Monthly Archives: September 2008

Comcast Throttling Downstream Traffic?

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It’s a beautiful day in Minnesota – and I know our days are numbered – I read through all of my headlines and said I’d only pause if I saw something really good or really bad. Well, I paused…

Comcast sent their network management maps and plans to the FCC – as required. I guess that’s the good news. The bad news is that they are planning to “manage” downstream traffic as well as upstream traffic. So they are widening their focus. Now they’ll be managing not only the P2P folks but anyone who downloads a lot – such as movies or TV shows.

The good folks at IP Democracy (such a great name) have really looked into the issue.

I’m pretty surprised by this. So many more people download and now the management has the potential to reach so many more people – and not just the geeks. I think it’s a strategy that might backfire as word gets out. Well as people run into bandwidth issues. Apparently they have tested it and so far no issues – but have they tested in the dead of winter in Minnesota when the whole family has nothing to do and 4 computers to do it on.

Minnesota Broadband Task Force – September 19

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Yesterday I spent the day watching the Broadband Task Force meeting. It was interesting. The morning was really spent figuring out the rules they need to follow to be compliant with Open Meeting laws and Data Practice regulations. The most striking aspect was how the regulations do not fit with existing technology. The public policy ethics are way behind current technology.

The afternoon was spent looking at three things:

  1. Education the group needs to move forward
  2. Content of the report they need to write
  3. Process for moving forward to write the report

And finally making a schedule for future meetings (though the end of the year).

So that’s it in a nutshell; you can read on for more complete details. Continue reading →

Forbes publisher promotes rural areas for business

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According to the Marshall Independent, Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard spoke at the Premier Leadership Event at Southwest Minnesota State University on Monday. He said that rural areas will be THE place to be for new and emerging businesses over the next 30 years. The cost of living is more reasonable and it’s cheaper to start and run a business.

Karlgard pointed out that “Improvements in Internet and wireless communication technology mean cities in the heartland aren’t isolated”. What’s interesting is that he assumed that the Internet and technology were there.

He praised Southwest Minnesota for “strong educational system, the region’s closeness to Interstate 90, and the efforts of groups like SWIF to encourage entrepreneurship.” He encouraged funders and economic development support to promote entrepreneurship – building businesses from within, because often that is where the good jobs and loyal business start.

He warned communities not to be too conservative with loans. Small and growing businesses need money but it’s an investment that pays off. I might add that we can’t be stingy with infrastructure either. Hearing in the Senate Committee meeting yesterday about all of the cool things happening with broadband demonstrated how well the investments pays off. Also I’d emphasize the outlook for 30 years – not 3 years. We need to develop infrastructure and skills that meet our needs in the long term.

Why Broadband Matters – a Full Senate Committee Meeting

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Today’s one of those, working-on-3-computers-at-once days. I was uploading video to YouTube for a resort, watching the webcast of the Senate meeting and doing regular work on the other. The YouTube video timed out, the webcast was shaky but the email went well. So one thing I learned today without even paying attention is that DSL is not enough.

Here are the other things I picked up from the Full Senate Meeting: Why Broadband Matters. My notes are pretty “high level”, which is really just another way of saying I gave it about 80 percent of my attention and focused in on parts that interested me (libraries and Minnesota). Continue reading →

Connected Community: Blandin Conference and Broadband Award

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We have two fun announcements from the Blandin Foundation.

First, registration is now open for Blandin’s December Broadband conference, Connected Communities: Making the Net Work for Minnesota held on December 3-4, 2008 in Eden Prairie, MN. ( I blogged about it earlier – the lineup is great.)

Second, we’re trying something new with the MN Community Broadband Awards. I’m very excited about it and if you live in or know about a community that you think might be a contender – please send them our way. Here are the details:

What are the awards?
Awards recognizing communities, companies and community institutions that are successfully implementing strategies that improve deployment and use of broadband.
Who is eligible to apply?
Any unit of government, non-profit or for-profit business, or community organization.

What are the award categories?

  • Broadband infrastructure and services; recognizing the provision of high-speed broadband capacity and services to a community, area or region
  • Broadband market and application development; recognizing efforts to stimulate community demand for broadband services and/or to deploy advanced broadband applications in business, education, government and health care.

