Archive for the “Broadband Forum II” Category

I’m not sure how useful my live blogging of Broadband Forum II was to people. I notice traffic has gone up quite a bit so I guess there is interest in the notes. But I wonder if the information provided out of context would mean a great deal to most people. Still, it was fun and could provide a record, at least for me, for reference in the future. We (meaning Morse Media) also video taped the entire first day. So, an even more complete record is also available. What will become of the video record is yet unclear.

I should note that Chris Crawford has written a pretty good summary of some the topics covered by BBF II on his blog at the Times-Standard site. Chris also hands out some wonderful praise to the Redwood Technology Consortium for its role in organizing BBF II and other activities as it has grown in stature and reach. Chris, it should be noted, was instrumental in pushing RTC from a small, somewhat insulated organization talking to itself, into a force for public change and awareness while serving on the board for several years. Additionally, I would like to thank Tina Nerat and Gregg Foster, both current RTC board members for putting so much time and effort in to getting this year’s Forum off the ground.

The Issues

I can only speak to Day One of the Forum since I was unable to attend Day Two which was a morning of workshops and discussion specifically targetting groups and individuals interested in deploying wireless solutions for rural areas and municipalities. But all reports was that Day Two was well attended and lively.

I won’t go in to details of the Forum, since it’s all available by reading the posts right here in this category. Start at the bottom of the page for the earliest post.

Instead, I would like to point out a few issues that caught my attention and raised some questions:

The Cost of Redundancy

One of the surprising pieces of information that came out of the Forum and in conversations afterward is that right-of-way fees expected to be charged by CalTrans could double the cost of building a second fiber line. Since there is no statue that requires CalTrans to charge these fess, nor any clear scale on which to base the amount of the fees, this policy seems obstructionist to economic development and technological advancement. Given the tax revenue that would be generated from economic expansion in the region once the redundant line is in place, it is also counterproductive and, I would think, counter to our current Governor’s vision for the state.

The plan that was engendered at the Forum was to organize a campaign to appeal directly to the Governor and, if need be, to address the issue in the Assembly.

Regional Technology Planning

Another idea that began to coalesce and gain some momentum at the Forum was the formation of a region-wide telecommunications infrastructure planning committee. This committee would be comprised of representatives from several counties and potentially municipalities. I have written about this concept in more detail here. Such a committee would be the ideal vehicle to push for elimination or at least reduction of right-of-way fees in laying a second fiber line. While this planning committee could accomplish many things if well-organized, often an issue like this is ideal for getting an enterprise off the ground. Let’s hope we don’t lose the momentum generated at the Forum.

at&t’s Take on Redundancy

I was happy to see at&t (formerly SBC) was well represented at the Forum. Much they had to say was news to me. Most important was they did reveal they had established radio signal backup in the event the fiber line goes down for some reason. This means, in the event of an emergency all telecommunications would not be cut off. It’s unclear to me what would be carried on those radio beams. Just voice or voice and data? Anyone know?

Even they acknowledged that while the radio signal is reassuring, it’s not a complete subsititute for redundant fiber. They noted they had done their own research into the feasibility of building another line, but they, too, discovered right-of-way and other fees and complication make the project too costly to sell to the parent company.

Wireless VS Redundancy

A great deal of time was spent with two WISP (Wireless Internet Services Providers) owners, Rick Kunze of ColusaNet and Marlon Schafer of Odessa Office Equipment & Wireless. They seemed to think spending the money on redundant fiber was less important than getting broadband deployed to more people with the resources we had. Maybe this was a self-serving point of view (don’t waste your money on redundant fiber because the chances of it breaking are very small, spend the money on what we do!). I’m not sure anyone was convinced. Especially if the redundant fiber as proposed by Susan Estrada was owned by an entity other than at&t. If so, the second line would not be just redundant but also an alternate solution. As Mark Geiger, Director of Network Operations for Cox (or Cebridge or whatever they will be called) said at one point during the Forum, an alternate fiber line would mean lower prices due to competition and he would be able to pass that on to consumers. He would be able to offer other services he feels are not possible now.

So, do we really need to choose between broadband (whether through wireless or other solutions) now and redundant fiber? I don’t think so. Given the low cost of the wireless solutions I think we can and should do both. And I think both should be undertaken as soon as possible.

Where are the customers? Are they in a valley? Are they in multi unit housing? The idea is to deploy the correct technology in a specific area.

How many will there likely be? Don’t believe surveys. If you get results, cut it in half. People lie.

