Nevada County. Connected.

Will the Gold Country Broadband Consortium Deliver?

john — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:05:07 +0000

Many people received or were forwarded the invitation from the Sierra Economic Development Corporation (SED Corp) for this week’s March 29th kick-off workshop of the Gold Country Broadband Consortium, and probably have been wondering what it is all about.

After the Federal stimulus funds for broadband ended in 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) realized that they would still have grant monies in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF)* for broadband Internet deployment, yet correctly predicted there would be few takers once the 80% Federal match was no longer available after 2010.

(* The CASF is funded by a current .14% surcharge rate on revenues collected by telecommunications carriers from end-users for intrastate telecommunications services.)

• Three great things that happened in 2011

First, the CPUC voted to redefine what could be funded, changing the definition of broadband to be, at minimum, 6 Megabits per second (Mbps) down and 1.5 Mbps up. (Yes, currently available Internet access speeds — DSL/U-verse, cable, fixed wireless, are not symmetrical. That is why “fast” speed doesn’t often feel very fast. The new applications on the Internet are requiring symmetrical speeds, but they don’t exist here.) The good news is that western Nevada County, and most of rural California is now considered underserved.

Second, the grant levels were raised from 40% of any broadband project, to up to 70% for unserved areas and 60% for underserved areas. You can download the full 2011 CASF Annual Report in PDF format.

Third, funding was made available for “broadband consortia” to be formed, each made up of multi-county regions. These groups were to be formed for the purpose of ”increasing broadband deployment, access and adoption in the regions of the state they represent.” Fourteen consortia were formed across the state in response to fund availability. Tellus Venture Associates has a good summary and map of this.

• The Gold Country Broadband Consortium was formed

Locally, SED Corp based in Auburn took the lead and applied on behalf of the newly formed Gold Country Broadband Consortium, which covers Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, and eastern Alpine counties. The Consortium was funded in the amount of $150,000 for year one (March 1, 2012 – February 28, 2013), and $150,000 for up to two additional years pending annual reporting to the CPUC. A potential total of $450,000.

• All consortia, however, are not equal

The whole concept of broadband Internet consortia was rushed into existence in the second half of 2011 by the CPUC. Consequently, specific guidelines on how they were to operate, or how funds were to be spent were not set.

In some consortia, where broadband infrastructure does not yet exist, professional stakeholders in local broadband deployment form the leadership of the organization — see Northeastern California Connect Consortium and Upstate California Connect Consortium — which each received the same level of funding as the Gold Country Broadband Consortium.

Here, in a region where two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) major middle-mile (or infrastructure) projects — Central Valley Next-Generation Broadband Infrastructure Project and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications Middle Mile Fiber Project — as well as one “last-mile” (or service-to-the-home) project – SmarterBroadband Project — have been funded, the work of the local Consortium needs to move beyond just the surveys and mapping indicated in its proposed work plan. Identifying last-mile networks, for one, are key to the next steps.

• The local consortium — a consortium of one

As it has been presented so far, SED Corp only will lead the Gold County Broadband Consortium; determining the scope of its work and outcome, with apparent disregard for the ARRA-funded projects or other county-specific broadband efforts that have been underway for years. Although there are apparent “members” of the local Consortium, it remains to be seen if that membership has any say in its direction or work plan.

This leads us to the highly promoted kick-off meeting of the Gold Country Broadband Consortium on Thursday, March 29 and its misguided messaging on what the public should expect from the local Consortium funding.

“We will be making some big decisions and we need your input to put broadband into areas that need it! Don’t be left out. This is your chance to be heard!”

This messaging, unfortunately, has led to confusion on behalf of the public, who now believe SED Corp will be bringing broadband Internet access to their home or town. Which it will not. And “big decisions” does seem to be a bit of a stretch. It has also put into question, and pushed aside, some of the local organizing initiatives mentioned above that are already underway. Not a good thing. We have also already heard that some local communities will be showing up with “signed petitions” asking for broadband.