The above awards will be made in the following population categories:

  • Communities under 2,500
  • Communities between 2,500 and 10,000
  • Communities above 10,000

What is the application deadline?
November 1, 2008

What is the application process?
You can either download the application form, complete it and return the form via email to broadband@blandinfoundation.org or you can complete the application right online. Email any supporting information to broadband@blandinfoundation.org.

Awards
Winning governments and 501(c)(3) organizations will be eligible for awards of up to $2,000, based on submitting an acceptable proposal for a technology project. Winning organizations that are not units of governments or 501(c)(3) will need to nominate a unit of government or 501(c)(3) to receive the award.

TDS is only Protecting Monticello with their FTTH

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It’s not you, it’s me. I’m from the Government and I’m here to help. This is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you. We’re just looking out for your best interest.

Whether I’m saying it or hearing it, I hate conversations that start with any of the above lines. Turns out I can’t even read about conversations that start this way without getting a little riled up. So I was fuming a little after reading Nate Anderson’s article in Ars Technica (Telco to fiber-deploying town: “We sue because we care!”).

Thanks to the help of Lynne Dahl-Fleming, I have been following the situation in Monticello. The City started to build a fiber network. The incumbent sued. The City is moving ahead as much as it can. The incumbent is starting to build too. The courts are working it out.

Nate Anderson spoke to the incumbent (TDS) about the situation to get their side of the story. Here’s the quick answer from the article:

Andrew Petersen, the director of legislative and public relations for the company, told Ars in an e-mail that the company’s “first” reason for filing the lawsuit was because such projects have failed in other communities and “we’re hoping to prevent the citizens of Monticello from becoming the shareholders of a $25 million tax burden.” Second on the list was the company’s desire to “protect our corporate assets and investments in Monticello,” and TDS believes that the city has crossed legal lines in starting the project.

It is my understanding that TDS has been invited to (and I think at) the table in Monticello throughout this process. TDS says they didn’t step up to the plate to offer fiber because they didn’t think people really wanted it. So they let the city sell the idea and then used the referendum to build the municipally owned network as their market study. They let the city continue to invest taxpayer money and then they got into the game.

Now if a year ago TDS had said – show us there’s interest and we’re in like Flynn, I’d be OK with what has happened, but they didn’t. (I think TDS might be getting a little of my anger from the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae buyout. When did we get to be so adversarial? Corporations work against the government until/unless they need it. )

On the pragmatic hand I think – well Monticello is getting fiber so that’s all good. And TDS is right – there is risk in the plan and they are buffering that risk. Two years from now when they are flying with ultra fast speeds, who cares what it took.

On the other hand, TDS’s move has stopped other communities from moving forward with municipal – or at least it’s become a consideration. In that way, we’re letting the corporations set the policies.

Senate Commerce Committee Plans Benefits of Broadband Meeting Sept 16

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The Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a full committee hearing Sept. 16 (starting at 9 am – Minnesota time) on the benefits of broadband. The hearing, “Why Broadband Matters,” will examine various areas, including access to government information, education, jobs and telemedicine.

No witnesses have been announced.

I’m hoping that it will be less than 2 hours and that it will be broadcast online. I plan to watch until my 11:00 anyways and will report in. (It looks as if it’s an hour – but I don’t have full confidence in that.)

Rural Broadband Access Dismal

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Guess how many people in rural America have access to a high-speed Internet connection? Only 38 percent. That doesn’t seem right to me – but that’s what Center for Rural Affairs is reporting in a recent article (Rural Broadband Access Key Component in Community Success). The article goes on to say that rural areas are at a widening disadvantage while they are underserved.

My favorite part of the article is the comment (only 1 when I looked). The comment points out that anyone can get access to satellite. (At what cost? But I’ll leave that out for now.) He talks about how his grandparents were the first in their area to get a phone, which meant everyone had to suffer phone poles in their yards to accommodate the new phones. An interesting question would be how people would react to such an inconvenience today for the sake of broadband.

The other thing that struck me was that 38 percent. So I looked a little further and found an even more depressing article that claimed that “According to the federal government, just 17% of rural U.S. households subscribe to broadband service.” I guess that if 38 percent have access and 17 percent get it – that’s a 50 percent take rate. But still, it doesn’t seem great.

