"Lehigh Valley residents deserve internet that works as hard as they do. We're not just expanding our network—we're giving customers a superior choice. By signing up now, residents can secure early access to faster speeds, better reliability, and a customer experience built for them."
"We share The Wonderful Company's vision of ensuring the entire Lost Hills community has access to reliable, high-speed Internet," said Matthew Murphy, CEO of unWired Broadband. "We're proud to play a role in making that vision a reality. Partnerships like this demonstrate how collaboration between the public and private sectors can expand critical infrastructure and help ensure families, students, and local businesses have the connectivity they need to succeed."
Rise Internet represents who we are today and where we're headed. We believe great internet service isn't just about speed or technology. It's about responsiveness, local customer service, honest pricing and a promise to keep improving. Strong internet isn't a luxury utility confined to big city living, it's an essential service that supports work, education, health care and daily life.
A 40% reduction in USF support would mean that broadband operators couldn't continue operations on existing networks, threatening the long-term viability of broadband access in rural areas. About half of the cost of network operating expenses are due to labor costs, which rise faster than inflation in rural areas.
The firm's study, 'North American Fiber Broadband Report: FTTH Review and Forecast 2026-2030,' indicates that nearly $200 billion will be spent on fiber over the next five years, highlighting a significant investment in fiber-to-the-home services.
Google Fiber, now just GFiber, will merge with Stonepeak's Astound Broadband to create a new network provider. Stonepeak will hold a majority ownership stake, while the existing GFiber executive team will run the company. According to the pair, the move gives GFiber the external capital and necessary focus to drive its next phase of expansion, allowing it to buildout its fiber footprint across the US.
A router is the hub that sends internet traffic from the modem to every connected device. Even with a fast plan, an outdated or weak router can throttle home internet speed, causing buffering, lag, and slow loading times. This often shows up when multiple people stream, game, or join video calls at the same time.
Eight of the municipal networks studied beat their local provider competitors in median upload speed. Sherwood Broadband - in the town of the same name in Oregon - was the only one to beat its local competitor in median download speed.
The goal of the new USTelecom program is to show consumers, businesses, civic leaders, and policymakers why maintaining legacy copper for the small portion of end users is not an efficient approach. A key part of this is explaining why modern technology is better.
Wholesale access has been inherently supported by the Broadband Forum's network architecture over the past 20 years, and this project takes the best practices from copper‑based broadband to reshape and evolve them for fiber and cloud networks.
The FCC approval enables SpaceX to add 7,500 Gen2 Starlink satellites to orbit, doubling its current number and bringing its total network to 15,000 satellites. According to the FCC, the additional satellites will enable SpaceX to better provide low-latency, high-speed internet communications across the globe. The FCC approval should enable SpaceX to leverage its recently announced speed increases, which were announced on the social media platform X late last year. "Significant improvements in @starlink network performance in 2025, with median peak-hour network-wide speeds increasing by over 50%," Starlink Vice President of Engineering Michael Nicolls said in a tweet.
Ookla said the growing use of ChatGPT and other AI tools places much more demand on mobile networks than the typical activities of browsing social media and the web, watching videos, texting, and making the occasional phone call. As a result, more speed and expanded capabilities will be necessary. The report said advanced AI capabilities like AI-enabled glasses will put a particular strain on upload connections in the future.
Edge computing is a type of IT infrastructure in which data is collected, stored, and processed near the "edge" or on the device itself instead of being transmitted to a centralized processor. Edge computing systems usually involve a network of devices, sensors, or machinery capable of data processing and interconnection. A main benefit of edge computing is its low latency. Since each endpoint processes information near the source, it can be easier to process data, respond to requests, and produce detailed analytics.
The company said the expansion will create regional employment opportunities, including construction workers, installation technicians, sales and marketing staff, and community engagement personnel. Ezee Fiber also plans to establish a regional office in Salem. "I'm proud to bring Ezee Fiber's multi-gig internet service to homes and businesses in Oregon," said Matt Marino, Chief Executive Officer of Ezee Fiber. Marino said customer support has contributed to the company's growth over the past two years. The company reports a 4.9-star Google rating and thousands of five-star reviews.