Broadband act could expand service in Chaffee County - TheMountainMail.com: Free Content: As introduced, the bill’s language would define unserved areas as: areas outside a municipality or a city with less than 5,000 people in which a majority of households do not have access to at least one satellite and one non-satellite broadband provider.Summed up in two words: Useless and laughable. It basically tells Coloradans with no other premise Internet options to go suck a satellite and be happy with the crappy customer experience, bandwidth "fair access" caps and poor value. A bill only the incumbent preservatives could love. Indeed, they probably drafted it.
Analysis & commentary on America's troubled transition from analog telephone service to digital advanced telecommunications and associated infrastructure deficits.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Colorado measure would bar Internet infrastructure subsidies to small towns served by satellite ISPs
Event highlights scarcity of high-speed Internet in rural areas | The News Leader | newsleader.com
Event highlights scarcity of high-speed Internet in rural areas | The News Leader | newsleader.com: During a break, Korte explained how he, his wife, and their business, The Balance Group, switched to 4G cellular broadband service. However the data limits cellphone providers set make business more expensive, Korte said.
They’ve had to stick with it, though, and absorb the cost from exceeding data caps.
“I go to the (cellphone provider) and say, ‘Well, we need 300 gigabytes a month. That would probably do it.’” Korte said. “They laugh at it, and tell me to go to the cable company.”
Like many residents in Augusta County and those served by the two-dozen other rural, local government officials gathered for the workshop, cable service doesn’t extend to his home.
This pretty well sums up the sorry state of Internet infrastructure in much of the United States and trying to get by on mobile wireless.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The case for overbuilding incumbent telcos and cablecos
Twentieth century, metal wire-based legacy incumbent telephone
and cable companies naturally don’t like it when progress inevitably emerges in
the form of 21st century fiber optic to the premise (FTTP) telecommunications
infrastructure offering the proverbial better (and faster) mousetrap as well as
protection against technological obsolescence. Particularly if they have opted
not to construct it and someone else is planning to do so. Especially if the
new fiber infrastructure benefits from government subsidies. No fair, incumbents
protest. That’s government subsidized competition that picks winners and losers
and we’ll lose.
That argument cuts both ways, asserts Christopher Mitchell of
the Minnesota-based Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR), one of my
favorite incumbent spin busters. Incumbents have benefitted from favorable governmental
policies that have been in place for decades including the availability of high
cost subsidies and public policy that permitted them to maintain a monopoly.
Not allowing government subsidization of FTTP infrastructure built by
non-incumbents in the footprints of the incumbents, Mitchell suggests, is a
double standard.
Given that telecommunications infrastructure must be broadly
dispersed in order to be economically viable and adhere to Metcalfe’s Law,
Mitchell accurately notes FTTP infrastructure builders must be able overbuild outmoded
incumbent infrastructure when they opt not to upgrade to FTTP -- and receive
government subsidies for doing so if available. That’s eminently fair and good
old American progress – the same progress that brought electricity to large
swaths of the nation in the 1930s when market forces alone could not do so.
As for the incumbent argument they will come out losers,
Mitchell observes incumbents have made losers out of nearly 20 million
Americans who according to a 2012 Federal Communications Commission estimate live
in neighborhoods incumbents redlined and declined any wireline premises
Internet connectivity, leaving them to dialup and satellite.
Click here
to hear Mitchell and ILSR colleague Lisa Gonzalez elaborate in a 13-minute
podcast.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
U.S. at inflection point on premises Internet infrastructure
The United States is at an inflection point relative to
premise Internet infrastructure serving homes and small businesses. The “walled
garden” business model of legacy incumbent cable and telephone companies has
reached the limits of its reach. Connecting the remaining 20 to 30 percent of
premises outside the wall isn’t economically practical as testimony at a U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee hearing this week in
upstate New York illustrates.
Mark Meyerhofer, a government relations
administrator for Time Warner Cable, said while there has been a change in the
national mindset that favors a greater focus on unserved areas, nevertheless
“It remains extremely challenging to extend broadband to most rural areas of
New York State, where geographic isolation and topographic issues make it
economically infeasible for companies to reach these areas,” Meyerhofer explained.
