The city of Palo Alto, California, was one of the very first cities to explore building their own broadband network. In fact, they laid dark fiber infrastructure as early as 1996 and used a limited portion of that network to conduct fiber trials. After many years of discussion, they temporarily put expansion plans on hold back in 2004 (see more details). The city received just two serious responses to a recent RFP after more than 100 companies expressed initial interest. On Monday, the city voted 5-1 to pursue a FTTH build with one of those companies, 180Connect, who'll shoulder the majority of the $41 million build price.