I wondered how that stacked up to other rural areas around the world. So here’s my completely unscientific and pretty random list of how other areas are doing:

Deutsche Telekom AG says they will be offering DSL to 96 percent of all households by the end of 2008. But at the end of 2006, only half of those in the country could access DSL. (I know you can debate whether DSL is broadband, but again this is pretty unscientific.)

Recent EU research found only 60% of businesses and households in remote and rural areas of the EU have broadband. (The EU just appointed consultants to improve that situation with a €3.5 million project.

India is going great guns with WiMAX. “With respect to rural connectivity, the government’s objective is to reach about 80 million rural connections, or one phone per two rural households, by 2010.”

South Africa vows to get online before 2010 World Cup. No stats, but I just loved the motivator.

Some Seniors Online

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The Pioneer Press has a nice article today on seniors online. The interesting statistic was that just 35 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use Internet. I was kind of surprised by that. Only 30 percent were online in November 2006. But I’m not sure that I think of that has a huge leap. I think that means that people who turned 65 in that time are online but I don’t know that it indicates that a lot of people over 70 are online.

A couple of the Blandin Get Broadband communities provided training to seniors, often through the library, a nursing home or community education center. I used to volunteer at the library to train folks on the Internet – and many who came were seniors. The article talked about getting private tutors. For folks who can afford it, I think the idea of having a private tutor come to the house is the way to go. That way the tutor can set up the computer and the learner knows the skills are going to transfer.

There is an organization called SeniorNet, created by and for seniors. It’s a national group but they have local branches, including a number of places to go in Minnesota for training. I think getting more seniors using the Internet will help boost the need for broadband. To start with I think most folks use email or Google. But the resources are there to jump quickly into using higher bandwidth applications – downloading video of grandkids or taking college courses online. I think the potential is there for serious bandwidth applications, such as those related to telemedicine are around the corner. It seems like once more seniors are online, the demand for telemedicine might have an impact on the supply of applications and access to broadband.

Does the FCC have teeth?

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Last month the FCC slammed Comcast for discriminatory network management. Comcast was cutting off big bandwidth users – especially users of file-sharing tools.

Comcast isn’t so happy. They weren’t fined but they were asked to fix the problem. So they’re taking their case to the US District Court of Appeals in Washington. It’s a big deal since it will set precedent.

Comcast says it will comply and will move to a new network management plan by the end of the year – but still they are appealing. (Comcast’s legal representation – the team includes former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley’s law firm.) Also next month they are instituting a broadband usage cap of 250 gigabytes per month for all residential customers. Hmmm.

There is a counter suit of sorts happening with some consumer groups and a company that supports a file-sharing tool. They are not happy that Comcast is taking so long. They want the current network management to stop immediately.

Give Rural Area Fiber First

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I like to keep an eye on what folks are doing around the world – but I know that their situation is so different from the US that it’s often an apples-to-oranges comparison to talk about what they are doing but I ran across a theory that I loved too much not to share…

Ofcom is a consumer protection agency focused on telecommunications issues in the UK. They are encouraging the UK to provide fiber in rural areas first. Their reasoning is that the folks is rural areas too often missed the latest upgrade so they are even farther behind and they need that leap frog jump into the next generation of solutions.

It makes perfect sense. The government plays a much larger role is providing telecommunications services across the UK. And apparently this organization has come up with good suggestions in the past that haven’t been heeded – but at least someone is realizing that it makes more sense to upgrade dialup to fiber than upgrade to DSL this year, fiber in 5 years.

I also like the assumption that it has to be done. I think that once we recognize the undeniable need to build an ultra high speed infrastructure then we can look at the long term costs of band aid solutions versus solutions that are more deeply rooted. Sometimes I feel as if we’re making community and region-wide decisions as if we’re going to move sometime soon. I’d rather that we start making policies based on the assumption that we’re going to stay.

