Hilary Clinton takes up broadband access cause

In the late 1960s, the federal government devised the Internet. Now it's time for the feds to speed its deployment in areas of the U.S. that lack broadband service, argues blogger Pretson Gralla.

Gralla puts in a plug for legislation by Sen. Hilary Clinton, who frames the issue in the context of helping her upstate New York constituents, many of whom live in broadband black holes. However, given Mrs. Clinton's former first lady status and much rumored presidential ambitions, her championing efforts to bridge the digital divide could put the issue in the national spotlight.

Mrs. Clinton's bill would create an Office of Rural Broadband Initiatives at the Department of Agriculture to provide grants and loan programs to spur investment in broadband infrastructure in underserved rural areas. It would also create a Rural Broadband Innovation Fund which would invest in broadband services to rural areas including satellite, fiber, WiFi, and broadband over power lines (BPL).

AT&T sends mixed messages on broadband service

I recently blogged about the seeming arbitrariness of one El Dorado County neighbor with access to wireline high speed Internet while one nearby or even next door can’t get it. Most vexing.

There’s another huge annoyance. How many of you have seen or heard advertisements by AT&T for DSL on sale — as low as $12.99 a month — as if broadband connections were so plentiful Ma Bell would basically give them away cheap?

The pitches are seemingly everywhere. In full page newspaper ads, on television, and on the Internet where AT&T has teamed up with Yahoo. Even on the outside of the phone bill. They’re misleading and unrealistically raise customer expectations. One has to read through gobs of dense fine print to find the disclaimer: “Not available in all areas.” More accurately, it should read not available in many areas and not available in most areas of El Dorado County.

In other words, service is available. But maybe it isn’t. Here’s a striking example of AT&T’s Orwellian doublespeak excerpted from a news release the company issued today headlined AT&T Simplifies Residential Broadband Pricing and Adds New Speed Tier.

“AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet service is available in the company's 13-state incumbent local exchange areas,” the news release states. Then in the same sentence comes the qualifier: “where high speed Internet service is available...”

Like Ma Bell says, it’s available…but then again it really isn’t.

Schwarzenegger signs AB 2987 into law

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office announced today the governor has signed into law the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006.

Your blogger's analysis of the legislation found it would reinforce California's digital divide between urban and non-urban areas by not requiring telephone and cable companies to build out their digital networks to serve all customers, leaving many in El Dorado and other counties stuck in the early 1990s or earlier without access to wireline-based broadband Internet services. (On an interesting political note, many of these counties are in "red" California representing Schwarzenegger's Republican voter base)

Schwarzenegger however insists that AB 2987 will "help speed the spread of new and innovative technologies across the state." Perhaps it will after decades have gone by. In the meantime, much of non-urban California will slide into the telecommunications equivalent of third world nation status.

Internet boom leaves rural areas disconnected

Here's an excellent article in today's New York Times (registration required) that illustrates how the Internet boom is colliding with reality in rural areas of the United States that still rely on sluggish, impractical dial up Internet access that was state of the art when Bill Clinton was entering the White House in 1993.

The article details declining economies of scale as major telcos sell off land lines, inconsistent federal subsidies, and impatient capital that discourages private sector investment in rural telecom infrastructure.

"My neighbors get high speed Internet. Why can't I?"

For many El Dorado County residents, one of the most vexing aspects of the telecommunications infrastructure is its seeming arbitrariness. They rightfully wonder why folks just down the road — or in some cases immediate neighbors — have access to broadband Internet while they’re stuck with dialup or the undesirable choice of having to sign up for satellite Internet service.

It simply doesn’t make sense. It would be like those neighbors getting electric power while those who by the mere misfortune of their address must generate their own or live like the early settlers.

The reason is the county’s incumbent local exchange carrier, AT&T, relies on a less than robust technology to provide broadband to those able to receive it: Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). DSL transmits digital data over copper cables that were not designed to carry data but rather standard, plain old analog telephone service. Since copper cable — and particularly aged, pair gained cable that’s plentiful in El Dorado County — isn’t optimally designed to carry digital data, DSL data has a hard time moving over the cable. After just a few miles from the central switching office, the data stream falls apart and can’t deliver reliable broadband service.

In the telecom industry, DSL’s fragility is part of a bigger problem known as the “last mile problem.” In short, the last mile problem refers to systemic shortcomings in the nation’s telecom system. Telcos are able to build vast networks of major transmission lines and trunks, but they can’t seem to build a complete system that reaches all homes and businesses in their service areas. It’s a truly odd circumstance that begs serious analysis. Why, by comparison, is there no last mile problem in the electric power industry? Power distribution goes over high voltage transmission lines to substations and distribution systems that bring it to all consumers. One never hears of a “last mile” problem in electrical power systems despite physical parallels to wire line telecommunications systems. Why is that?

AT&T sinks fiber in Lake Tahoe

The Tahoe Daily Tribune (registration required) reports AT&T has laid fiber optic cable in Lake Tahoe between lake's north and south shores.

Durocher Marine also installed a new fiber optic cable for AT&T as a part of the project. Sierra Pacific and AT&T partnered in coordinating their work so that both cables could be installed simultaneously, minimizing the cost of installation and environmental impacts. The old power and phone cables were not removed from the lake because of their historical significance and because environmental studies of the project concluded it was best to not to stir up sediment by pulling them up, Matthews said.

Virginia governor signs executive order to promote broadband access, telework

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger take note of this item from NRTC Update:

“A key success factor for the adoption of telework is the availability of affordable broadband level telecommunication services. Because of the critical role broadband plays in the deployment of advanced applications such as telework, widespread access to broadband services is critical to the economic well-being of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” the governor said in the text of the order. “At present, too many communities both urban and rural are not afforded access to broadband telecommunications and hence deprived of their ability to participate in enhanced social, education, occupation, healthcare, and economic development opportunities.”