Comments on: Map of Fiber Areas in MN

By: Updated, informal MN broadband map « Blandin on Broadband

Updated, informal MN broadband map « Blandin on Broadband — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:33:49 +0000

[...] informal MN broadband map A month or so ago I posted an earlier draft broadband map and asked folks for help confirming or denying fiber locations. I heard from a number of people and [...]

By: Ann Treacy

Ann Treacy — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:59:45 +0000

Tim – thanks for the suggestion on MN Valley. I will contact them to see if any of their other communities have fiber.

Masha – thanks for the update from Broadband Properties.

Finally – I contacted Randy Young from MART (MN Association for Rural Telecommunications) and he sent the following:

About a year ago, I did a quick survey of the independent telcos to see
who was doing fiber to the home, to the curb, and to the node. We found:

* Almost 3/4 of our customers are provided broadband service with fiber within the local exchange network.

* 1/3 of our companies are providing customers broadband service with fiber all the way to their home or business (this is anticipated to jump to be 1/2 by the end of the 2008 construction season).

As I recall, we got may a 60% return rate on the questionnaire, so these numbers may be higher.

By: Masha Zager

Masha Zager — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:29:28 +0000

Actually, credit for the November ’05 list should go to Mike Render of RVA – we just presented his information – but Mike is no longer tracking fiber communities. Broadband Properties is, as Dave said, tracking independent telcos with fiber deployments. The latest list is here: http://www.broadbandproperties.com/2007issues/september07/indtelcos_sep.pdf
(the actual list starts on the fifth page). We know the list is incomplete – if anyone has information about telcos that are missing from it, write to me at masha@broadbandproperties.com.

thanks,
Masha

By: Tim Beske

Tim Beske — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:43:35 +0000

I think one of those communities is Lucan, MN. It is operated by MN Valley Telephone in Franklin MN.

By: Ann Treacy

Ann Treacy — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:46:54 +0000

I think I’ll try contacting MART. That might be easier than trying to contact the telcos directly. I’ll let you know how it goes – and I just may take you up on your offer of help!

Thanks! Ann

By: David Russell

David Russell — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:36:41 +0000

Let me know if I can be of further help.

Regards

David

By: David Russell

David Russell — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:34:23 +0000

The data you have here from Broadband Properties is out of date and they only track companies now, not towns. The company list was last published in the September or October 2007 issue-you may want to check that list against what you have here. A new company list is coming out in March. There are now so many FTTH deployments taking place in rural Minnesota that we have lost count of the number of towns. Some obvious ones that are missing from the map are this past year’s deployments by Hiawatha Broaband in Stockton and other communities in the southeast. You are also missing the deployments by Jaguar in the southeast. I would suggest you check their web sites regarding their deployments or speak with them directly.

To get an up to date list of towns in western and northwrn Minnesota, I would suggest contacting the Indendent Telephone companies that are deploying FTTH and they can probably give you the list of towns they are building.