“Investments simply cannot be recouped before it is time to reinvest.” Although
Meyerhofer was specifically referring to only one part of the country, his
testimony applies elsewhere across the nation including many suburban and exurban areas where service gaps exist. That economic reality of the
walled garden Internet also applies to Google Fiber, which plans to expand into
several metropolitan areas.
The other challenge faced by the legacy
incumbent providers (but not Google Fiber) is the ever growing demand for more
Internet bandwidth. It’s similar to the problem facing manufacturers of silicon-based
microchips that eventually will reach a physical barrier where no additional
circuitry can be crammed onto the chip. That will require the incumbent providers
to change out their metal wire-based premise service infrastructure with fiber
optic connections to accommodate the additional bandwidth demand and stave off technological
obsolescence. But barring a revolutionary breakthrough that significantly reduces
the cost of constructing fiber to the premise infrastructure, their
shareholders aren’t likely to approve of such large capital expenditures that
could cut into dividends as shown by Verizon’s 2012 pullback of its FiOS fiber
to the premise product offering.
Given the growing consensus that the
so-called “last mile” premise Internet infrastructure challenge can’t be met within
a commercial framework, it strongly suggests other business models including a nonprofit
cooperative or public works approach similar to that used for roads and
highways will be necessary in many areas of the U.S.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Good wireline Internet connectivity becoming a job requirement
One clear indication of the role good Internet connectivity plays in the economy is starting to show up in job postings. This telecommute position with Aetna, for example, states the following job requirements:
Minimum internet requirements for a telecommuting position include:
· A separate wired Internet connection
· Minimum download speed of 6MB
· Minimum upload speed of 1MB
· Satellite and other wireless Internet are NOT supported
Minimum internet requirements for a telecommuting position include:
· A separate wired Internet connection
· Minimum download speed of 6MB
· Minimum upload speed of 1MB
· Satellite and other wireless Internet are NOT supported
Monday, March 17, 2014
Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son: A New Visionary In Our Midst?
IVP Capital TMT Advisory - SpectralShifts Weekly
I'm skeptical of Son's assertion that wireless is the solution to the U.S. premises fiber Internet infrastructure deficit. What's surprising is the incumbent telcos have been trying to sell this canard to divert attention away from their own wireline premise shortfalls. That's hardly disruptive or visionary.
What would impress me is breakout, actionable thinking that offers a functional alternative business model that would enable rapid build out of universal fiber to the premise.
I'm skeptical of Son's assertion that wireless is the solution to the U.S. premises fiber Internet infrastructure deficit. What's surprising is the incumbent telcos have been trying to sell this canard to divert attention away from their own wireline premise shortfalls. That's hardly disruptive or visionary.
What would impress me is breakout, actionable thinking that offers a functional alternative business model that would enable rapid build out of universal fiber to the premise.
Telecom Giants Drag Their Feet on Broadband for the Whole Country - Newsweek
Telecom Giants Drag Their Feet on Broadband for the Whole Country - Newsweek
Of course they drag their feet; it's their fiduciary duty to shareholders to do so. This story spotlights the inherent conflict in relying on the private sector alone to construct telecommunications infrastructure needed by a much larger constituency: the American public.
Despite their claims of having invested billions in telecom infrastructure, investor-owned telcos simply don't have enough cash to finance the transition of their networks from the old, copper POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) cables to modern, fiber optic-based networks. Given that circumstance, they are leaving the old networks in place throughout most of their service territories. But since these networks are decades old and require a lot of costly maintenance, telcos are asking regulators to relieve them of the duty to maintain them to ensure every premise can get telephone service, sparking consumer push back.
Of course they drag their feet; it's their fiduciary duty to shareholders to do so. This story spotlights the inherent conflict in relying on the private sector alone to construct telecommunications infrastructure needed by a much larger constituency: the American public.
Despite their claims of having invested billions in telecom infrastructure, investor-owned telcos simply don't have enough cash to finance the transition of their networks from the old, copper POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) cables to modern, fiber optic-based networks. Given that circumstance, they are leaving the old networks in place throughout most of their service territories. But since these networks are decades old and require a lot of costly maintenance, telcos are asking regulators to relieve them of the duty to maintain them to ensure every premise can get telephone service, sparking consumer push back.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Nebraska Broadband Study: Broadband Access Creates Jobs, Revenue | CivSource
Nebraska Broadband Study: Broadband Access Creates Jobs, Revenue | CivSource
It's about time for the cooper/coax cartel of the incumbent telco and cablecos to take their bootheels off the throat of the 21st century digital economy.