• Fulfilling the goals of CPUC funding

The potential confusion at this workshop doesn’t seem like it will serve the intent of the consortia goals. We hope SED Corp will step back after this event, and meet with key Gold Country Broadband Consortium stakeholders to create a work plan and strategy that matches the realities of our counties. Otherwise, the CPUC is spending almost a half a million dollars gathering data via surveys and drafting more maps to show what we don’t have in our five-county Consortium. Something that had been done previously via SED Corp’s receipt of a California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) grant just three years ago.

This when, in fact, funded projects here are either already building, or just ready to build, the fiber optic infrastructure that will deliver ultra-high speed Internet access in rural California.

What Last Saturday’s Communications Outage Means

john — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:50:40 +0000

It took a while to determine exactly what happened in western Nevada County last weekend on Saturday evening when all communications, essentially, went down. All DSL, AT&T phone and cell service, and Verizon cell service disappeared just as many of us sat down for dinner and continued through early Sunday morning. With no phone service, that meant even dial-up Internet service was unavailable, as well as access to 911. Lucky those who had phone service with Comcast or DigitalPath, and yes even HughesNet or WildBlue Internet access.

So what did take place? Apparently a telephone pole (although technically they are PG&E poles in northern California) went down along Hwy 49 near Lime Kiln Rd and fell across the road. That pole most likely held a PG&E line plus an AT&T line of some sort. From our sources, an officer gave permission to cut the lines in order to clear the roadway for traffic. This was without understanding of what that AT&T line connected.

It is known that the only wired connectivity to the greater Internet and telephony network here is via AT&T and Comcast fiber optic cable. This is called backhaul. It is why no other provider can offer Internet service locally without an enormous cost for connectivity. It was assumed that the fiber optic cable that brings AT&T’s backhaul into western Nevada County was safely underground. It was also assumed that there would be a redundant fiber optic connection from another geographic direction for redundancy in case this very sort of loss of connectivity occurred.

Those assumptions were wrong on both fronts. We conferred with another rural provider and found out that, typically, AT&T brings one fiber optic cable into a rural area, which may have many strands of fiber optics contained within it. However, more often than not, for cost purposes, it is strung along the PG&E poles rather than buried alongside the highway. There is no redundant back up. In western Nevada County, it is also most likely the sole point of connectivity to the world beyond for cell phones. And it became clear, that Verizon uses AT&T’s backhaul here for their cellular service.

On that night for about eight hours, cash registers didn’t work, 911 wasn’t available, ATMs were down, and security cameras plus monitoring services were unable to transmit. And never mind watching movies on Netflix, using Skype, listening to music on Spotify, visiting with friends on Facebook, or online gaming that night. Imagine if it were a real emergency. Not only is broadband — now defined as 6 Mbps down / 1.5 Mbps up — scarcely available here, but we now know we are tethered to the world by only one strand.

Rural America and Nevada County deserves and requires much better than this.

Luckily, the future does look bright for alternate and reliable solutions. Especially in rural California, as a real revolution is happening across the country. In the next few months, we’ll be posting information on how “what’s next” will be coming much sooner than we could have imagined. Stay tuned and, hopefully, stay connected.

Google’s Kansas City 1Gig Project is Delayed

john — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:46:33 +0000

It appears that Google is experiencing the same pushback that many non-telco Internet Service Providers hit up against when attempting to install new state-of-the-art fiber optic networks. The obstacles are often in place to give favor to the incumbents. Incumbents who are satisfied making profits off of old and horribly outdated copper and cable networks. Google’s situation is detailed in a recent Kansas City Star article. Google chose Kansas City, Kansas as they were assured a rapid deployment. It appears they are faring somewhat better on the Kansas City, Missouri side of the river. It remains to be seen if an aggressive build out schedule can still be accomplished in Kansas City. An overview on how AT&T stifled progress in the 20th century can be read in Tim Wu’s “The Master Switch“, an excellent fast-paced “who done it” style read on media and infrastructure monoliths in the United States.

Currently, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is revising its requirements for access to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), which provides monies for broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas in the state. One of the requirements for funding, waived during the availability of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for broadband, is that an applicant needs to be an Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) or a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in order to apply. AT&T is the ILEC in western Nevada County, so the application process for that status is essentially vetted by AT&T, a process they draw out as long as they can. Luckily, the other revisions in the CASF guidelines actually favor funding for projects in rural California. A good thing because the PUC has actually, and this is truly astonishing, had a difficult time doling out the funds over the past five years.

