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 120 episodes available.

Connect This! episodes:

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
May 08, 2025Charter and Cox Merge, Hotspots Under Threat, and the End of the Digital Equity Act | Episode 114 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 Angela Siefer (National Digital Inclusion Alliance) to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Topics include:
Charter and Cox announce agreement to merge, unseating Comcast as the largest cable provider in the United States
What the public-funds match for Starlink should be, when BEAD moves forward.
Funding for hot spots – a core digital equity tool that grew to new importance under the pandemic – is under threat.
Trump’s announcement that he was ending the Digital Equity Act, and the significant impact it will have if the order holds.
Join us live on May 16th 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 21min
April 28, 2025Project Kuiper, Fixing Urban Mobile, and Kentucky Wired | Episode 113 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 all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Topics include:
The first launch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper Low-Earth Orbit Internet access satellite constellation
The FCC losing (or maybe not?) its ability to levy fines
The importance of getting construction right
Fixing urban cell phone coverage
Kentucky Wired lawsuit between state-owned network and its operational partner
Join us live on May 2nd 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
April 18, 2025The Future of Passive Optical Networks | Episode 112 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 Shane Eleniak (Calix) to talk about:
Comcast’s new five-year price lock
A CNET pricing study that looks at the rising cost of access that hasn’t improved most household’s reliability
The milestones that Utah-based municipal network UTOPIA Fiber hit in 2024
The future of Passive Optical Networks, and where we go after XGS PON
Join us live on April 18th 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 16min
March 28, 2025The Most Consequential Year in Telecom History Since 1996 | Episode 111 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) with special guest Blair Levin (New Street Research) to talk about states asking the federal government for defaulted RDOF funds back, the Arielle Roth hearing, the future of the USF, and more. Topics include:
Achieving Internet for All takes time
What we learned from the Arielle Roth hearing
The future of the Universal Service Fund in an LEO World
States want their defaulted Rural Digital Opportunity Fund back
AT&T to buy Lumen?
Dig-Once Challenges
Join us live on March 28th 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 18min
March 14, 2025The Revolving Door, the Limit of Public Dollars, and Whether the Maps Will Matter After BEAD | Episode 110 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 a grab-bag of topics including:
The revolving door of government
BEAD’s grant tax
Ted Cruz going after hotspots
Minnesota’s broadband workforce law
Who will care about the federal broadband maps after BEAD?
Join us live on March 14th 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 16min

FAQs about Connect This!:

How many episodes does Connect This! have?

The podcast currently has 120 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