Blandin September eNews

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Here’s the latest from the September Blandin eNews…

Austin
The Mayo Clinic is donating $5 million over five years to the Hormel Institute Medical Research Center in Austin. The money will fund laboratory equipment and program support for researchers from the Hormel Institute, Mayo Clinic, and the University of Minnesota. http://tinyurl.com/6j4h3t

Itasca
Through the Blandin Foundation, Bill Coleman has been working in the Itasca County community (home of Blandin Foundation) to help stimulate thinking about making effective use of the robust and competitive networks in this part of Minnesota. Bill led a discussion of schools, non-profit organizations, the Itasca Economic Development Corporation and the Itasca Technology Exchange (a business incubator) about applications that might be developed and deployed to better connect organizations together and to Itasca County residents. Organizations are preparing preliminary applications to the Blandin Foundation for funding. The priority is to fund projects that are bandwidth intensive, interactive and designed to improve productivity and effectiveness.

Mankato
Mankato is in the middle of redesigning their website and is training staff on Contribute to maintain the site. They are planning a big re-launch in the near future. http://tinyurl.com/6he97p Mankato is a Get Broadband Community. http://tinyurl.com/6kco3d

Monticello
Monticello will begin construction of a smaller fiber loop build on September 2 with a completion date by the end of the year. http://tinyurl.com/6he97p Monticello is a Get Broadband Community.

Nicollet
Nicollet hired a native speaking Mandarin teacher who will work in schools throughout south central Minnesota thanks to the technology of Project SOCRATES. http://tinyurl.com/59fele

Northfield
Northfield has been looking into fiber as a public utility – but since that’s the root of the Monticello lawsuit, some are suggesting a wait and see approach before investing too much time and money on any policy. http://tinyurl.com/6rldbw Northfield has received Blandin funds to do an Open Access Feasibility Study. http://tinyurl.com/5hwyol

Renville County
Renville County is hosting a Virtual Job Fair from September 15-19, including Virtual Job Fair Prep workshops at the Olivia Library. Renville County is a Get Broadband Community. http://tinyurl.com/6kco3d

St Paul
Rondo Library hosts DigiDaze, an event to introduce kids and parents to various Internet and technology game and educational tools. http://tinyurl.com/62h7ug

Todd County
Todd County is in the process of wrapping up its current Broadband Grant award (http://tinyurl.com/6kco3d) and is now working on a County wide FTTP program, concentrating first on fiber loops (backbones) in the city of Staples and Long Prairie. They are positioning ourselves for the next level of Broadband deployment.

Twin Cities
You Tube Founder and St Paul Central graduate Jawed Karim visits the Twin Cities to talk about his latest venture, Youniversity Ventures. http://www.youniversityventures.com/

Winona
Home and Community Options (HCO) has installed a remote monitoring system and is moving to the next phase – testing. http://tinyurl.com/6kdyoe HCO is a Blandin Light Speed fund recipient. http://tinyurl.com/5hwyol

(Many stories are gathered from local online newspaper. Unfortunately each newspaper has a different policy in regards to archive news and therefore we cannot guarantee access to all articles cited.)

Coleman’s Corner

It is very exciting to know that the MN Broadband Task Force’s work is now underway. Their activities should raise the priority of this important issue for Minnesota policy makers. I had heard a story about one legislator who was opposed to the task force saying “If we create this task force, we will have to do something.” I hope so! The task force does have its work cut out for it in just defining the scope of their considerations. In my presentations to communities, I always place equal priority on getting connected and making use of the connectivity – the network and the applications. Without a robust network, advanced applications are impractical. Without applications, the network is just glass and electronic boxes, an underutilized asset. I hope that the task force thinks about this as well. We will hear more about their work and you will have an opportunity to provide input at the Blandin Conference this fall. http://tinyurl.com/5hurvx

In my work with Community Broadband Resources (http://tinyurl.com/55nr5d), county and regional telecommunications efforts are becoming more commonplace. Both the Upper MN River Valley and the Region Nine Development Commissions have applied for and been approved for technical assistance grants and work is now beginning. It will be interesting to see if these regional efforts attract strong participation and generate success stories. At a minimum, these efforts will inform community leaders about their current situation, existing telecommunications networks and providers and opportunities for collaboration. If state programs emerge from the work of the task force, these regions will be well-positioned to take advantage of funding opportunities.

Increasingly, wireless communications are coming to the forefront as a top concern. People and businesses are relying on cell phones and cellular data services for business and personal needs and are extremely frustrated when that service is unavailable. Two years ago at the Blandin Broadband Conference, our panel of college students expressed their love of their cell phones as their primary communication device. That dependence has now spread to a greater share of the population, including myself.

