U.S. broadband forecasts sweep pathetic state of access under the rug

A couple of reports are out this week that would lead their readers to believe that U.S. broadband access and speeds are “exploding” as one tech press account put it. Or about to.

Don’t believe it. It’s essentially telco/cable duopoly propaganda designed to make the number of people who have access to advanced services appear to be large and growing fast. The apparent goal is to sweep under the rug the ugly reality that very large numbers of Americans are still accessing the Internet the same way they did when a young former Arkansas governor named Bill Clinton was assuming the presidency and are likely to do so for some time. Only now, some have option of using satellite, a crippled and costly alternative that’s not much better than dialup and doesn’t provide true broadband connectivity.

One of these reports was issued this week by research firm Parks Associates. It projects by 2012, close to 33 million U.S. households will have broadband services with speeds of 10 Mbps or higher, capable of streaming high-definition video. The U.S. Census Bureau projects there will be about 177 million households by 2012, meaning many folks won’t. “If high-bandwidth broadband services fail to reach mass-market consumers, the United States may lose its competitive edge in the next round of technology innovation,” the report warns. "Such a scenario would be unpleasant.” Based on these numbers, it appears the U.S. is in for a lot of broadband unpleasantness.

Also this week, another research outfit projected that by 2011, of those who can get service at this speed, more than 9 million U.S. households will subscribe to telco-provided Internet Protocol TV service. The Yankee Group’s report, From Gorillas to Guerrillas, IPTV Changes Everything, sharply departs from reality in suggesting that IPTV technology will change the stodgy, accounting and lobbying driven Bell System culture that still rules telcos.

“IPTV will also forever transform how telcos operate,” Yankee Group declares in a bout of apparent wishful thinking. “It will take the service providers from being highly centralized, giant corporations to become decentralized, flexible entities that can respond much more rapidly to the specific needs of the communities they serve. The phone company of the past—the 800-pound gorilla—is dead. IPTV will transform telcos from the market-dominating gorillas they once were, to street fighting guerrillas."

That assessment is so out of touch it’s laughable. The telcos and especially the dominant player, AT&T, behave like arrogant, aloof government bureaucracies, not unlike the old Soviet phone company where customers had to wait five years just to get phone service. Consider the many folks who are stuck with POTS-based dial up that AT&T has been telling for years "We'll get to you when we get to you" and "Maybe and that's final" when they've asked (and often begged) for advanced services. They don't even have DSL let alone IPTV and aren't likely to see the latter for many more years — all the while relegated to early 1990s era dialup and satellite. And forget about the myth this problem is confined to rural areas; there are plenty of folks within metro areas who are still on dialup.

To suggest the entrenched, centralized, top-down telco culture can change in just two years' time to a "guerrilla marketing" culture simply defies common sense. It will likely take at least a decade and likely far longer. Only a major external event like another government ordered divestiture would likely alter that timetable.

Fed up with dial up, 20 Vermont towns give green light to fiber infrastructure

Residents of 20 Vermont towns have had it with dial up Internet access that was state of the art when Bill Clinton was starting his first term as president and are sick and tired of waiting for an alternative from an unresponsive telco/cable duopoly.

In nearly unanimous voting Tuesday, March 4, the townspeople approved nonbinding resolutions to create a subscriber-funded fiber optic infrastructure provding Internet, telephone and cable television opportunities in central and southern Vermont.

Qwest bullish on residential broadband, plans $1.8B FTTN deployment

Dow Jones reports today that Denver-based telco Qwest Communications International plans to spend $1.8 billion to build fiber to the node (FTTN) infrastructure serving 1.5 million homes in its top 23 markets.

Qwest joins AT&T in adopting the lower cost FTTN fiber/copper hybrid architecture, which AT&T is deploying as Project Lightspeed in selected areas to support its triple play IPTV video/Internet/voice bundle marketed under the brand name U-Verse.

By contrast, the nation's second largest telco, Verizon, has opted for a costlier Fiber To the Home (FTTN) architecture that offers residential customers higher throughput speeds, greater potential for expanded service offerings, and reduced risk of technological obsolescence.

Qwest estimates the FTTN deployment will run about $175 per home -- far less than FTTH. Qwest says about 60 percent of its upgraded homes will have speeds up to 7 Mbs.

