Yesterday I drove about an hour north of the Twin Cities to meet up with Jennifer Peterson of Duskwind Farms. Jennifer, her husband Chuck and daughter Ilana (age 1.5) moved to Pine City last June with a goal towards a sustainable lifestyle. (I know Jennifer because she is a Horizons blogger and we met at the Minnesota Voices Online Unconference.)
They have 5 cows, 2 huge rabbits, 7 sheep, 2 donkeys, 5 dogs and a cat. They are about to get 50 hens. They live off the meat, eggs, and produce from the farm. They live in a house that they built themselves; it’s about 300 square foot with some of the best looking hardwood floor I have ever seen. They don’t have indoor plumbing, electricity or consistent cell phone coverage.
Jennifer maintains a blog about their farm to help inform others who might be interested in living a self-sustained life. She has a community of other modern homesteaders that she knows online. As she points out, they have chosen this lifestyle. The lack of plumbing and electricity do not seem to be hardships for them – but the lack of broadband is because it is shutting them out of the information and community that they need.
As it stands now they get online at the local library. It’s a lifeline – but it’s not enough. I’ll let her speak for herself on the video below.
Blandin on Broadband 
Ladies and Gentlemen, in reading your blogs, it is obvious that the discussion has centered around whether the rural areas need, deserve, or should be happy without, faster broadband speeds or broadband at all. We would like to change the discussion. Let’s change the discussion to investment in new technologies that can actually solve the problem that the phone companies will not invest in. We have such a technology and have been frustrated at trying to commercialize it. You folks as bloggers can take our information and throw it out to your audience. With the stimulus package in the air, here is a chance to really address the problem. Hopefully we can stimulate some support to get this into the hands of those who can use it. We have also responded to the NTIA-RUS RFI. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comment.cfm?e=72163667-3CFE-492C-BC3E-766C24BCC550
While many speak of the bandwidth problem in the last mile of the phone system, the real measure is not bandwidth (measured in MHz), it is the data rate (measured in Mbps). However the real problem is fully utilizing all of the wires in the wire bundle (often referred to as a binder group) to the maximum technically allowed by the Shannon limit. The problem with wireline implementation growth today is xDSL’s signal self-interference. TelePulse Technologies has created a new technology called Dynamic Time Metered Delivery (DTMD) (Patent No. 7,236,451). It solves the noise problems inherent in xDSL and provides the next phase in data rate that xDSL cannot deliver after VDSL/VDSL2 with or without vectoring, bonding, MIMO, etc.
The creation of DTMD (Patent No. 7,236,451) solves the technology problem (crosstalk) that prevents the phone company from getting the maximum allowable data rate/customer and prevents the phone company from fully using and reusing CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE for triple play services or for just increasing the data rate at long distances.
The exploitation of DTMD allows the phone company to serve triple play customers using networking architectures that are significantly cheaper and faster to roll out and scalable by individual customer need.
It can also be used to take broadband signals into older buildings and facilities without the costly rip-out re-fit and upgrade.
TelePulse’s DTMD technology is the more effective way to get the maximum data rate possible over copper twisted pair. It can also be a cost effective way to get higher rate broadband to inner-cities and other low income as well as bring very basic broadband to customers who are far away from the central office. DTMD technology is compliant with current standards and compatible and complementary to other fiber enabled solutions. We will provide the next level of data rate that no form of xDSL can provide. The technology was derived from exotic signal processing done for the military. At this point we are trying to pull together technical partners to make Hardware Developer Kits (HDKs) so that prospective users can test the technology on their networks and determine the types of central office modems or customer premises equipment they would want. Basically, on a single twisted pair with no co-channel interference:
100Mbps-4,000 ft; 25Mbps-10,000ft; 1.5Mbps-greater than 33,000ft
This is available to all of the twisted pair in a wire pair bundle it is also potentially 1/10 the price. We answered the RFI in a way to give an action plan to make this widely availiable. This is an alternative worth considering.
B.W “Jess” Posey
CEO and President
TelePulse Technologies Corporation
Tel: 1-856-264-3961
E-mail: jessposey@telepulsetech.com
Pingback: Rural Use of Social Media « Blandin on Broadband