WSRL Broadlband Page

WSRL.ORG / Colorado Rural Broadband Deployment Problems - July. 2005 - Revised July. 2009 - Page 1

Some say the telephone companies have stolen Broadband's future. I live in an area south and a little east of Grand Junction, CO. It's been nine long years that I have been trying to obtain a usable connection to the Internet. The term "usable" to me means a connection that supports web seminars (webnars), web tutorials, distance learning including class lectures and other educational functions without being jerky, stopping and starting and/or losing data. What is offered locally is "Broadband" in name only. There are typically no guarantees as to what services or functions will be supported even though most providers push for a 12 - 18 month contract.

American Recovery & Investment Act, January 2009 -

As of January 15th, there is $6 Billion in proposed new allocations for rural development of broadband facilities. The proposed Act can be accessed here. Consumer groups had originally asked for $40 Billion but Blair Levin's, who heads up the Obama technology team, has said repeatedly that the full Broadband plan is not in the stimulus package. This implies that more is to come. Regardless, if you electronically search the Act for the term "Broadband", you will discover much that is likely to be highly controversial to current incumbent players. Only time will tell how much influence and success the lobbyists and special interests will have in stripping portions of the Act beneficial to the public but detrimental to their represented companies.

Internet2 Position Statement -

The following is an Internet2 excerpt from an FTC staff report (page 152) dated June 2007.

Internet2 - The Internet2 consortium has suggested that the best solution to the Internet connectivity debate is to upgrade network infrastructures to the point where they no longer suffer from capacity constraints or data congestion. The model for this proposal is the not-for-profit 100-1,000 Mbps Internet2 network that connects 208 universities, 70 companies, and 51 affiliated organizations. This group wants to set a national goal for deploying 100 Mbps bandwidth connections (with symmetric speeds for uploading and downloading) to every home, business, and school in the country in five years and 1,000 Mbps connections in ten years. They suggest that the costs of deploying high-speed lines, or upgrading existing ones, would be relatively low once fiber wirelines are laid. In their view, the widespread deployment of such advanced, highspeed Internet services would obviate the need for any kind of prioritized data transmission. In addition, they suggest that the FTC, the FCC, or both should issue specific and enforceable guidelines that would require the maintenance of "open and nondiscriminatory networks."

Dollar Cost of Services (Cost Transparency) -

We have all seen what a lack of transparency in the financial sector has resulted in. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are no major commercial service providers in Colorado that come close to offering what is available elsewhere at lower cost and higher performance. Dynamic Cities in Utah is a prime example of lower costs and much higher performance. $100/month for a 100 Mbit symmetrical feed featuring phone, data and TV is not a bad deal for the U.S. In Paris, however, they have started offering a 2.5 Ghz downlink and a 1.2 Ghz uplink for $88/month. This service is fully 1000 times faster than anything I can buy locally regardless of price. Some will say I live in a remote rural area where advanced services can not be provided. The Mescalero Apache tribe in central New Mexico doesn't seem to be hampered, however, by their remote location.

Making The World Smaller

They also have one of the most technologically advanced voice switching systems made and so it goes. With the telephone companies, it's a big game to keep everything about their operation secret from the public. Joe six pack subscriber is much easier to control and manipulate if he doesn't know too much. They care little about how a lack of community telecom resources affects community education and economic opportunities & growth. What is most important to them is the $100 million platinum retirement parachutes for the executives.

Broadband Services -

The public gets upset if broadband services don't achieve a positive cash flow from subscribers. I would ask, where is the positive cash flow from public schools, sewer service, for roads, or water systems and so on. All are required for a community to exist and many are subsidized by tax money. Broadband isn't just for the Internet. VOIP voice (phone) services are easily handled on the same physical circuit as are any number of additional functions such as burglar alarm systems, remote meter reading, tele-commuting/working, monitoring systems of all types and so on. IPTV, (TV over broadband) is also commonly available over the same physical circuit. All of these services and more are technically available over a single physical circuit or system.

Why Fiber Optics -

U.S. Based telephone companies struggle to keep a lid on fiber optic technologies. To them, use of exiting wire facilities is most important even though wire is far too slow for modern applications, expecially in rural environments. This policy does nothing for you the individual except make you less knowledgable and marketable in a highly competitive world. If you have a broadband connection of even moderate speed, view this video from Corning to see what the future needs to look like. Communities without this technology will, I fear, find education and economic development very hard, slow and quite painful.

Public Power & Broadband -

Tired of waiting for reasonable and usable broadband services? Fed up with the lies and the devious and confusing advertisements from telephone companies? Do you think your local power supplier could be doing more to provide network broadband services rather than running a local, for-profit side business? There are a handful of progressive organizations meeting this challenge. EPB Power is such an organization. They have a great video presentation if you have a reasonably fast broadband connection. Here in Colorado, Longmont has a similar operation with the fiber being provided by the power side.

How About Some Definitions & A Little Honesty -

Many in the U.S. have lost faith in the FCC and feel it is no longer a credible organization. Service providers are hyping terms in their advertising (Fraudband) that have no meaning. The end result is that subscribers have no idea what they are buying or what the service can be used for. Providers often ask for a one year contract but then give absolutely no assurance as to what level of service they provide. This is like having a license to steal and this approach is currently supported by local and Federal officials. What is needed is a realistic and enforceable definition of terms starting with the term "Broadband". I would also support a system that categorizes services and certifies their use for such things as distance learning & tele-work functions.

Traffic Shaping - Bandwidth Throttling -

The problem most every Internet Service Provider (ISP) has is how to funnel the traffic of hundreds if not thousands of end users into usually a single connection, of limited capacity, to an Internet Backbone. The backbone connection provider may, in turn, implement additional controls on the traffic entering it's network. Most of the traffic limiting/shaping techniques used come under the heading of " Traffic Shaping" or "Bandwidth Throttling". These techniques, especially when badly implemented, can and do cause end-user connections to be slow, jerky and to stop entirely (stall). Because Internet backbone connections are an important expense to the ISP, most end-user systems end up badly over subscribed relative to the backbone connection. Both devices are under software control. New subscribers typically get fast connections to start with so they will tell their friends and neighbors about the new great service. Later, connect speeds are gradually reduced. The goal of virtually every ISP is to realize the maximum subscriber revenue possible while limiting network traffic to the least amount possible. Opposite the Internet2 philosophy detailed above is Sandvine's position on net neutrality. Sandvine in a major supplier of traffic shaping products. To understand how Comcast® does throttling go to this site.

Stimulus Money Links
Updated May 2009

Broadband Links
Updated Oct. 2009

Power & Broadband Links
Updated Nov. 2007