White paper: Telework constrained by inadequate broadband access, slow speeds

To coincide with Earth Day 2008 as gasoline prices reach new highs on record oil prices, the American Electronics Association (AeA) issued a white paper April 22 encouraging greater adoption of telework, also known as telecommuting.

Notably, the white paper cites the lack of broadband Internet access as a key obstacle to allow information workers to work from their homes at least some of the time rather than commuting to an office.

For widespread adoption of telework,the United States needs ubiquitous broadband Internet access. Much of the potential for enlarging the workforce through telework is by attracting people from rural or isolated areas -- or those who would like to relocate to such places. Yet these are the areas least likely to have broadband access. Additionally, the speed of broadband in many parts of the country is woefully insufficient to support the collaborative applications needed for efficient telework.

Broadband cooperative forming in northern Michigan

A broadband cooperative is forming in northern Michigan to provide residents and businesses in 12 counties with more and better options than dialup and satellite access.

According to the Peteskoy (Mich.) News-Review, organizers including the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance and Northeast Michigan Council of Governments are looking into rural development loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund broadband infrastructure.

History is repeating itself. A century ago, telephone co-ops were created to provide service to areas without it. Provided they can raise sufficient funding, these modern day telecommunications co-ops like the Northern Michigan Broadband Cooperative may prove successful because they cover large geographical areas and thus can leverage economies of scale to their advantage.

More typical and problematic are the numerous scattered broadband black holes that characterize America's incomplete telecommunications infrastructure. They encompass much smaller geographical areas and make it difficult for residents and businesses to take collective action like in northern Michigan. The Communications Workers of America has aptly termed this swiss cheese, crazy quilt telecom infrastructure a "hodge podge" that can result in some folks having state of the art advanced telecommunications services while others just down the road or on the next street are stuck in 1992 and limited to dialup access.

Qwest questions future growth path of wireless broadband

Wireless broadband is seen as a much needed "third pipe" to deliver broadband in areas where wireline-based broadband is scarce or nonexistent. For example, in the vast western U.S. service area of Denver-based telco Qwest.

However, Qwest Chief Technology Officer Pieter Poll doesn't believe wireless can deliver sufficient capacity in the future as bandwidth demand grows. Instead, he suggests its role is that of an interim technology. Here's what he had to say on the topic in an interview with Telephony Online:

If you look at the calculation of what wireless networks can provide in terms of bandwidth, it’s a bit-per-second-per-hertz argument, first of all--the efficiency of how you use spectrum. But ultimately [it’s] finite spectrum. With a number of users. As you build networks, there’s a natural density of cells or reuse that you can get to. I don’t see wireless networks replacing wired broadband networks the way people are thinking about future wired broadband networks. Don’t get me wrong; I’m very excited about what wireless broadband offers today and will offer in the future. But I think it has its appropriate place for the reuse and speed offered. When we start thinking about things we can do in the home with extreme speeds, those are things you will not be able to realistically do over wireless networks, at least at any cost point that an operator would consider feasible.

AT&T claims Internet to reach maximum capacity by 2010; skeptics see ploy to get federal aid

AT&T warns in rapidly growing bandwidth demand will max out Internet capacity in just two year's time -- by 2010. The story on CNET News drew several skeptical comments from readers who see the warning as paving the way for the big telco to ask the U.S. government to help shoulder the cost of expanding capacity.

One commenter wonders what happpened to billions in tax incentives provided under the federal Telecommunicaitons Act of 1996 that were to ensure all Americans had broadband Internet access by 2006. (Millions still don't in 2008 and continue to use the same dial up access they had when the bill was enacted more than a decade ago.) "They just took the dough and put it against their bottom line, screwing the US taxpayer yet again. NOW THEY WANT MORE?????," he wrote.

Another points out only a small fraction of the capacity of the of fiber optic cable installed during the late 1990s dot com boom is being used. "To start running out of bandwidth, this soon, is hard to believe. More likely these companies are creating FUD as an excuse to raise rates and/or cut back on service," the writer says.

Muni fiber growth pains: Utah's UTOPIA, iProvo reconnoiter

Here's a comprehensive account by the Provo, Utah Daily Herald of the challenges that can arise in public-private fiber optic projects designed to bring state of the art telecommunications services to residents and businesses.

Both the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA), a fiber venture begun in 2003 underwritten by 18 Utah municipalities and iProvo, Provo's muni fiber project, are experiencing cash flow problems due to take rates falling short of projections and a low cost federal loan coming in later and with far less money than requested. The finances of both projects are under review as are a number of options to improve the numbers.

The lessons that can be drawn here for such ventures are 1) Making sure there is a committed base of business and institutional subscribers who are hungry for "big pipe" data-intensive services and making connections affordable for small businesses and 2) Getting good estimates of projected demand in residential areas to help prioritize build out to those where demand is highest.