The future is fiber optics. Google knows it. Rural telephone companies and publicly owned utility companies are stepping up across rural America and deploying fiber to the home networks. Projects have or are in the process of being built in places such as Sunriver, Oregon; New Braunfels, Texas; and Lafayette, Louisiana. The shining example is the deployment of fiber to the home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the local electricity utility built a fiber network for their new Smart Grid technology, only to be sued three times by the local cable operator when they announced that the same fiber deployed to each home would be used for ultra high-speed Internet access.

Aside from Verizon’s roll out of FIOS in select urban markets, which came to a screeching halt in 2011, rural American is taking the lead when it comes to fiber optic networks. Western Nevada County is primed for this type of connectivity. Are we ready to participate? And what will it take? … to be continued …

Spiral Internet featured in Broadband Blindness

NCC — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:04:09 +0000

Earlier this year, Sacramento filmmaker Rob Osborn, came to Nevada City to tape part of a proposed online series about broadband Internet access in northern California. The three part 25-minute video, titled “Broadband Blindness“, was posted today for viewing. John Paul, co-owner of Spiral Internet, was interviewed for the series, and is featured in all three parts. Portions of the 95959google video, produced by Silver Avenue Pictures are included in part 3 of the series.

U-verse DSL on Greenhorn Rd and in South County

john — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:51:22 +0000

After a year of false starts — including mailings and phone calls to customers who really couldn’t get DSL (digital subscriber line) service — AT&T finally turned on U-verse DSL along parts of Greenhorn Road and in parts of South County, both in Grass Valley last week.

When the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, it allowed for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) other than the “baby Bells” (at the time) to provision (the then new) DSL service over copper wires. This allowed for competition and more rapid adoption of the new technology.

The competition never really happened as intended. What we saw was merger after merger, until “voila!” — the new AT&T looked a lot like the old AT&T, but without the regulation.

That Act also allowed for one key provision: if the telco were to roll-out a second generation digital phone service to replace “plain old telephone service” (POTS), then they would no longer have keep their network open.

That time has come. All new DSL build out in Nevada County will be U-verse, and existing circuits are starting to be switched over to the new technology. Unfortunately, this means that customer choice for Internet access over copper wires (DSL) is now down to only one — AT&T.

We applaud that broadband service is being extended into new areas in the county. That overall is a good thing. However, broadband over copper wire is a dead end. The kinds of synchronous speeds that will be needed in the near future, will not be available over DSL or cable for that matter. Within five years, having only DSL service available will start to feel much like having dial-up service a few years ago.

So customer be aware. If AT&T calls and wants to switch you to U-verse phone service, just know that any existing DSL service with another provider will just stop dead. They won’t tell you that, but you will of course call your ISP and ask why the DSL isn’t working. If you want to keep your current DSL service with your ISP, then just say “No” to U-verse. In the short term, saying “No” does the trick.

For those just getting U-verse DSL … sign on with AT&T. The speed is refreshing after dial-up or satellite.

Why Calif. was never considered for Google’s Fiber to the Home

chip — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:34:58 +0000

Richard Whitt, Director/Managing Counsel, Telecom and Media Policy at Google, Inc. on the closing keynote panel of the recent 10th Annual 2011 Fiber to the Home Conference in Florida, plainly revealed why any possible Fiber to the Home projects in California were summarily dismissed:

“Google prides itself in being a very green company and take steps to be environmentally sound… And yet we identified this issue in California where there is the statute called CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act].

It’s basically a multi agency process reviewing whether any construction project of a certain size has ‘any possibility of an environmental impact’. The basic terms around that are not defined and the process can take months and sometimes years.

Milo [ Milo Medlin, Google's VP of Access Services] identified this for the team early on and said ‘even if we are looking at some places in California that might be suitable properties for this business proposition — I can’t justify it. I have a P&L. We’re not just doing this out of the goodness in our hearts. We’re trying to make a business out of this, we want to prove that the model works. Given the current state of affairs in California, that’s not going to be the case.’