What are the geographic limitations? Wireless allows lots of creative solutions. They believe DSL is dead. It will go the way of ISDN.

They aren’t talking about DSL, cable, wireless, satellite. They are talking about high speed Internet access that is technology independent. Use the right tools to solve the specific problem.

Are there any spectral limitations. Use the tools to see what the interference issues will be.

Research

• Are tehre NO other options
• Are poor existing options fixable
• What are typical realistic take rates
• What are realistic cell sizes
• How many customers per base station
• How many base stations are really needed
• Do you need a T-1 or more

One step at a Time

Why
what will broadband do for you
Who wants it
What do they have now

How
What is the best technology
How reliale
Spectrum check
Find ‘tower’ ideas
It doesn’t pay to buy in too big since the technology is changing so rapidly.

Most customers are interested in cheap.

More planning:

Beware the ‘triple play’
Determine what customers need (notice I didn’t say “want”)
Hire help or do it yourself
Where will you get bandwidth - wired, fiber, wireless
Competition, now and in future
One network, multiple networks

Q and A time. Early. Too hard to follow.

Biggest points:

Broadband supports the home based business more than it will serve as an attraction for businesses that might want to move here.

What Rick and Marlon are doing in their regions wouldn’t work here. Howeverer, they could figure out how to make something work. It’s called flexibility. Coming up with a different model. There may be multiple solutions for different regions.

Continuing:

Deployment

Start small
Test the plan
Build in options for future use
Build in options for competitors
Stick to the plan but be flexible if conditions change
Construct to the level of the customer base

We’re done. I am out of here.

Program has changed.

Getting rid of the right of way issues. Needs to be a regional approach. Maybe include Siskiyou county. Pending transportation bond does not include much money for no. california. So a strategy would include let’s focus on broadband and getting rid of the right of way costs.

There were three points in this brief presentation. I missed one of them. Maybe someone can fill this in.

Rick Kunze of ColusaNet and Marlon Schafer of Odessa Office Equipment & Wireles

“Build for 20 years out. If you build for 10 years out, technology will overtake you.”

Rick Kunze: 10 gig to the home sounds great, but I have customers whose computers can’t handle 1 gig. It’s sexy, but not realistic. There’s little out there that can feed you data at higher speeds. People are buying the cheapest computers they can find. If you understand what you are shopping for you buy higher quality. If you don’t understand the technology you buy the cheapest. So people buy cheap computers and then wonder why it doesn’t work and doesn’t move the Internet very fast.

10 years ago folks in Colusa had no idea what they might do with the Internet. Those same folks are now dependent on the Internet. No one knows wha they will be doing on the Network in 10 years, but they know now their lives will be further entwined with it.

Rick tells the story of volunteering, along with other wireless providers to set up a wifi network at an air force base full of storm vicitms. They were prevented from getting on the base while SBC layed land lines.

Marlon Schafer: Small local providers can set up a wireless network in a municipal area quickly and very inexpensively. They are going to talk about how to get started: Here’s their checklist:

• Why do you need it
• How much will construction costs be
• How much will operational costs be
• Where are the customers
• How many will there likely be
• What are the geographic limitations
• Are there any spectral limitations

Building a hybrid network: A little fiber here, a little fiber there, then let the wireless people fan it out. Wifi equipment is cheap and perfectly adequate for most people and businesses.

Several people voice their concerns in areas that are underserved: Weott, Eastern Humboldt. Rick and Marlon offer several possible solutions. This really sounds more like what will happen in tomorrows hands on sessions.

Security: There is no security on the Internet. There are devices that can track traffic, wired or wireless. Encryption shouldn’t be on the network. It’s on the end users, software based.

Operational costs: S*** happens. What will it cost to maintain/repair the network? Where will the money come from to cover it?

More questions from the audience: How do you deal with extreme conditions? What about security issues with towers in terms of vandalism?

A: No problems with security. Hardware stands up to extremes. It’s also cheap enough to replace if it breaks.

How do you build a muni wireless?

A: Don’t. Marlon’s opinion. It will create a nightmare of frequency interferences. Maybe not now. But in a few years there will be a rat’s nest of competing networks. Build a network above the town. Then put hotspots within the buildings where needed.

Taking a break. When we come back they will try and finish their presentation which has gotten a little bogged down in technical details raised by audience quesitons.

Tina Nerat - brief history of RTC and telecom issues over the last 4 years. Details later. Too fast.
Runnette Allans from at&t:

Our area articulates its needs as far as broadband more clearly than in any other region.
at&t will continue to evolve and merge and acquire and grow. However, it will never diminish its attention to smaller markets: Our people live here, our CO is here, our network is here.