Good luck to the task force!

Monticello Fiber Loop Construction Moves Forward

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Here’s the latest from Monticello…

On July 28, the City Council approved to accept the bids and award the contract for the Fiber Loop project. This fiber build includes construction of 11.19 miles of fiber optics that is an important subset of the larger FiberNet Monticello project. The Fiber Loop will connect important commercial, industrial and civic facilities thereby allowing commercial and industrial users to have access to high-speed fiber optics for data only services via 100% fiber optics.

This contributes toward the achievement of economic development goals. This fiber loop will also connect City Hall, Community Center and Public Works facilities to improve communication/data speeds and reduce Internet access expenses. The service provided at this time would include high-speed data only (with no telephone or cable TV.) This projects includes the ability to connect up to 200 businesses that it will pass along the fiber route, which includes the Monticello downtown area and most of the industrial parks.

Construction is anticipated to commence on September 2, 2008 with a completion date on or before November 29, 2008. However, final completion will depend on the head-end building construction schedule which is proposed to be completed by December 12, 2008.

City Staff and the Fiber Optics Committee recommended moving forward on accomplishing the City’s goals of enhancing economic development and providing choice through development of this Fiber Loop. The project is projected to be financially self-supporting and can be integrated into the FiberNet Monticello system both financially and physically once it is constructed.

The presence of this fiber network will assure choice and thus result in optimum ability to provide critical data transfer service to Monticello City businesses at a reasonable cost. Such a setting is important to achieving important economic development goals which include:

– Competitive rates and choice for services
– Local business expansion and retention
– Relocation of businesses to Monticello
– Job creation with liveable wages

FiberNet Monticello Q & A:

Now that TDS appears to be building its own fiber optic network, will the city continue to construct one of its own?

The only way for the city to be sure that its citizens and businesses will receive the type of fiber network and service that has been envisioned by FiberNet Monticello for the past three years is to build it ourselves. We cannot rely on any company to be sure it is done with competitive pricing and exceptional customer service. The referendum vote indicated approval from the citizens who wanted a choice for services and the city will continue to build its own fiber network to provide a choice.

How can the city claim that an overwhelming majority of the voters voted to approve the project when only 17% of city residents eligible to vote cast a ballot?

What the city said was that the overwhelming majority of the voters supported the project. This description is accurate. 74% of the people who cared enough about the project one way or the other to voice their opinion voted yes. In the September 2007 referendum vote, 18% of registered voters voted in favor of the fiber project while 5% of registered voters voted against the project. This 23% turnout is not unusual for a non-presidential election and is higher than average for a special election with only one question on the ballot.

Why is the city dipping into reserve funds to start the project when they promised that taxpayer dollars would not be used?

The city’s commitment to avoid the use of taxpayer dollars did not anticipate an 11th hour lawsuit by TDS that made the proceeds from the revenue bonds unavailable by freezing the money at a critical time when construction was ready to begin. The city moved forward with the smaller fiber loop build to begin this year in order to protect the project from increased costs that will inevitably arise if construction continues to be delayed by the TDS litigation. It is anticipated that the cost of this initial fiber build will be fully reimbursable from the bonds the City has already sold and has put into escrow due to the lawsuit.

How can the city justify spending large sums of money hiring consultants from the telecommunications industry before initiating a project designed not to use taxpayer dollars?

In order to obtain investor financing for the project the City first had to research and study the feasibility of the project. This required an analysis of the soundness of the FiberNet Monticello business plan before financing could be secured. The City does this same sort of due diligence and gets expert advice for any expensive project it contemplates. The existing City staff and consultants did not have the expertise required and so the Council hired the best experts and consultants that could be found through an open RFP process.
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TDS Telecom requests City of Monticello to consider granting property easements

Over the past few years, the City has acquired an assortment of key properties in the original business district. These properties are intended to be used for parking or combined with neighboring properties in becoming development sites in the future. TDS Telcom recently requested that the Monticello City Council consider granting property easements to TDS that would enable utilities to be extended across these properties. In response to this request, the Council considered the matter and denied the request based on the following reasons:

– Over time it is likely that there will be a need to combine or assemble parcels in a fashion that supports redevelopment.

