments and partners from 14 rural communities to stitch together the 481-mile network, dubbed “Project Thor.” Communities from Aspen to Meeker craved better access and affordability but also demanded reliability.
Cheap internet for low-income users spreads in Denver, but there’s more to the urban digital divide
In cities like Denver, where broadband is so prolific that availability is estimated at 99.94%, the digital divide is no longer about lack of internet service or limited to rural areas.
“The cruel irony of the digital divide” in Colorado: Urban poor are left behind even as access, technology improves
When money is tight, Elysia Lucero has to make a choice: Pay the internet bill or buy food for her family. She bought food last month. On Wednesday, she stopped by the PCs for People store on West Alameda Avenue in Denver (CO) to take care of the unpaid internet bill.