Category Archives: Cheers

Good news.

Washington City to Consider Non-Pledging Status

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According to recent changes to UTOPIA's web site, Washington City is considering a resolution to join UTOPIA as a non-pledging member. The city council will discuss and possibly vote on the measure on September 26th. If you live in Washington City or know someone who does, now is the time to contact your city council members to urge them to pass the resolution.

Farmington Considering UTOPIA Membership

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After a presentation given at last week's city council meeting, Farmington may want in on UTOPIA. They're considering joining as a non-pledging city meaning that in exchange for not having to bond for the cost of the project, they'd also be considered a lower priority for construction. If Farmington joins this way, construction would be piecemeal throughout the city, likely starting with new developments where installation would be cheaper. They now join Vineyard in the list of cities considering membership, though Vineyard is considering joining as a pledging city to speed up construction. According to city officials in member cities, they've received a lot of inquiries from cities interested in joining since the ban on new members expired on June 30.

UTOPIA Construction Underway in Layton and Centerville

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With the federal grant money secured, UTOPIA has shifted into high gear to complete the fiber optic network in Layton and Centerville by March of 2008. Service should start becoming available in some areas of the cities as early as November starting in the western parts and moving eastward. Anyone interested in finding out when service is available in their home or business should call 888-342-3748 to learn more.

Corning Develops Ultra-Flexible Fiber Optics

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Proving that they do much more than make awesome casserole dishes, Corning's men in lab coats have come up with fiber optic cable that's 100 times more flexible than current cable. This is a major boon to FTTH projects since the new material is now about as versatile as copper for in-home installations. It also means less chance of broken backbones. (Remember those broken fibers in Provo last winter?) There's no word on availability, but since Verizon has been pushing for the updated technology and they're expanding FIOS aggressively, I'm betting on sooner rather than later.

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.

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.

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.

Vineyard Mulls UTOPIA Membership

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With the expiration of a ban on new members, the small town of Vineyard is now considering joining UTOPIA. The city is considering becoming a pledging member meaning that they will promise tax money to cover the debt service should it not be covered by revenues from subscribers. Becoming a pledging member means that they will be guaranteed a build-out of the network. Non-pledging cities, such as Cedar City, will have to wait until there is enough excess revenue to cover the build-out of the network in their city.

Roger Black, COO at UTOPIA, says that the deployment could raise home values by around $5,000 just by having the service available. Vineyard is eager to join sooner rather than later so that lines can be installed in new major developments without having to tear up existing roads. Vineyard is now waiting for a cost assessment prior to committing to joining the network.

(See full article here.)

Spanish Fork's SFCN Rolling in Dough

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Spanish Fork reported that their municipal network is going to turn a $275,000 profit for fiscal year 2008, a stark contrast to the red ink bled by iProvo. What's Spanish Fork's secret? For starters, they decided on a less expensive HFC network as opposed to FTTP, a choice that saved money now but sacrifices some expandability in the future. SFCN also has a very high participation rate with over 70% of households subscribing to Internet, television or both. Because there were no other broadband choices when SFCN was built, they got the "first to market" advantage. The city operates both the wholesale and retail portions of the network because they built it before the law prohibited cities from being retailers. With the money they're putting in the bank on this one, it's only a matter of time before they'll expand the fiber all the way to the home.

(See full article here.)