It's about time for the cooper/coax cartel of the incumbent telco and cablecos to take their bootheels off the throat of the 21st century digital economy.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Iowa governor sets goal of universal premise Internet service
Iowa Poll: Aid for broadband gets Iowans' OK | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com: While adoption and satisfaction are relatively high, Gov. Terry Branstad’s Internet expansion initiative aims for 100 percent.This should be a goal for every state. But setting a goal without a realistic plan to reach it will only produce disappointment. Branstad's plan for getting there is based on providing tax incentives to spur the construction of necessary infrastructure. Problem is tax incentives alone cannot overcome market failure -- when there is insufficient economic incentive to invest in infrastructure reaching every home and business. To reach that goal, Iowa and other similarly situated states would have to form and fund state Internet infrastructure authorities to subsidize municipal networks and telecommunications consumer cooperatives.
“The governor’s bill is titled the ‘Connect Every Iowan’ bill, not ‘Connect Some Iowans’ or ‘Connect a majority of Iowans,’ ” said Adam Gregg, the governor’s lobbyist. “... We want to encourage ubiquitous access all throughout the state.”
Since states adjacent to Iowa tend to also suffer from market failure that leaves many of their residents off the Internet grid, Bradstad might also consider negotiating a compact with these states as he is currently doing for the health insurance exchange marketplace to form a regional Internet infrastructure authority. The very fact the Bradstad is acting on this issue in Iowa points up the deficiencies in U.S. federal government policy that leaves many Americans in Iowa and other states with less than universal premise Internet access.
Friday, March 07, 2014
Broadband Spring emerges in Tennessee
Tennessee Legies Go Into Pro-Public Broadband Frenzy | Building the Gigabit City
Craig Settles reports on what appears to be the start of what I'm calling "Broadband Spring," powered by a decade of frustration and pent up demand to modernize telecommunications infrastructure to fiber to the premise architecture -- along with the realization that legacy incumbent telephone and cable companies are part of the problem and not part of the solution to getting that infrastructure in place.
This development could represent a tipping point where the public interest of modernizing the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure to fiber to the premise is outweighing the private interest of the legacy providers. It would be a welcome thaw after a 10-year-long winter of recession and failed public policy that has stood in the way of moving forward with this critical infrastructure.
Craig Settles reports on what appears to be the start of what I'm calling "Broadband Spring," powered by a decade of frustration and pent up demand to modernize telecommunications infrastructure to fiber to the premise architecture -- along with the realization that legacy incumbent telephone and cable companies are part of the problem and not part of the solution to getting that infrastructure in place.
This development could represent a tipping point where the public interest of modernizing the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure to fiber to the premise is outweighing the private interest of the legacy providers. It would be a welcome thaw after a 10-year-long winter of recession and failed public policy that has stood in the way of moving forward with this critical infrastructure.
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Resolution Seeks High-Speed Internet For All Putney Residents | Vermont Public Radio
Resolution Seeks High-Speed Internet For All Putney Residents | Vermont Public Radio: “The governor made us a promise at town meeting here last year that he would get everything wired 100 percent, no ifs, ands or buts,” Field says. “I’ve got the quote.”A couple of observations on this story:
Instead, area lawmakers got an earful from residents who say they’re tired of hearing that Putney already has Internet service.
"Close to 300 of us in Putney only have dial-up," says Field. "In my case I pay $80 a month to Hughes.net. Can’t Skype, can’t stream anything. My wife’s a pediatrician in town. She can’t do her electronic medical records."
Nancy Braus says people on her road are getting Internet from Comcast or Fairpoint. But not her house. Braus has a daughter who’s deaf.
- It's an example of the blow back politicians face after years of promises to address deficiencies in premises wireline Internet service with little or no tangible results.
- Ms. Braus's comment illustrates the highly granular nature of broadband redlining that renders government subsidy programs based on mapping and funding only "unserved" and "underserved" areas impractical. One address is offered service by incumbent wireline providers while another nearby premise is not.