Broadband black holes in Brooklyn?

Surprisingly so, according to this item on the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee appearing today in the Queens Chronicle:

The committee working to bring high speed public Internet access to New York City will be holding a hearing in Queens on Monday, March 3 at 1 p.m. The New York City Broadband Advisory Committee will convene at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. The public is invited to attend and testify.

The committee, headed by Councilwoman Gale Brewer from Manhattan and including Councilman James Sanders from Springfield Gardens, will hear testimony from local officials and Queens residents about the accessibility and affordability of high speed Internet in Queens.

The committee has held hearings in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn already and was surprised to learn that some areas of Brooklyn have no cable or Internet access, according to Brewer. Sanders speculates that the same situation probably exists in parts of Queens.

Somerset County PA commissioner warns of broadband access crisis

From the Somerset County (PA) Daily American:

Somerset County has a way to go in its quest to connect every resident and business using broadband as the tool.

County commissioners are not daunted by the task, making it a priority for 2008. Last fall, while running for a third term of office, Commissioner James Marker made the first campaign promise in his eight-year career as a commissioner, stating he would do everything possible to achieve a high-speed Internet connection in the county.

His mind has not changed since he took office in January. If anything, it has intensified, he said. If the county does not meet the challenge soon, “we will have to face a real crisis,” Marker said.

Vermont towns strive to enter modern era of telecommunications

Their residents understandably sick and tired of sluggish "dialug" Internet connectivity that was state of the art technology in the early 1990s, the Associated Press reports more than 20 Vermont towns are forming a community owned, subscriber funded nonprofit to deploy fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure.

According to the AP, a financial institution would finance the system and lease it back to the nonprofit, which would cover the lease with subscriber fees that would run around $120 a month for a "triple play" bundle of TV programming, voice and Internet service.

Firm claims to give new lease on life to DSL--at "up to" 400 Mbs

A Canadian firm claims it has developed proprietary DSL transmission technology that would allow DSL to run over copper pair at speeds "up to" 400 Mbs, easily lapping cable. Moreover, boasts Calgary, Alberta -based Genesis Technical Systems Corp, its Bonded DSL Rings(tm) Technology (BDR), is so economical to deploy that telcos could get back their investment in one year, even in rural areas.

The company elaborates in a press release issued today:

High quality television over copper telephone lines can be a reality for Telcos using Bonded DSL Rings(TM). Bandwidths of up to 400 megabits per second - at a cost much lower than fiber - are achievable using BDR. This will allow Telcos to compete head-to-head with cable companies at a price point that is attractive to consumers and very profitable for Telcos.

The company claims it demonstrated BDR's viability in proof of concept demonstrations at trade shows in 2007. The real proof of concept as this company likely well knows is whether telcos buy its claimed breakthrough that provides extended life to DSL, an interim wireline broadband technology on the road to fiber.

There have been a number of companies claiming breakthroughs such as this in DSL technology. Given the fact that copper is a poor transmission medium for broadband due to the tendency for signals to degrade quickly over short distances, such claims should be met with a healthy degree of skepticism.

In addition, a diagram of the technology's components at the Genesis Web site shows it requires remote field equipment. The telcos have long had remote DSL terminals. The issue isn't lack of technology but rather an unwillingness on the part of the telcos to invest in infrastructure and equipment to deliver broadband.

Local government units could build own broadband infrastructure under proposed California legislation

Following the January release of a report by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Broadband Task Force finding nearly 2,000 California communities lacking high speed Internet access, legislation has been introduced that would authorize community service districts (CSDs) to offer broadband service within their jurisdictions.

SB 1191 would allow allow CSDs to "acquire, own, improve, maintain, and operate broadband facilities and to provide broadband services, until a private person or entity is ready, willing, and able to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, and operate broadband facilities and to provide broadband services, and to sell those services at a comparable cost and quality of service to the district and its property owners, residents, and visitors." If and when a qualified private broadband provider steps up and shows an interest in serving the community, the legislation requires the CSD to sell or lease its broadband infrastructure to the provider at fair market value.

In 2007, a California Court of Appeal ruling cleared the way for public utility districts to provide advanced telecommunications services, rejecting a legal challenge by a cable TV company.