Archive for October, 2006
Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
iProvo Doubles Subscribers
iProvo, Provo's version of UTOPIA, has managed to double subscribers in just one year. This bodes well for the municipal fiber project as it puts the finishing touches on wiring up every home and business in the town. They now report 7,700 subscribers, a large chunk of the residents of the city. The city anticipates [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cheers, News by Jesse
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Company Launched to Test WiFi Projects
A new company from Colorado has been launched with a mission to test the speed and quality of municipal WiFi networks. Uptown Services of Boulder offers a block-by-block verification that the expensive wireless network you just installed will live up to it's hype. It will be interesting to see how many of the WiFi networks [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Jesse
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Brothers in Arms
I've added a new category of links for other websites promoting the benefits of municipal fiber projects. So far, I have advocates from Palo Alta, CA; Lafayette, LA; and St. Charles, IL linked as well as the FTTH Council, an organization whose municipal and corporate members all provide fiber services to the home.
Know of someone [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Website by Jesse
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Clueless Think Tank Doesn’t Get It
The Heartland Institute earns major jeers for calling municipal communications networks "a lesson in how governments waste taxpayer money." How little they get it! They don't understand that municipal communications networks lower costs, increase competition, raise speeds, and are an engine of economic development. I suppose we can't expect any better from an organization opposed [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Jeers, News by Jesse
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Loma Linda Fiber Offers Great Payback
We already mentioned Loma Linda's venture into fiber optics. Now a blogger has crunched the numbers and shown that the project will be fully repaid within 10 years. This says nothing of the indirect economic benefits of such a system either. As much as the established players want to pull out the "boondogle" boogeyman, Loma [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cheers, News by Jesse
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Jacksonville Fiber: A Threat to Incumbents?
Jacksonville, Florida has been building a large fiber ring to be used for city and other government services. The article, however, drops hints that the city might choose to do an FTTH project, something that would spook BellSouth and Comcast. Could Jacksonville's future hold high-speed broadband that blows DSL and cable out of the water? [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cheers, News by Jesse
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Municipal Fiber Advocacy: Not Just for Utah
She's a stay-at-home mom and Illinois' loudest municipal fiber advocate. Meet Annie Collins, chairwoman of Fiber for our Future, the Illinois equivalent of FreeUTOPIA. She's gotten referendums on the ballot twice to get municipal fiber in her town, failing thanks to heavy spending by the incumbent providers SBC and (surprise) Comcast. Now she's making a [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cheers, News by Jesse
Thursday, October 19th, 2006
“Municipal” WiFi Spreading Fast
Riverside is the latest city to join almost 300 others in jumping onto the "Municipal" WiFi system. I put that in quotes because it's nothing more than adding another monopoly to the existing landscape, albeit one that will offer a freebie service with ads. It doesn't address concerns about telephone monopolies, and it doesn't address [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Jesse
Thursday, October 19th, 2006
Downtime
We experienced downtime for most of the day due to a malfunctioning router. One power cycle later, things are right as rain again.
No Comments » - Posted in Website by Jesse
Monday, October 16th, 2006
Caught in the Act: Telco’s Broken Promises Spelled Out
This roundup at P2PNet gives us the breadcrumb trail leading to the telcos caught with their hands in the cookie jar. In less than a decade, they redefined broadband from 45Mbps to 200K, missed deadlines with no penalties, and grew their profit margins from 12% to over 30%. If this won't make you mad, nothing [...]