Gary Mandella, John Thomson, Dave Edmonds from at&t to discusss the network diversity.

Gary Mandella: Since the fiber went in, at&t has diversified using two radio signals out of the area. If the fiber gets cut, we will not be isolated because of the radio signal backup. Those signals will stay in place until there is some fiber redundancy.
CENIC asked at&t looked at redunany over high powered lines. But right of way costs were prohibitive. But if together we (RTC, RCRA, etc.) approach the state to remove roadblocks, extra fees, hard to justify building a redundant fiber to the corporation.

Because of Katrina, at&t has 84 tractor trailers that can be deployed as backup central offices in the light of some catastrophe.

Since it’s been up, there haven’t been any failures on the fiber. (Not what I understood regarding circuit issues that caused the Cox network problems a few weeks ago. Maybe he means a total failure of the fiber as opposed to partial network problems).

Dave Edmonds: Have taken considerable steps to harden the existing fiber route and though there have been a dozen near misses, there have been no failures. I guess that what he meant. The fiber has stayed intact.

John Thoms(?): Covered what positive things have happened recently. Increased bandwidth to the schools. If a corp. moved in and wanted an OC 192, they could do it. Reasserted that at&t is not going anywhere. He is aware that bandwidth needs and technology is going to explode. And planning is underway. Expanding 6 DSL sites. DSlams going in to many rural areas. Hoping we can all work together as a community to keep moving ahead.

Very interrsting. These gentlemen brought up a lot of issues I was unaware of. Good to hear we are not so isolated.

Director of the Institute for Next Generation Internet

Impacts of Telecommunications on Quality of Life and the Economy

Where are we going in the future?

Globalization: Everything we do well in the Bay Area in terms of technology (e-anything) other countries think of as what they do in the global economy. How does that impact us, now? How does that impact the students we are training in these technologies?

In the Bay Area they are playing catch up in trying to bring together stakeholders around global economy and technology. Broadband Forum shows we are already on the road by bringing many of the stakeholders together in this room. (My comment: Of course, we need to keep the momentum going. I talked briefly to Rollin Richmond that RCRA should take the lead in forming multi-agency telecom committees).

What are the risks? Not just the opportunities. In California (forget the dichotomy of rural and urban) infrastructure (water, roads, power, telecommunications) are at risk of becoming sub-standard. Why are research centers investing in other countries? Why are they hedging their bets?

What is broadband? What are its uses?
We can’t be predictive about how the broadband will be used. Most experts were wrong about what has happened in the last 10 years. Trust that it will be used.

Every job is an ejob.

Think of all the different computational environments. Not just laptop computers: cell phones, gaming environments (world of warcraft).

We can’t do telemedicine unless you have reliable 50 Gigabit connection. Liability issues with diagnosis. Hi def imagery crucial.

Tokyo has 10 gb wireless.

Restrictive discussions on broadband are going to limit our ability to innovate.

AARP is trying to get people with gray hair to show up at the right places to say, ‘We need 10 GB to the home, now!”

Pacific rim countries, in spite of economic hard times, have invested in telecom infrastructure and that has begun to pay off. CA needs to focus on this to stay competitive.

Lots of questions:

What can we do in this state to leverage improved broadband? What are the killer apps? What could we do right now if we had an improved network? How can you connect supercharged urban cores with rural areas? Improved infrastructure is peanuts in cost in the overall scheme of things with a tremendous pay off.

Example Hi-Def teleconference between here and some education point in the Bay Area as a demo of what’s possible. Inexpensive to set up. Wow factor. Creating a vision of what’s possible.

‘World is Flat’ (Friedman book): Everything that is happening in that book is the result of infrastructure that was built 10 years ago. What is happening in CA now is what will shape the opportunities of the future.

Assume gigabit to the home.

Q&A

Are you involved in the wi-fi effort in SF.
A: Yes. What’s important? Can students in the Mission get access to the network? Not if Bif can check his email at Stonestown. (well Bif’s email could be very important too :-))
Google has changed the conversation by offering the wi-fi network for free. So, the telcos now have to scratch their head. Announcement of the network should happen soon.
In New Orleans a guy set up a wi-fi network at 400k down that became a lifeline. Bell South pushed through a bill that made it illegal to have anythinover 128k.

What do you know of Lifelong Learning Institute?
Working with A

Could there be a broadband initiative?
A: Yes. There is a bond on the boards. We need to have people show up and say we need 10gb pop in every community.

