Breaking: DynamicCity Purchased By PacketFront!

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Holy didn't see this coming. Swedish company PacketFront announced that they've bought out DynamicCity, the chief contractor on the UTOPIA project. Since both are private companies, the purchase price has not been disclosed. The press release states that the Lindon office will remain the head of operations while sales and management will be based in Denver.

So what does this mean for UTOPIA? It's hard to tell from the press release hyperbole, though PacketFront seems to have a solid track record of successful projects and brings a much larger organization to the table. This might help speed up deployments in current UTOPIA cities as well as provide a smoother transition for new cities in the future. It could also spell even more service providers on the network, something that benefits everyone. This might explain why they're been MIA lately when I send e-mails.

I'll assume a default stance of semi-cautiously optimistic on this deal until it plays out a little further. 

FCC Overwhelmed with 27K Comments on Network Neutrality

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Ask and ye shall receive. After the close of the open comments period, the FCC had received over 27,000 comments on network neutrality, a few of them completely laughable claims by telecommunications companies. The most outrageous of these is the claim by AT&T that a neutral network would need double the bandwidth currently used, an amount they should have already been offering under the terms of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. (I suppose they're too busy trying to make up lame excuses for hiding the $10/mo DSL package, huh?) The MPAA also got in on the questionable claims by stating that network neutrality would actually decrease content (and by content, they mean their share of it).

I can see how telcos are scared. Over 75% of US Internet users watched some online video in May, an activity contributing to growing bandwidth usage. Maybe they can take some cues from "the 40Gbps grandma" in Sweden. Or maybe use some new wireless technologies to keep pace. You know, innovate for a change.

Even though the FCC doesn't appear poised to take any action just yet, ISPs are already starting to use deep packet inspection to peek in on your data and see not just what kinds of services you're using but what exactly you're downloading. You have to wonder how long it will be before they use this technology for evil, anything from providing logs of what you said in chat rooms to an unscrupulous employee gathering credit card data to buy a new XBox on eBay. Not only are ethical issues involved, but legal ones as well. This technology is envisioned to give feds the ability to wiretap Internet connections, a scary proposition considering that many wiretaps are now done without warrants.

Congress Set to Overturn Bans on Municipal Networks, Collect Better Broadband Data

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In a pair of decidedly wired pieces of legislation (shocking), Congress has decided to tackle municipal networks and poor stats on national broadband deployment. The Community Broadband Act would overturn state legislation in Arkansas, Florida, Texas and Missouri that prevents cities and counties from getting into the telecommunications game. This also has serious implications in North Carolina where the legislature has been throwing up roadblocks to municipal networks left and right. I'm sure Ohio is pleased with the legislation as well since the state is currently planning a state-wide broadband network.

The Broadband Data Improvement Act is seeking to not only require statistics to be reported in a more granular ZIP+4 format but will also redefine "broadband" from its current (and pathetic) 200Kbps speed and establish a "Broadband 2.0" standard that provides enough bandwidth to stream HDTV. For reference, an uncompressed HD stream uses about 80Mbps. These new statistics and definitions could be just what the doctor ordered to push slovenly telcos into delivering the speeds they promised over a decade ago.

It's about time something productive started coming out of the swamp. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps delcared rather boldly that we're playing "Russian roulette" with broadband policy. He's not far off the mark. 

FCC Unveils Rules for 700MHz Auction

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Despite Google flashing cash and lobbying prowess and pleas from technologists, the FCC has decided that the upcoming 700MHz auction will not require network neutrality provisions or operate as a wholesale network. Consumer groups are calling it a mixed bag since the winner cannot restrict which devices can be used on the network but there will likely be no competing providers. Despite these setbacks, Google still wants to make a play for this valuable slice of spectrum. I suppose we should just be glad the FCC isn't giving this one away.

Robert Cringley thinks it's a foolish thing to bet the farm on, but not so much so if you connect the dots. Google's money-maker has always been selling advertising. To that end, they want to extend the reach of their ad network as far as they can. It could be in the form of expensive "partnerships" with mobile carriers. More likely it's a Google-branded phone. Take Google's announcement of a prototype cell phone, a device no doubt designed to increase its reach beyond the PC. An open 700MHz network works in their favor since they could sell a single phone to multiple carriers and capture a gigantic market.

Google's smart enough to hedge their bets. The partnership with Sprint comes amid the cellular provider's partnership with Clearwire to jointly build a nationwide WiMax network, one they promise will be competitive with the 700MHz spectrum.