That has sparked some fruitful initial conversations with some of the policy makers in California to identify this. It’s not that we’re trying to avoid environmental standards, we’re trying to find ways to have more certainty and in the process have a process that a company can navigate successfully to move forward with a project.”

Double Whammy – AT&T Starts Data Caps and Lock-in to U-verse DSL

john — Thu, 05 May 2011 23:51:16 +0000

Earlier this week, on Monday May 2, AT&T quietly started imposing data caps (or limits) on their DSL Internet customers who are offered low prices as incentives to switch to AT&T. Regular DSL is capped at 150Gb per month and U-Verse DSL (more on that later) is capped at 250Gb per month. You’ll pay $10 per 50Gb extra per month. So much for those “special introductory prices.”

Now, that may seem like a lot of data to consume. However, the increase of video being watched over the Internet using content providers such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Roku, etc. as well as online gaming, could easily make households surpass those limits. This is true especially in western Nevada County in homes that are using DSL service and shutting off satellite service to cut costs. Add in multiple members of the household using the Internet for multiple broadband services, then the bills will start to resemble cell service without plans.

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day. 150Gb of data would be gobbled up by just 3 hours of HD video watching daily alone. Factor in the number of Internet users in your household, plus multiple devices (iPad, smart phones, etc.) using the Internet for varied uses, and you could have the surprise of seeing a huge data bill each month.

Spiral Internet Has No Data Limits on DSL

The good news is that one local Internet Service Provider offers DSL without data limits. Spiral Internet‘s contract with a second-tier provider allows us to provide Spiral DSL service over the AT&T network, but without the limitations AT&T is imposing on its own customers. Spiral offers one competitive ongoing price (as low as $22.95 per month for 1.5 Mbps service), same quality & speed of access, no surprises, no data limits, and no waiting (and waiting) on the phone for AT&T technical support. Just note that AT&T requires non-customers to maintain, at minimum, Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) in order to have DSL with us. This runs about $12 per month with Federal taxes. But BEWARE, do not enable AT&T to switch your service to U-Verse, or you will never be able to switch.

Beware: Switch to U-verse and Have No Choices

AT&T has also quietly rolled out “U-verse” service locally. This is typically a “triple-play” (voice, Internet, TV) service in urban areas, but AT&T does not offer the TV portion here. In areas nearest to the AT&T central offices, the Internet speeds available can be faster, but the phone service is now the same as Vonage or Skype, referred to as VoIP (voice over Internet protocol).

U-verse DSL uses a different connection technology which locks out any other Internet Service Provider from offering customers their DSL service. Once a household switches to U-Verse, then their only DSL provider can be AT&T … forever. It is a closed network. So buyer beware.

AT&T sales staff is aggressively calling local households to switch to U-Verse. If you have a local provider or want to keep your options open, politely say “No, thank you.” You are not required to switch in the foreseeable future.

Spiral Internet actually pays AT&T thousands of dollars per month for the privilege of offering DSL service over their network. In any other line of business, we would be treated as respected partners. Somehow, AT&T sees other ISPs who offer their DSL service as competitors.

In some areas, U-Verse DSL may be the only wired broadband Internet service available. In our under-served rural community, it would be foolish to reject any kind of reliable high-speed Internet service. But AT&T’s U-verse will stifle competition moving forward.

Locals Moving to Kansas City

john — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:48:47 +0000

Over the past few days, the loss of the Google Fiber project here in western Nevada County has sent the local community into a tailspin, with some businesses considering a move to the BBQ capital.

Located in Nevada City, Telestream stated that they’re here to stay. CEO Dan Castles cited new technologies in the delivery of HD video over dial-up service as the main reason. “We actually don’t need 1Gb service, now that our engineers have developed advanced compression algorithms for video transmission over copper wires. We are about to announce this at NAB in Las Vegas next week. No one will need Google fiber. It will be a game changer.”

Former Mayor Reinette Senum was outraged that any business would consider leaving Nevada City. “It’s clear to me that the recent frequent sightings of UFOs in Kansas City have played a key role in Google’s selection of that city for one gigabit service. I’m going to work with the folks at APPLE and see if we can secure funding for a locally based SETI program. If Google needs extraterrestrials, we’ll bring them here.”

