Monthly Archives: February 2009

3 facts that increase broadband need

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to John Schultz at U-reka Broadband Ventures for sending me 3 facts today:

  1. 20% of all TV viewing now happens online – from Integrated Media Measurement Inc (July 2008 )
  2. DVR penetration has surpassed 30% – from Myers Emotional Connections Research (November 2008 )
  3. In 3 years, 75% of Internet connected game consoles (over 110 million) will be used to watch video at least a couple of times a week – from The Diffusion Group (December 2009)

Hmm. Here’s how I’m feeling that today. I’m at work in my home office, my husband is teaching an online class in his home office (he teaches English for Normandale Community College and currently half of his classes are online). We have a DSL connection and wireless network set up in the house and I am feeling the competition for bandwidth as we both work.

Our four year old is watching Kung Fu Panda – thankfully on DVD. But in 3 years or sooner – she’ll be downloading that? Actually the older kids already ask to download videos on NetFlix. Now that I think of it one got a Flip Video for Christmas and has become a big uploader too. I’m seeing the writing on the wall that soon enough the DSL may be woefully inadequate for our needs – and I don’t think of us as power users.

I have read perspectives from Andrew Odlyzko at the University of Minnesota that growth of the Internet is slowing. After years of continual 100 % growth, we’re now at about 57% growth rate. I don’t necessarily doubt him – but I think he’s looking at the backbone – where I’m concerned with my last mile.

As TV moves online, as more folks work from home, as healthcare applications/monitoring move online, as it becomes easier to become content producers (YouTube stars in our own minds) I wonder when us little residential and home business users are going to want our last mile to look a lot more like the backbone. I’ll let the greater minds worry about what that will do to the backbone – but John’s 3 facts really got me thinking about my local needs and necessary short term upgrades.

February Blandin eNews

Posted on by
Reply

Blandin Get Broadband CommunitiesHere’s the news from our latest newsletter. It’s mostly a compilation of Minnesota-related stories from the blog in the last month – but sometimes it’s nice to have it compiled.

Broadband News from around Minnesota

Carver County
The Carver County board approved a fiber optic project linking the county’s cities, schools and libraries, and ultimately businesses and homeowners. http://tinyurl.com/d4lxs2

Duluth
Verizon Wireless launched its high-speed wireless broadband Internet service in northern Minnesota. http://tinyurl.com/apt83p

Grand Rapids
Bill Coleman and Ann Treacy on behalf of the Blandin Foundation have been working with nonprofit executive directors in Grand Rapids to assess shared technology needs and collaborate on solutions. They are also working specifically with arts organizations in Grand Rapids to create a community arts blog, which should be unveiled later this month.

Kandiyohi
The Willmar Economic Development Commission is extending their Blandin-sponsored Get Broadband grant by offering a second ground of grants and more classes to local business working on their web sites. http://tinyurl.com/borafd

Minneapolis
Forbes names Minneapolis number 7 of their top 30 Most Wired Cities. http://tinyurl.com/btfsqn

Monticello
The NATOA (National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors) recently filed an Amicus brief in support of the City of Monticello and their quest for FTTH. http://tinyurl.com/d3r46f

North St Paul
On February 24, North St Paul will hold a special election on an $18.5 million bond to build a fiber-optic network to provide high-speed Internet, telephone and cable services. http://tinyurl.com/c5cure

Olmsted County
Olmsted County supports 140 telecommuters. http://tinyurl.com/d43ehh

St Cloud
A St Cloud man has come up with a better wireless solution based on light, not radio waves. http://tinyurl.com/dbmwrr

Windom
The Windom Schools have benefitted greatly from broadband technology enhanced by funding from the Blandin Foundation’s Light Speed program. http://tinyurl.com/dak23k

(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

As a big Bruce Springsteen fan, last night’s Super Bowl halftime show was a bonus for me. I am now watching the clock so I can go online and purchase tickets for his upcoming St. Paul show. I have seen Springsteen shows many times over the years and through the usual three hour shows, Bruce orchestrates the band and the crowd through a well choreographed outpouring of energy and emotion. Watching him play a 12 minute set was fun, but a bit unreal. When his set was over, I wondered how many attendees would have voted to skip the second half just to have the E Street Band keep playing. Luckily for the NFL, the game turned into a thriller.

In a pre-game interview, Bob Costas asked Bruce why, after all these years of being asked, the band agreed to play at the Super Bowl. Springsteen laughed and said “’Cause I have a record to promote!” The title song of the album is “Working on a Dream.”