Report: White City Community Council Meeting, August 3 2007

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Wednesday night was the monthly meeting of the White City Community Council, and it looks like I'm going to have to appear to a higher body for some help. First, the rep from UTOPIA didn't show and I never got an e-mail or call to indicate such. This, however, is the minor setback. The major setback is that the future of White City's township designation might be in jeopardy based on what I heard at this meeting, so the council rightly must focus on issues other than broadband policy. I'm going to try and setup a time to present to the Salt Lake County Council to see if they'll appeal to legislators to re-write the law and allow counties to directly participate in UTOPIA.

The other option is to start a private company to bring UTOPIA to this area. I don't have the experience, time or money to do something that ambitious (but if any of you are, please let me know) so that seems like a dead end. It seems like I'm back to square one. 

Fiber Networks Drive Telecommuting, Home-Based Business

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A survey conducted by the FTTH Council shows that many FTTH subscribers use it for telecommuting or home-based businesses. About 13% of respondents indicated that they were using it to telecommute an average of one day per month more than they normally would while 10% indicated they were using the high-speed connections to run home-based businesses. Figuring the take rates for systems like UTOPIA, that means that with the projected take rates and a full build-out, the system will take an average of over 1,000 commuters per day off the road, a significant impact on transportation policy in the Beehive State. This is a major public policy impact that goes far beyond the improved economics from spurring new home-based businesses, a segment that lead the stratospheric growth of Las Vegas' local economy.

It also seems that FTTH users report a higher satisfaction with the service compared to DSL and cable with over 85% of subscribers saying they're pleased with the service. This might have to do with the median download rate of FTTH connections being over 2.5 times higher than the national average. Speed matters.

Bad Competition: Verizon Shuts Out Copper Competitors, Comcast Purchases More Rivals

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Typical of monopolistic incumbencies, Verizon has cut off copper lines in homes with FIOS to prevent customers from "downgrading" and having the option of picking their service provider. Their reading of the Telecommuncations Act of 1996 is that they are not required to lease lines to competitors on the shiny new fiber optic network like they were with the old copper infrastructure. This has left CLECs in a position of a shrinking potential market as Verizon aggressively builds out the fiber optic network, now serving over a million customer in their service areas and passing over 10 million homes. Given their past of neglecting copper infrastructure, it seems like Verizon is hoping to get everyone onto the more expensive service while shutting down as much competition as possible.

Meanwhile, Comcast has started buying out small cable operators to take over the last few markets not served by themselves, Time Warner, or AT&T. They've purchased a pair of systems in Colorado and one in Pennsylvania to add a measly 3,000 customers. The Colorado acquisition plays well with their dominance in nearby Denver. It may come that the day of the truly local cable or phone company will be dead before too much longer.

Open Spectrum Auction Backed by FCC Chairman

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In a move that immediately gave AT&T and Verizon a case of bunching panties, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has announced that he is in favor of the Google-backed plan to require the 700MHz spectrum to stay open for any compatible device to use any service. This no doubt makes the group behind the open-source OpenMoko phone pleased as punch as they search for a market for the highly-hackable device. Consumer groups are calling for it to go one step further and become a truly wholesale network allowing multiple service providers to compete for business. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, however, is backing the Frontline plan to seize the spectrum to make a public safety network, essentially getting commercial operations in the band for free.

This news goes hand-in-hand with renewed Congressional pushes to require that cell phones be able to seamlessly move from provider to provider, the so-called "cellular Carterphone" regulation named after a ruling that wireline phone systems had to accept any outside device that did not interfere with operations. In conjunction with that are an increasing number of groups calling for the wildly popular iPhone to be unlocked so they can jump ship to other GSM providers.

With these rapid developments in the wireless world, it's not much surprise that San Francisco's City Council chose to delay voting on their high-profile wireless project until a future meeting. Maybe they're thinking it would be best to bide their time for the moment.

Report: White City Community Council Meeting, July 11 2007

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I got to do a follow-up presentation on the financial aspects of UTOPIA at tonight's White City Community Council meeting. This included estimated participation rates and the impact on housing values. While it's not a slam dunk, it looks like a very solid picture for meeting the debt obligations by the end of the first year.

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White City Community Council Meeting Tomorrow

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Don't forget that the White City Community Council will be meeting tomorrow. UTOPIA is on the agenda and I will be following up with some answers concerning the cost and value of the project. I spoke with UTOPIA COO Roger Black yesterday and there may be a representative from UTOPIA on hand to help answer questions about the project. The meeting will be held at 7PM at Eastmont Middle School (at the intersection of Sego Lily and 1300 E) in room 105 on the lower level. The parking lot entrance is on Sego Lily (take the west entrance).