Wednesday, March 05, 2014
U.S. Internet policy fails expectation of universal premise service
For nearly every American who has been alive since the end of
World War II, the availability of telephone service at a home or business
premise is taken for granted. Need a phone line or several lines? Contact the phone
company, order them and they’ll get hooked up.
With wireline premises Internet service, it’s been a very different story. According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission as of 2012, 19 million Americans couldn’t order an Internet connection because none was available for sale. Some of those Americans live in California’s Gold Country, located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. And they can’t understand why if people in Sacramento -- or in many cases just down the road -- can get wireline Internet service, why can’t they? Plus they hear messages like this one that only five percent or fewer premises are unserved and have a hard time believing their home or business is one of them, particularly when nearby premises do have service.
With wireline premises Internet service, it’s been a very different story. According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission as of 2012, 19 million Americans couldn’t order an Internet connection because none was available for sale. Some of those Americans live in California’s Gold Country, located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. And they can’t understand why if people in Sacramento -- or in many cases just down the road -- can get wireline Internet service, why can’t they? Plus they hear messages like this one that only five percent or fewer premises are unserved and have a hard time believing their home or business is one of them, particularly when nearby premises do have service.
It’s therefore unsurprising that “[m]any residents without
access feel a sense of entitlement to broadband (Internet) service,” according
to the Gold Country Broadband Consortium’s annual progress report. The
consortium is among 14 regional consortia formed by the California Public
Utilities Commission in 2011 to promote local Internet access and adoption of
Internet-delivered services.
Unfortunately, neither California as the largest state nor the
nation as a whole has a public policy to meet the expectation that Internet
service in 2014 should be as ubiquitous as telephone service. Nor as the case with
telephone service is there a workable subsidy program to ensure high cost areas
are served.
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
California screamin: Internet policy quagmire fosters failure
Plan for rural broadband collapses | The Press Democrat
This story illustrates the real world consequences of what happens when legacy incumbent wireline Internet providers control government subsidy programs designed to help cover the cost of deploying Internet infrastructure. They refuse to accept the subsidies themselves for high cost areas and lobby to influence the eligibility rules so that others can't easily qualify for funding.
These comments in the story from Cathy Emerson, manager of two consortia involved in expanding Internet access and Mitch Drake, head of the company that applied for subsidy funding from the California Public Utilities Commission, sum up the sorry situation:
This story illustrates the real world consequences of what happens when legacy incumbent wireline Internet providers control government subsidy programs designed to help cover the cost of deploying Internet infrastructure. They refuse to accept the subsidies themselves for high cost areas and lobby to influence the eligibility rules so that others can't easily qualify for funding.
These comments in the story from Cathy Emerson, manager of two consortia involved in expanding Internet access and Mitch Drake, head of the company that applied for subsidy funding from the California Public Utilities Commission, sum up the sorry situation:
“We're looking at a significant Catch-22,” Emerson said. “The federalIt's going to get even harder for non-incumbent providers and local governments to qualify for the CPUC's California Advanced Services Fund network construction subsidy dollars in this year's funding round under revised rules recently adopted by the CPUC. Steve Blum has the depressing details in this blog post.
and the state programs are trying very hard to make use of legislative
moneys that have been collected, intended to be used for broadband
deployment. And yet the very language of the legislation has been so
effectively edited to the favor of the incumbents that it's extremely
difficult to try to offer services to these rural-most pockets.”
“I call this the great stalemate,” said Drake. “There's a huge need in
Northern California, and we've got a program that was designed to take
care of the need, and we've got incumbent carriers who made this
financial decision, for one reason or another, not to serve these rural
communities. But at the same time they are the biggest opponents,
preventing anyone from doing anything about it.”
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Slow broadband wipes 20% off house prices - Telegraph
Slow broadband wipes 20% off house prices - Telegraph: Slow broadband speeds can wipe as much as 20 per cent off the value of properties and lack of superfast connectivity in an area can be a dealbreaker in house sales, property experts have said.It's only a matter of time before we'll see this spread to the United States where plenty of residential properties nominally in the service areas of incumbent telephone and cable companies nevertheless lack Internet connections.
With growing numbers of people going online to perform tasks ranging from working to grocery shopping and streaming entertainment, good broadband has become critical.
Property search website Rightmove has now added a broadband speed checker to every one of its listings alongside factors such as quality of local schools and transport links.
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