Connect This!

By Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Connect This! offers an irreverent and inside look at broadband tech and policy. Each week features people with direct experience building networks or working on policy to improve broadband access. We... more

· Technology

22 ratings

FAQs about Connect This!:

How many episodes does Connect This! have?

The podcast currently has 125 episodes available.

Connect This! episodes:

October 30, 2025The Retreat from Fiber, Local Government Inaction, and 8 Million Americans Offline | Episode 123 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (Tak Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Topics include:
Now that final Benefit of the Bargain numbers are in on the BEAD program, the trend is clear: tens of thousands of locations will no longer see any federal solution, and nearly a million more will get worse and more expensive satellite service rather the fiber.
With BEAD now a shadow of what it could be, it’s never been more apparent that local governments need to step into the gap. Where are they all?
A new report claiming just 8 million Americans remain offline as of 2025 shows the trouble of asking too simple of questions and accepting too simple of answers in describing the problem of the digital divide.
Join us live on October 24th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 11min
October 03, 2025Big Apple Connect, Pole Attachments, and DEA Lawsuits | Episode 122 of the Connect This! Show
Edit: We encountered a technical issue with the streaming platform for the show; it resolves around 1:20.
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (Tak Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and special guest Angela Siefer to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. On the docket today:
Cedar Falls Utilities in Iowa shuts down its cable TV offerings
Big Apple Connect in New York City continues to give public dollars to broadband monopolies instead of implementing a structural solution
A new report says SpaceX has foreign investors in China
West Virginia wants to build a pole attachment database, but investor-owned utilities are pushing back
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance has filed its lawsuit against the Trump Administration for cancelling the Digital Equity Act
Join us live on October 10th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 11min
September 26, 2025Secret Fiber Caps and Fiber Platforms | Episode 121 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter joined by regular guest Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and special guests Josh Johnson and Donny Smith, from Fibersmith – an OSS/BSS design and management firm for operators around the country. Topics of discussion include:
Secret fiber caps from NTIA to push BEAD funds toward LEO.
A foiled cell attack in New York City.
A deep dive on Fibersmith, and the things small and medium-sized operators need to think about long before they put their first shovel in the ground.
Join us live on September 26th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 12min
September 05, 2025Fiber Acquisitions and the New BEAD Numbers Are In | Episode 120 of the Connect This!
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Topics include:
Starship launch success
T-mobile buys USI Fiber in Minneapolis
New BEAD numbers show a shifting of public dollars away from fiber and towards satellite
AT&T buys Echostar spectrum; the 4th carrier is dead
It’s ISPs versus the music industry, with your privacy and connection on the chopping block
Join us live on September 5th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 10min
August 05, 2025 Digital C Goes to Detroit and the Tech Spread Coming to BEAD | Episode 119 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) is joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and special guests Gigi Sohn (American Association for Public Broadband) and Josh Etheridge (EPC) to talk about Mountain Connect, T-Mobile continuing to buy up ISPs, Digital C going to Detroit, antitrust, and more.
Join us live on August 13th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
0min
July 30, 2025Who Benefits from this Bargain? | Episode 118 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and special guest Heather Mills (Tilson) to talk about the FCC giving out participation trophies to the monopoly providers, how state offices are responding to the BEAD guidance changes, disaster response and resilient Internet networks, and more. The full list of topics includes:
Charter Spectrum calling deliberate fiber cuts “domestic terrorism”
FCC Chair Brendan Carr further abdicating the commission’s responsibility to the American people
How states are responding to the Benefit of the Bargain BEAD changes
FEMA’s role in rebuilding our Internet networks
California’s affordable broadband bill getting pulled
Whether T-Mobile has enough fiber to support its plan for the future
Join us live on July 24th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 11min
July 17, 2025 The Future of Active Ethernet | Episode 117 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) to talk about right-of-way fees, electric cooperatives, and the future of active Ethernet networks in the United States.
Join us live on July 3rd at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 17min
June 30, 2025California’s Affordable Broadband Play and Wi-Fi Under Threat | Episode 116 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband), Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and special guest Shayna Englin (California Community Foundation) to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Topics include:
California’s attempt to enshrine affordable broadband access principles for qualifying families into law
The recent national DNS outage, and what it tells us about lack of investment by monopoly ISPs
Wi-Fi under threat from lobby interests looking to cash in
Technical questions from readers
Join us live on June 20th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 14min
June 10, 2025 BEAD Overhauled | Connect This! Show
Catch an emergency episode of the Connect This! Show, with host Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) joined by Lori Adams (Nokia), Heather Mills (Tilson), and Blair Levin (Brookings) to talk about the raft of fundamental changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Act (BEAD) announced by NTIA last Friday. States are required to rebuild and resubmit their proposals to the federal agency on a 90-day sprint after making core changes just as money for construction was about to go out the door.
Join us live on June 9th at 4pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 7min
June 10, 2025 BEAD Falls Apart | Episode 115 of the Connect This! Show
Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting), and special guest Josh Etheridge to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Bountiful, Utah and Oakland, California announce newsworthy milestones to improve connectivity for households, but the big news is looming structural changes to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. And wouldn’t you know it, but NTIA releases them just ten minutes into the live show.
Join us live on June 7th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.
Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.
Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.
...more
1h 22min

FAQs about Connect This!:

How many episodes does Connect This! have?

The podcast currently has 125 episodes available.

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Connect This!

FAQs about Connect This!:

How many episodes does Connect This! have?

Connect This! episodes:

FAQs about Connect This!:

How many episodes does Connect This! have?

More shows like Connect This!

Community Broadband Bits

Pod Save America

The Daily

Light Reading Podcasts