Public Networks in California

Independent networks to bridge the digital divide.
An example graphic of a fiber mesh network, from FS Community.

Contra Schools supplied hotspots to students during the pandemic. The hotspots were expensive and unreliable, so many families still lacked Internet access. West Contra saw that their CARES act funding, which allowed them to purchase the hotspots, was going to run out. They would have to pay $900,000 a year to keep the hotspots going. They are currently in a consulting phase to identify test areas, and they are hoping to build fiber networks large enough to cover students in Richmond and San Pablo if the tests go well. They have long term plans to expand this project to other schools and communities if it is successful.

A map of the East Side Community Wifi network, where warm colors indicate higher broadband areas.

East Side Union High School District has been working with the city of San Jose to bring Internet to students. They have been building a fiber network since 2016, building out to neighborhoods that have a high concentration of students without access. For students in other neighborhoods, they have been giving them hotspots as a temporary solution. They are getting free electricity from PG&E, and have been able to use existing fiber connections at light poles/traffic lights to build into areas without contracting private telecommunications companies.

A map of Oakland City Wifi's main fiber backbone.

The city of Oakland CA has been expanding their city network to accommodate students and families that lack adequate Internet access as part of their Digital Inclusion plan. They have been building fiber, with one central “backbone” of fiber that runs through the city, from which the city can then add more connections to neighborhoods as they get funding and identify resident needs. They plan on also basing Wifi connections around streetlights, as they know they can connect to the city powergrid from these streetlights. The city is planning on adding more hotspots on streetlights to specific low-broadband neighborhoods.

King County had an existing wireless network, KingsNet. KingsNet was started in 2009, as a 3g WiMax network. They have started switching over to a LTE network in order to increase speed. They used E-Rate funding, a government funded school support program, to build these networks, and supplied families with routers. When E-Rate funding fell out, the Kings County Office of Education elected to keep KingsNet going out using county funding, because it was integral to the lives of the students. They have since expanded to offering routers to other school districts.


Applicability in Northfield

Theoretically, a municipal network would work great for Northfield. They have high start up costs, and municipal networks can have some legal barriers, but if we were able to overcome them, this would be a viable long term solution, where the prices and future construction would be in the hands of the community, instead of a business. However, it is very unlikely that Northfield would be able to get over the legal issues. In Minnesota, municipal networks are (for the most part) illegal. As long as this is the case, municipal networks are not a viable solution for Northfield.