Local blogger, Jeff Pelline, reported that he will be moving his family to Kansas City in the near future. “What could be better than having 1 Gb Internet service and access to some of the best barbecue in the world. Besides, Pat Butler runs the Nevada City Advocate from South Dakota. I can still blog about Nevada County in Kansas City. It’s a no brainer.”

We hope that since it’s only a few days after Google’s announcement, and only the first day of April, that the community can take a collective breath and not overreact.

YES, INDEED. WE PULLED A GOOD APRIL FOOL JOKE ON A LOT OF PEOPLE. (We did, in fact, get calls from the media.) However, we’ve removed parts of the original first paragraph and made some minor edits, as it appears people were taking the words a bit too seriously. A good April Fools prank contains a plausible element of truth, and we used it to our advantage. Since what is posted on the Internet gets sliced and diced into word bytes and can potentially cause confusion, we want to take care of our locally based businesses.

Google Announces Kansas City, Kansas

john — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:01:27 +0000

This morning, Google announced that their Fiber for Communities deployment will be in Kansas City, Kansas with service being turned on sometime in 2012. Google stated on its blog that “our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently”. …. read more. It’s clear that sister Kansas town, Topeka, which renamed itself Google for the competition, is probably feeling a touch bit disappointed today.

When Spiral Internet submitted the 95959google application last spring, we wrote in the application that we knew we wouldn’t be the first choice. But, if Google wanted to test 1Gb speeds in a rural geographically diverse area, we were it.

Last week, Chip and John attended the Next Generation Broadband state conference in Monterey. We had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a member of the Google Fiber for Communities team. He let us know that the “imminent announcement” would be the first of multiple fiber projects. We also made a good case for western Nevada County as a pilot rural project.

We think, there’s a chance of still getting that call from Google.

AT&T U-verse: Beware, There is No Turning Back

john — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:26:04 +0000

AT&T has quietly “rolled out” what it promotes to be its new U-verse service in areas closest to their central offices (COs) in both Nevada City and Grass Valley. True U-verse has been deployed in urban areas using fiber-optic technology, hence the addition of cable-like television services.

This won’t be happening in western Nevada County anytime soon. The only “advantage” you will hear from AT&T sales people is the new available 18Mbps and 12Mbps Internet service speeds. Regular DSL tops out at 6Mbps. ADSL2 over copper wire offers these faster speeds, although the distance from the CO is much shorter than what regular DSL can offer.

This is what you won’t hear:

1) Once you switch to U-verse, you will only have one choice for Internet Service provider – AT&T. Unless, you’re lucky enough to also have access to Comcast cable services at your location.

Local ISPs like Spiral Internet, Full Spectrum, or Succeed.net in Yuba City – which took over GV.net customers – will no longer be able to offer you regular DSL services. They won’t allow us. Local ISPs are now under contracts with AT&T to have the privilege of offering regular DSL service. Federal legislation that required access expired in the summer of 2010.

2) Once you switch to U-verse, there is no turning back. You will never have the ability for “plain old telephone service” (POTS) or regular DSL. You are stuck with AT&T U-verse.

3) Switching to U-verse can try your patience. You’ll definitely experience down time – hours, days, etc. So be prepared if you make the switch to not have Internet access or have spotty access for a time period. But yes, then it does work.

4) AT&T just announced (yesterday) that they would be implementing 150Gb bandwidth usage caps on their DSL service and 250Gb on their U-Verse service. Read how this could affect the real reason you want more bandwidth. More analysis on why that is bad for customers at Wired.com.

Why is AT&T doing this here?

So they can compete head-on with Comcast’s faster service – essentially faster service to the households that already have an option for faster service.

All we can say is: please support your local ISPs. If you have regular DSL with AT&T, switch to a local provider. We’re the ones that are going to invest in infrastructure that bring you net-neutral access, no caps, and bandwidth to the outlying unserved areas.

Imagine if 2,000 to 10,000 or more AT&T DSL subscribers switched to a local ISP. The impact would be huge for us small providers. Help us take back Internet access in western Nevada County. It’s time to act.