– The presence of private utility easements could interfere with the ability to assemble development sites as easements would need to be vacated before adjacent parcels could be assembled. Also adding to the cost would be the physical expense of relocating the utility line at the time of redevelopment.

Finally, as with every parcel in the downtown area, denial of the request does not leave TDS without options as there is ample room for utility lines in the right of way located along the outside perimeter of each block.

As a resident, if you have questions about your city residential property right of way or easement areas and need clarification, call Monticello City Hall, 763-295-2711.
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Local cable TV programming with community access is on its way with FiberNet Monticello

You can get involved with the advantages of local access for community TV channels that will be offered through FiberNet Monticello. Because this will be a public owned and locally operated business, citizens can get involved with community access television (CAT). This provides a way for community based members of the fiber network to participate in ownership of programming.

The opportunities exist for residents and community members to create and develop their own TV programs to be broadcast over the FiberNet Monticello TV channels for public access.

Community generated, local programs could include the following:

• Sport league games for youth & adult (baseball, soccer, hockey, etc.)
• Community arts events (school plays, music concerts, talent shows)
• Gardening • Cooking • Pet Advice • Automotive/Home Repair
• Church Services broadcast for shut ins
• Better access to local government meetings and information
• Distribution of community calendar of events
• Educational shows by organizations – and much more!

Do you have ideas for local community programs? Are you interested in getting involved in the process to develop these ideas to build momentum for this volunteer group to get started? This process will take a few years to develop itself but now is the time to get busy and to begin the planning for the work ahead.

For more information call: 763-271-3230 or send an email to: LocalCableTV@MonticelloFiber.com

Do you have comments about FiberNet Monticello? Please contact us!

FiberNet Monticello
High Speed Internet, Telephone & Cable TV
Community Owned & Locally Operated

Visit our website for the latest news and updates: http://www.MonticelloFiber.com

Broadband Meeting in Region Nine on Sept 17

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Region Nine Development Commission would like to invite you to attend a session on broadband presented by Blandin Foundation.

Blandin Foundation (www.blandinfoundation.org) is a private foundation based in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and is Minnesota’s largest rural-based and rural-focused foundation.

Bill Coleman, of Community Technology Advisors on behalf of Blandin Foundation, will be leading a discussion with attendees to define broadband and raise awareness about the value of broadband in rural communities.

Expanding the use of broadband technology increases the potential to retain jobs in rural areas, grows new markets for businesses, strengthens health care, enhances educational access and improves the quality of life.

We value your input!!! Our questions include: Do you have the broadband connectivity you need in your community? Are your community organizations and businesses making effective use of broadband? Are there opportunities for regional collaboration to improve connectivity and usage? Please join us for this important and informative discussion.

WHAT: Blandin Foundation Broadband discussion
WHEN: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
TIME: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Technology Plus Building
1961 Premier Drive
Mankato, MN 56001
Large Classroom
Please rsvp to Sarah Reichwald Beiswanger at 507-389-8880 or by email at sarah@rndc.org or contact Ronda Allis at 507-389-8886 or by email at ronda@rndc.org.
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Broadband for Business Development – Yo Gabba Gabba

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Have you heard of Yo Gabba Gabba? I hadn’t.

It’s a Nick show for kids, young kids recently featured on WCCO. It’s kind of Buggaloo, kind of Telly Tubby. My four year old daughter likes the pink one. (Shocker!)

The fun news is that it is created largely in the Twin Cities. It’s the new economy fairy tale. A few friends started a company in their attic. It changed a few times and now they animate this popular show for a company in California. The show didn’t take off at first but they post a few episodes on their web site and bam – they were hit. The traffic took the servers down so they moved to YouTube and now they’re on Nickelodeon.

The folks in California said, “Minneapolis wasn’t a place I would be thinking of as a mecca of animation, and yet at the same time, there are so many great things on the Internet, and they come from all over the place, that we weren’t surprised,” Jacobs says.

The business owners call themselves accidental entrepreneurs.

I just think it’s a perfect example of how broadband lets you be in the right place at the right time no matter where you are located. (Also it makes me wonder if there had been a cap on their bandwidth use, how an animation house in the Midwest can compete.)