"The initial model was build it and they will come," Paul Recanzone, UTOPIA's project manager, told the newspaper. "The new model is to let the market tell you where the demand is before building out."

Verizon Wireless picks off more AT&T residential customers in Northern California

There are more indications Verizon Wireless is moving into AT&T's service area with its 3G wireless broadband service offering, snapping up fixed location broadband subscribers that AT&T has neglected to serve with wireline-based broadband Internet access.

The North Bay Business Journal reports Verizon has expanded its wireless broadband service area up the Highway 101 corridor from Santa Rosa to Cloverdale, and out to coastal Sea Ranch. That's in addition to Clearlake, Lakeport and Middletown in Lake County, and Ukiah, Willits, Laytonville, Fort Bragg and Hopland in Mendocino County, encompassing large areas long lacking high speed Internet access.

While Verizon Wireless is primarily targeting mobile customers, it's finding a market in fixed AT&T residential and small business customers who have suffered years of digital deprivation in AT&T's sprawling broadband black holes.

Verizon offers speeds of 600 Kbs to 1.4 Mbs for downloads 500 to 800 Kbs on the uplink. That's arguably not broadband class throughput even at the high end of the range (most connections are likely to come in at half the advertised maximums), but a considerably better option than AT&T's ancient dialup or sluggish, costly satellite Internet.

From a competitive standpoint, this is bad news for AT&T. By offering a quasi-broadband service for residential subscribers situated in the many broadband black holes in AT&T's wire line service area, Verizon is likely to also build brand name loyalty and steal away wireless voice subscribers who might otherwise sign up with AT&T.

Governor sends message to Connect Kentucky, vetoes increased funding

In January, Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge released a critique of Connect Kentucky calling into question its claim that more than 90 percent of the Bluegrass State has access broadband Internet access thanks to its efforts.

Brodsky now reports Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear declined to approve $2.4 million in additional grant funding for the telco-backed nonprofit, citing the state's tight finances.

Beshear's veto message clearly indicates the governor's skepticism that the additional money will provide any real benefit for Kentucky residents. Perhaps Beshear like me isn't interested in more stalling, paper chase exercises such as mapping broadband availability and creating inflated, self serving statistics and would rather see real, tangible broadband infrastructure being built in order to provide broadband to those without it.

Slovenian WiMAX tests could bode well for U.S. wireless broadband players

For WISPs considering using WiMAX technology to serve areas with rugged or heavily forested terrain, recent testing of WiMAX in Slovenia indicates the protocol can work well provided it's transmitted on a relatively low frequency.

cellular-news reports WiMAX developer Telsima conducted tests there earlier this year and claims to have successfully demonstrated a 50km (30mile) connection with 6 Mbps throughput using a 3 MHz channel under near line of sight conditions in the 450 MHz frequency band.

"Compared to higher frequency systems, the Sub-GHz solutions are technically and economically suited for covering large areas where the foliage is dense and the terrain does not allow for line of sight communications between the subscriber station and base station. We are very optimistic in our sub-GHz solution's capability to address the needs of high coverage, low density markets with high modulation rate capacity," the publication quoted Wolfgang Mack, chief marketing officer of Telsima, as saying.

These results if verified could entice U.S. wireless broadband players using WiMAX like Clearwire to move outside its existing metro markets and cater to customers living in less densely populated areas where telcos and cable companies don't offer wireline-based broadband.

Verizon Wireless harvests AT&T residential customers stuck in broadband black holes

While big telcos AT&T and Verizon don’t compete on wireline-based broadband services and stay out of each other’s service areas, that anti-competitive strategy does not apply to wireless broadband.

In Northern California, for example, Verizon has expanded its wireless broadband footprint and AT&T announced this week it would counter with a $290 million expansion of its wireless system in Northern California and Reno, Nevada. Both are based on Third Generation (3G) wireless technology and are primarily targeted to mobile wireless customers rather than fixed residential users.

But some residential customers mired in AT&T’s large broadband black holes created by its incomplete wireline infrastructure are turning to Verizon’s wireless broadband plans offering advertised speeds of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps for downloads and 500 Kbps to 800 Kbps for uploads. For them, it’s an easy choice over impractical early 1990s era dial up or substandard and costly satellite service.

AT&T isn’t likely to offer a superior alternative in terms of speed and usage caps (Verizon offers a 50Mb per month plan for $40 and a 5Gb plan for $50 with overage charges for exceeding the limit). Plus Verizon Wireless requires two-year contracts, which would dissuade subscribers from switching to AT&T.