Communities pursuing a better future through broadband might well adopt “Working on a Dream” as their theme song. The opening lyrics, “Out here the nights are long, the days are lonely” and later, “I am working on a dream, though sometimes it feels so far away” and finally “My hands are rough from working on a dream” capture the challenge of community transformation whether pursuing a fiber to the home network or stimulating technology adoption by hesitant or budget stretched community organizations. As with many Springsteen songs that speak to challenge, “Working on a Dream” has a hopeful conclusion that is the outcome of hard work and perseverance. So keep up the good work and the benefits of technology transformation will emerge!

Featured Article – Minnesota broadband mapping unveiled

This is a big week for Minnesota broadband for two reasons. First, Connected Nation will be unveiling a preview of their maps this week. Second, the Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force is holding a special meeting to look at the mapping and shovel-ready broadband projects around the state.

Over the past few months, Connected Nation (http://tinyurl.com/d92x93) has been working with broadband providers across the state to create a map of broadband availability and speed. They primarily use the information supplied by the providers to create the maps.

To double check the speeds supplied by providers, Connected Nation has created a speed test and they are asking everyone in Minnesota to test and record their speeds by visiting the site.

Unfortunately, one of our local ISPs (ipHouse) found a hiccup in the Speed Test (http://tinyurl.com/c6cs37).  Apparently the test is skewed for any connections other than DSL or cable, it’s limited to 10mpbs connection and the tests are run out of Texas. Connected Nation has been criticized for their strong relationship to providers in the past (http://tinyurl.com/dkqhh7). The speed tests are a way to balance provider-supplied data so I look forward to hearing how this can be rectified and/or how this affects the results.

Also I’m anxious to see the maps. I suspect we’ll see holes up North and I wonder if we’ll see patchy areas closer to the Twin Cities. I’m curious to see how areas where the large businesses can pay top dollar for broadband but homes and small businesses cannot get access are represented on the map.

Even in their preliminary state, I suspect these maps will be put to work immediately to gauge which areas in Minnesota might be most in need of shovel-ready projects. The Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force will be discussing shovel-ready projects and the mapping on February 6, 2009.

There are three ways to add your two cents to the mapping project and the economic stimulus proposals:

  1. Visit the Connected Minnesota site to test and record the speed of your connection. (http://www.connectmn.org/)
  2. Submit a shovel-ready project idea to the Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force. (http://www.ultra-high-speed-mn.org/)
  3. Come to view the meeting on February 6, 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/d953zk)

The broadband maps will also be unveiled to Senate on February 5 at 3:00 (http://tinyurl.com/blftea) and the House at 8:30 am on February 6 (http://tinyurl.com/d2kevk).

Cyberbridge to Nowhere

Posted on by
Reply

A couple of folks have given me the heads up on a thoughtful article in the New York Times today (Internet Money in Fiscal Plan: Wise or Waste?).

I can’t say that I felt like the article came to any conclusions – but it does a good job outlining several sides of the issue – does the money pegged for broadband in the recent economic stimulus proposals make sense. Questions such as:

Is there enough money to make a difference?
Is this money going straight to large companies?
Does the Open Access provision close the door to some able providers?
Does the whole plan turn off some potential investors?
Will the minimum speeds lead to overspending and underutilization?
Can they turn around the money fast enough to stimulate jobs quickly?

I think the most immediate issue is – how can you come up with a compromise that everyone will like? How can you be thoughtful and make a decision by next week? How can you build for the future and not overbuild?

It does occur to me that maybe we’re putting the cart before the horse. The US still does not have a National Broadband Strategy. It might not create jobs tomorrow – but maybe we need a national strategy to keep us on track before we start writing checks.

There’s a group called US Broadband Coalition who have been working on a National Strategy. The group includes some strange bedfellow –large providers, think tanks, nonprofits working on the digital divide, media companies and more. They are apparently working on a game plan (or Call to Action) to be unveiled this spring or early summer. While spring felt pretty far away with temperatures of -4 this morning, it will be here soon. Maybe it makes sense to defer the broadband expenditures until we see what they create – assuming they are going to be getting into details. Heck, maybe it’s worth writing the first check to them to speed up the process of creating/suggesting a National Broadband Strategy.

New Broadband in Northern Minnesota

Posted on by
Reply

According to the Duluth News Tribune, Verizon Wireless launched its high-speed wireless broadband Internet service in northern Minnesota today with download between 600 kilobits and 1.4 megabits per second.

The price for using the service with your computer ranges from $40 to $60 per month; the data and voice plans go from $80 a month to $100 on Blackberries, smart phones and PDAs.

Telecommuting in Olmsted County

Posted on by
1

The Post Bulletin recently ran an article on telecommuting in the area. Olmsted County employs about 140 telecommuters. The County provides the computer and the phone line; the worker provides the desk and the broadband.

They started with a pilot project in 1996. The County finds that often telecommuters are more productive than their in-office counterparts. They have fewer sick days and far less turnover.

The employees prefer it too. Fewer than half a dozen county employees who tried telecommuting have returned to a regular office job.