Missed the next queston.

What do you know of Google buying up dark fiber?
A: Prediction: If fiber to the home is (first mile) implemented, Google will provide the backbone for free.

Not sure of the question, but the answer was distributed computing for all kinds of apps because the computers are too slow, so using the distributed computing would allow faster rendering over the network while the computers catch up since the network is fast enough.

The Middle Mile Ownership

The Ownersip Model: a carrier’s carrier

- Focuos on selling to the communciation companies, not individuals
- Connect to underserved Communities
- Connect to large national carriers for transit

Characterisitics of a Carrier’s Carrier

Deep understanding of industry
Solid financial resources
In it for the long haul

What is the structure?

For profit, privately-owned company
Possibly with sme unique goals to ensure that the community is served

Middle Mile Operational Model

Provision to carriers (ie to cox, verizon, at&t and other ISPs)

Outsource the Operations and maintentnance
Keep as much staff local as possible
Management
Sales

Financials: Still working on details

Buried and aerial routes being determined
East to Redding following 299. I thought we were looking at Hwy 36
this connects to at&t fiber and the Level 3 fiber that runs north south in central California
Build a co-location center in Eureka where all carriers could install equipment

Q & A
What does Del Norte do?
A: Multi-county agency to approach state to cut through the crap: Exactly my suggestion. RCRA (web site coming) could facilitate this.

Is back-up at the same level of existing service realistic?
A: This what users are telling her. Not home users. Industrial level users. Are the willing to pay for it? It appears so.

Has she identified a company that could pull this off?
A: No. But she has sketched the characteristics of such a company.
What is the capitalization required?
A: Initial cost $10-$20 million. Then ongoing cost.

Susan Estrada Continues:

The North Coast Region

Mergers and Buy Outs
Verizon bought MCI
SBC bought AT&T and changed its name to at&t
Cebridge is buying Cox (and is changing its name)
Level 3 bought WiTel

With the mergers and the companies getting larger, our area appears smaller in their corporate maps. Exception is Cebridge which specializes in rural areas. Humboldt will become a bigger presence. One of their largest areas. This is a good thing.

Our Region is Profoundly impacted by extrnal forces

Caltrans
Especially scenic route fees (PG&E right of ways as alternative also carry exorbitant fees)
Coastal Commission
CPUC/FCC - as fiber crosses regional and state boundaries red tape and fees mount
Federal Lands
State Lands
Geology and weather

==============

Who’s using the single fiber line on the North Coast?

Communications Companies: Cox, Frontier, Verizon, etc.
Education: HSU, CR, Co. Offices of Ed.
County and City Govt.
State Govt.: State Parks, Wildlife, and Fiseries, Forestry, CHP, Caltrans, etc.
Industry: Manufacturing, Services, tourism, Media
Federal Govt.: National Park, National Weather Service, Coast Guard, etc.

What happens when the line fails?

========

The Middle Mile

(IE what the fiber line connecting to the larger Internet is called)

The Middle Mile ensures the First Mile (your connection at home, business, school):
Telemedicine
Education
Entertainment (we don’t like to admit it, but this is a huge economic force. People mag. earns 1billion/year)
E-jobs (live/work anywhere)

“Are you going to risk your life or financial well-being on an extended outage?”

So, phew! Got past the presentation. Jeff got his check and we are off and running. The first ‘real’ speaker is Susan Estrada. She will be delivering the long awaited findings on her report on Redundant Fiber Optic Business Case. She is President of First Mile USA.

US is 16th in the world in use of broadband. Why?

No U.S. broadband policy.
No understanding of what broadband means
No understanding of how to get 10 GB to every home, school and business
Watch other countries with a polich such as South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom

Who are the Players?

users
telcos
cabel cos
other companies
Municipalities
State and Federal Govt.

Users should be driving this cart.

Government needs to hear from the users and businesses.

I am at Fortuna’s River Lodge and the Broadband Forum is about to begin. Wireless appears to be working. Looks like a great turnout. There are folks here from Del Norte, Mendocino and Humboldt County. Unfortunately, it looks like no one from Trinity. (edit: I wrote this before someone from Triinity was identified, so that’s good).
Rollin Richmond will kick off the event. And them ME! I have the distinct honor of presenting RTC’s $1,000 scholarship to an Arcata High School student, Jeff Friedman.

I’m going to take my Powerbook to the Broadband Forum tomorrow. I understand Fortuna’s Riverlodge has wireless access. i plan to test it. And if I can, I will write about the event as it unfolds.