If AT&T wants to protect its residential customers who don’t have wireline-based broadband from signing up with Verizon Wireless or convince them paying an early termination fee is worthwhile, it will have to do what it should have done years ago and expedite an upgrade and expansion of its wireline infrastructure to offer what the California Public Utilities Commission deems as true broadband providing minimum speeds of 3Mbs for downloads and 1Mbs uploads.

If on the other hand AT&T merely matches with a service at or slightly less comparable to Verizon Wireless Broadband without leveraging its wireline infrastructure to more widely offer true broadband service, it will once again be a day late and dollar short and leave unearned revenues on the table.

AT&T, cablecos poised to close Tennessee franchise deal that will leave gaping broadband black holes

AT&T and the cable companies are about to screw over much of Tennessee that has been waiting to come into the modern telecommunications age and obtain broadband Internet access.

They are set to announce a deal today in which the cable industry will drop its opposition to legislation that would preempt local government regulatory authority over Internet-protocol based TV (IPTV) service AT&T wants to offer in selected areas of the state. The same thing happened in California in 2006, leaving about 2,000 communities still without broadband access according to a report by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Broadband Task Force issued in late January.

Tennessee's cable companies, which earlier this year criticized AT&T's initiative because it provided for only limited infrastructure build out requirements that would leave large areas mired in broadband black holes, have reportedly dropped their opposition.
The Tennessean reports today that under draft legislation that was still being negotiated over the weekend, AT&T would have to cover just 30 percent of its territory within 3½ years after it begins offering IPTV, citing sources involved in negotiations.

According to the report, the draft legislation would apply credit toward AT&T's minimal build out requirement if it offers DSL service of at least 1.5mbs to homes that don't now have access to broadband. It's a meaningless provision. Even if enacted, AT&T is likely to ignore it since it has effectively halted new DSL deployments and is concentrating exclusively on its IPTV-based U-Verse offering. Those without broadband will simply be left twisting in the wind. Why would AT&T need the credit anyway with with legislation's already minimal buildout benchmark?

Bottom line is neither AT&T nor the cable companies have lost any skin in the deal and have sacrificed Tennesseans instead by relegating them to dial up and satellite Internet access. That leaves it to Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen to look out for the interests of his constituents as he indicated he would do in early February. Rather than endorse this lousy deal for consumers like Schwarzenegger did in California two years ago, he should reject it.

America needs broadband czar, tech-oriented FCC to solve last mile problem

Slate.com's Tim Wu says that while technology has advanced rapidly in the last several years, the so-called "last mile" telecommunications infrastructure connecting Americans to the Internet has not. He's dead on -- and regrettably -- correct.

Wu's solution for the next administration that takes office in January 2009? Appoint a broadband czar reporting to the president. "Right now, broadband is no one's responsibility, and the buck keeps getting passed between industry, Congress, the White House, and the FCC," Wu writes. "The point of a czar would be to make it someone's job to figure out what it will take to fix broadband."

Wu also advocates revamping the Federal Communications Commission to remake it from its current political and lobbying based culture that tends to support the nation's mediocre broadband status quo to a technology-driven "dream team" agency run by the "wisest tech experts and visionaries."

Read this and Wu's other recommendations for the incoming administration by clicking here.

Another paper chase diversion on the road to full broadband deployment

Rather than filling in their broadband black holes with updated infrastructure, telcos are instead proposing paper chase exercises that are little more than PR gimmicks designed to create the appearance they are actually doing something to end the digital divide.

Earlier this month, I blogged about mapmaking drills purportedly designed to show where broadband access exists and where it doesn't. (As if telcos don't know where their own infrastucture is deployed.)

The latest paper chase is called "aggregation of demand." It's a key element of the AT&T and Verizon-funded California Emerging Technology Fund's Strategic Action Plan presented today to the California Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce. The idea is driven by the bogus notion that telcos don't believe people really want broadband and need to be shown proof of demand before they offer advanced services, particularly in higher cost areas.

Grassroots-based efforts in Northern California petitioning AT&T to deploy broadband services in areas where it's not offered have already demonstrated that the so-called "aggregation of demand" tactic is a wasted effort that does nothing to prompt intransigent telcos to get off the dime and offer something better than early 1990s-era dial up.

One such petition in El Dorado County has garnered more than 200 signatories since it was started two years ago with no change in the dialug status quo.

Ditto a door to door petition in the Lake Tahoe basin by resident Patti Handal who along with 600 of her neighbors petitioned AT&T in late 2006 requesting DSL service. Patti and some of her neighbors did end up getting DSL last year, but only because last June's devastating Angora Fire burned out the existing ancient aerial infrastructure, forcing AT&T to upgrade it. Patti's still getting calls and emails from those who have signed and/or heard about her petition complaining about the lack of wireline-based broadband.

It's a wanker, mate: Aussie WISP abandons WiMAX

Hervey Bay, Australia WISP Buzz Broadband has pulled the plug on WiMAX, panning it as a "miserable" technological failure at an international WiMAX conference last week in Bangkok.

