Daily Archives: December 23, 2007

MN’s Jaguar Communications featured in ISP Planet

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ISP-Planet recently featured (Jaguar Communications’ Rural Fiber Network) a Minnesota-based company, Jaguar Communications.

Jaguar is a local ISP that provides (according to their web site) Local, Long Distance, and DSL service to (the article talks about the fiber service they provide but I didn’t find descriptions on their web site yet:
• Albert Lea
• Austin
• Blooming Prairie
• Chatfield
• Faribault
• Glenville
• Northfield
• Owatonna
• Rochester
• St. Charles
• Stewartville
• Waseca

According to the article, Jaguar just connected the first customers in a rural network that will deliver the same triple play services (voice, TV, and data) that customers can already get in the major cities. In 2006, they received a $4,641,000 USDA Rural Development loan.

The article does a good job of detailing the process that Jaguar founder, Donny Smith, went through to the process he went to start his company and the challenges he ran into with incumbent providers when he was providing phone service and later when trying to lay fiber, which he started in 2001.

I love the story of their first fiber customer:

The first residential customer was connected to fiber in August of 2006, Smith says. “This customer had no copper lines to their home and the phone company wanted $30,000 to hook up the line in winter, so fiber from us cost less.”

Sadly these insane fees seem all to commonplace in rural areas.

Apparently service costs $119.99 per month for: local calling, numerous phone features, 3.0 Mbps / 768 Kbps internet, 5 e-mail addresses, anti-spam and anti-virus, and 80 channels of digital TV. Installation of fiber from curb to the home however is $600 with a 1-year contract; it’s free with a 5-year contract.

Visit the article for more information on the network plan and even a list of equipment they use. Smith provides a lot of detail on the technology – for those who like tech details.

National Broadband Goals Met?

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The Benton Foundation recently called to task the Bush Administration and Acting NTIA Administrator Meredith Baker for claiming that we’re there as far as universal broadband goes.

Just like my 3 year old who is not faster her older sisters – the administration seems to think that if you shout “I won” as loud as you can that’s what counts.

As the folks at Benton point out – in 2004 President Bush set out a goal to have universal, affordable access to broadband by 2007. According to a September 2007 report by Pew Internet & American Life – about half of all Americans half broadband at home, which might indicate that broadband is neither universal nor affordable.

For more information – Benton’s report, Broadband for All is definitely worth the read. The stats and stories are not necessarily new – but they have put an interesting historical spin on our situation in the US and the need to act soon or be left behind. (I love the analogy of French using water power to build fountains for the rich and the UK used it to create jobs for everyone.) Continue reading →