Monthly Archives: March 2007

More on the Public Safety Broadband Networks

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National Broadband Safety NetworkLast month I wrote about the beginning of a saga regarding using public spectrum to build an emergency broadband network to ensure that early responders have access to communication when they need it. If the topic is new to you, you might want to read the earlier post (Debate on the Emergency Broadband Network ) before perusing the articles that follow.

I wanted to mention the “saga” in the upcoming eNews. I also wanted to point readers to the latest articles on the issue so I thought I’d create an annotated bibliography. So the following is a quick and dirty picture of where we are today. Continue reading →

Broadband in Minnesota 2006

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Center for Rural Policy and DevelopmentDoing more research for the March eNews, I learned that Jack Geller, from the Center for Rural Policy and Development, will soon publish a new report on broadband in rural Minnesota in about a month or so. Apparently he spoke to the House Telecommunications Regulation and Infrastructure Division in mid-February. You can learn more about it on the MN House or Representative web site.

This information led to a great phone call with Jack who was gracious enough to give me quite a preview of the upcoming report, which I am trying to summarize for an upcoming eNews article.

Fibre-to-the-home reaches one million Europeans and Grand Rapids Minnesota

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Hello! My name is Becky and I’m a first-time blogger on Blandin on Broadband. Today I was doing a quick scan of my daily email from the folks at Baller Herbst when I saw an article from vnunet.com titled Fibre-to-the-home reaches one million Europeans. The story includes reference to the fact that “the 150 municipal networks serving these customers tend not to be owned by conventional telecoms operators, but by utilities or local authorities.”

2-internet150.jpgThis is true in Grand Rapids as well. Last summer I watched eagerly as Paul Bunyan Telephone Cooperative brought the capacity for bandwidth beyond my wildest dreams through a trench in my yard and up to my house. Paul Bunyan Telephone has served Northern Minnesota for over 50 years. Today, the cooperative offers local & long distance phone service, internet service including high speed service and all-digital television. Their “Connect Grand Rapids” fiber project is on schedule for completion by May 2007 although word from the Paul Bunyan office is that they’ll be fully operational before then.

I can’t help but wonder if Paul Bunyan’s access to public funds made the difference in their ability to bring fiber to Grand Rapids and Cohasset, our neighbor to the west. And I wonder if this could be further evidence that infrastructure projects of this kind need to be supported by the kind of innovative financing that public-private partnerships provide.

Getting Broadband in Ireland

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It was with great interest that I saw a mention of FTTH (Fiber to the Home) and Ireland in the Baller Herbst newsletter. Accordingly to ENN (Report looks to fibre for future broadband), Ireland appears to be making great strides to rolling out Fiber to the Home.Dublin Map

I read this with great interest because I am planning to spend some time in Ireland later this year. (My husband is from Ireland.) This article spurred me to look into my prospective situation a little bit. My concern is how and where I can access broadband while staying with my mother-in-law in suburban Dublin.

The good news: According to Eircom, the Irish telephone company, I will qualify for broadband, which I presume is DSL. I can get 1M, 2M, or 3M service. They also offer a 20 hour per month service (but what would I use for day two?).

The bad news: I found an organization that made me nervous; IrelandOffline was formed by a group of consumers who were cut off from a product called “surf no limits”.

More bad news: I found a list of local hot spots for WiFi – almost none were free.

Mostly I thought I’d share this as a little look into what people in other places (or temporarily displaced people) deal with in terms of broadband. I’ll definitely report more when I’m actually living it!