Commsday.com quoted Buzz Broadband's CEO Garth Freeman as saying WiMAX's non-line of sight performance was “non-existent” beyond just 2 kilometres from the base station, is hard to receive indoors and is plagued with high latency.

Buzz Broadband will instead use an alternative wireless protocol based on the TD-CDMA cellular protocol with compression technology capable of throughput up to 38Mbps in the 3.5GHz spectrum. Buzz and other WISPs in Australia are targeting areas like Hervey Bay where about 80 percent of residents are unable to get ADSL because of the use of digital pairgain by incumbent telco Telstra and the exhaustion of existing DSL ports -- a dismal situation mirrored in much of the United States.

If the troubles down under with WiMAX spread, it could have implications in the northern hemisphere, where AT&T a year ago began trials of WiMAX in Ancorage, Alaska with a planned ramp up this year in its 22-state service area. They could also hit big WiMAX player Clearwire and could explain why the company has concentrated going head to head with wireline broadband providers in metro areas instead of targeting non-metro regions where WiMAX signals have to travel farther and can face more challenging terrain and dense foliage.

Airspan, Buzz Broadband's WiMAX equipment vendor, blamed the WISP for the problems, saying it elected to use lower cost equipment with less range and refused technical support.

Survey: All should have broadband access without regard to location

Americans should have access to broadband regardless of where they live, according to 80 percent of 451 readers of leading U.S. telecom publications in a survey commissioned by telecommunications network vendor Tellabs.

Respondents strongly support expanding broadband availability in the United States, especially in under-served rural areas. The lack of broadband availability, whether due to geographic or economic reasons, hurts productivity, according to nearly 90 percent of survey respondents. Eighty percent believe the U.S. should use at least some of the current Universal Service Fund to expand rural broadband.

Burlington Telecom head: Broadband infrastructure a natural monopoly that should be publicly owned

Here's a guy who really understands the economic big picture when it comes to broadband infrastructure: Tim Nulty, director of Burlington Telecom, which built a publicly owned broadband system serving the city of Burlington, Vermont.

Nulty sets out crystal clear guidance for public policymakers on broadband infrastructure: it's a natural monopoly that by its very nature can't foster robust market competition to ensure the needs of the public are met. Hence, Nulty says, it should be in the public rather than private sector like roads and highways. Nulty's observation has enormous implications for the current misguided notion being embraced by some states at the behest of AT&T that state regulation preempting local governments will lead to a competitive market for advanced services. AT&T's approach creates a duopoly of telcos and cable companies and a duopoly does not a competitive market make.

Here's an excerpt from a recent profile of Nulty appearing in Vermont's Business People magazine:

He likens his fiber-optic superhighway to a more commonly understood network. "Nobody thinks twice about the roads being in the hands of the public," Nulty says. "The thought that a private company could own the roads and charge whatever they pleased to anybody who goes on them is ludicrous anywhere in the world. That's what this is: the public roads."

FCC finally abandons useless 1996 broadband measurement standard, will require more detailed reports by providers

The Federal Communications Commission, which for years has been the target of justified criticism for failing to update how it measures broadband adoption as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, is finally getting up to speed with more than a decade of changing technology.

Instead of the much derided standard of measuring by ZIP Code and deeming the entire ZIP Code as having broadband service if it has just one subscriber with a data connection of 200kbs in just one direction, the FCC announced today it adopted an order expanding the number of broadband reporting speed tiers to capture more precise information about upload and download broadband speeds.

The next semi-annual report on broadband deploying covering the second half of 2007 and subsequent reports will also require broadband providers to report the number of broadband subscribers by census tract, broken down by speed tier and technology type, the FCC announced.

FCC broadband data for first half of 2007 show nation plagued by persistent telco broadband black holes

The Federal Communications Commission's semi-annual report on broadband deployment as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 covering the first half of 2007 is out and the numbers aren't good. (See Table 14) They show virtually no improvement in the percentage of residences that can get high speed Internet from their telcos during the first half of 2007 compared to all of 2006.

On average, nearly 20 percent of Americans still are unable to get broadband from their incumbent telephone companies. In some states -- notably Vermont, Virginia, New Hampshire and Maine -- the number is even worse, with fully one third of state households cut off from the modern era of telecommunications. No state exceeds the 91 percent availability rate of Georgia, though Nevada and California come close with 90 percent and 89 percent, respectively.

Kentucky's figure of 87 percent also casts doubt on the claim of Connect Kentucky in an Aug. 9, 2007 news release that 94 percent of households in the Blue Grass State can get broadband and no households will be left in digital darkness by the end of 2007. The organization was the subject of a January expose by Public Knowledge's Art Brodsky, who debunked its overblown broadband access claims.