Daily Archives: January 31, 2008

Kandiyohi Provides Residential and Business Internet Training

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Another great story from another Get Broadband community comes from the West Central Tribune (Training program aims to boost countywide use of high-speed Internet).

Kandiyohi is offering a series of classes, starting in February, to teach basic skills ranging from e-mail and Internet browsing for the general public. For business they are running classes that will show small-business owners how to set up a basic Web site, optimize the use of their Web site and venture into e-commerce to increase sales.

For those who participate, grants will be available to help underwrite 50 percent of the cost of creating or upgrading their business Web site.

The goal is to stimulate 20 new Web sites and 20 new ventures into e-commerce by local small-business owners.

Kandiyohi was gracious enough to share electronic versions of the fliers and ads for the Blandin Foundation web site.

City of Monticello moves forward with city-wide fiber optics

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I am gathering local Minnesota broadband stories for the upcoming eNews, Lynne Dahl-Fleming was kind enough to send me the following update from Monticello.

Monticello, MN is moving forward with a city-wide fiber optic network. The fiber network will be financed with revenue bonds, not a tax levy. The cost for the entire project is estimated between $20 to $25 million and completion of the fiber network will take approximately 18 months.

A referendum passed by 74% in September showing that the residents of Monticello were in favor of having telephone, Internet and cable TV services offered by the City over the fiber optic network. The name of the business entity will be FiberNet Monticello.

In mid-November, the city council authorized a contract with Michels Communications for the installation of the co-locate fiber system and conduit, which includes a connection to the co-locate equipment at city hall. City officials and interested residents showed up for a groundbreaking ceremony on November 27 to kick of the project. Currently, the City is securing revenue bonds and is in the process of selecting an engineering firm for the design/build portion of the project.

“It’s a great opportunity for current and future Monticello business and industries to utilize this fiber technology. It will also create some very good jobs in our city,” Mayor Herbst said.

The first customers of the fiber optic network could receive service by spring and early summer of 2009.

For more information visit the website: www.MonticelloFiber.com

Internet Outages Across the Middle East

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Thanks to Ann Higgins for the update on the Internet outages in the Middle East (Damaged undersea cable causes Internet outages across Middle East).

Apparently two undersea cables in the Mediterranean were damaged yesterday. Emergency teams are trying to find alternative routes for traffic – including satellite. It’s is expected to day takes to repair the situation. Right now, TeleGeography, a U.S. research group that tracks submarine cables around the world, estimated that the severed lines account for 75 percent of the capacity connecting Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries to Europe.

At this point no one knows what happened. Apparently cables get cut like this pretty frequently, but this is the first time that two have been cut and that has obviously upped the ante. The cables were about a half a mile apart from each other and somewhere between Alexandria, Egypt, and Palermo, Italy. Continue reading →

Updated, informal MN broadband map

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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 wanted to create an updated map.

Also I want to thank Geoff Daily for his heads up on the new and improved access to Google Maps for mashups.  

Key:
Green – unconfirmed fiber
Blue – confirmed fiber
Purple – fiber in the loop (not FTTH)
Yellow – they are working on fiber

View Larger Map