Monthly Archives: July 2014

Rural call completion “takes a lot of competition – and a public referee”

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Daily Yonder has been great for rural perspectives on telecom policies lately. Recently they posted an update on call completion decisions made by the FCC. I’ve tracked call completion in the blog before; it’s a big deal for rural customers. The issue is that some new phone over Internet options have had different rules and goals from traditional phone companies.

I’ll risk misstating the issue to make it very simple. (Folks are welcome to correct me.) Traditionally phone companies have paid other phone companies to accept their calls. “Your customer in NY wants to reach my customer in International Falls MN? Pay me a nickel and I’ll complete the call.” New companies didn’t necessarily sign up for this agreement. So eventually the local phone companies quit accepting those calls and/or the new internet phone companies sent the calls into a limbo rather than pay the surcharge.

What the customers experienced was that Bob in NYC ran into troubles every time he tried to call grandma in International Falls. To ensure customer quality, the FCC stepped in and up. Here’s the assessment from the Daily Yonder…

The problem got so bad that the Federal Communications Commission got involved at the request of some rural phone companies, state utilities commissions and other consumer advocates.

Earlier this month the FCC reached a $875,000 settlement with a Texas company, Matrix Telecom, for dropping calls to rural customers. In February, Windstream agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a similar complaint. And last year another phone company, Level 3, agreed to pay nearly $1 million because of call-routing issues.

Plenty of folks – including the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, John Thune (R-South Dakota) – think the FCC needs to do even more to correct this problem. They seem to disagree with Senator Johnson’s notion that competition without enforcement of the rules will make sure that rural Americans get a fair shake.

The problem of rural call completion is not over, but it’s getting better. Bad actors are on notice that someone with leverage is paying attention. And there’s a very good chance the problem will continue to improve if the FCC sticks to its guns. (If you think you’ve got a problem with dropped calls to rural areas, you can report it to the FCC here.)

Being online keeps seniors in homes longer in Lake County

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The Blandin Foundation recently posted a video on home healthcare monitoring in Lake County that is helping keep seniors in their homes longer in Lake County…

Patent and smartphones and the impact on rural broadband access

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Daily Yonder just posted an interesting article on the National Grange’s take on the recent court decision to handsomely compensate Apple for intellectual violations perpetrated by Samsung.

Here’s a quick description of the decision…

National Grange is concerned about a patent lawsuit that Apple Inc. filed against Samsung. A jury recently awarded Apple $399 million in damages for intellectual property violations. Samsung smart phones were infringing on several Apple patents, the court said.

The ruling said Samsung must pay Apple 100% of Samsung’s profits from the sale of the devices that infringed on Apple’s patents.

And National Grange’s take on the implications…

The National Grange believes the court should give careful consideration to the potential harm that may come from excessive design patent financial damages in this case and other cases involving smart phones.

The ruling could limit competition and makes smart phones more expensive. That, in turn, would make them less accessible to rural communities and businesses.  Samsung, for example, provides far more options for smart phones with a greater range of prices than Apple. Samsung’s products appeal to many lower-income rural residents and to businesses that have to pay attention to what they spend.

I’m an advocate of intellectual property and a supporter of open source technology. So it’s a conundrum.

Up a Creek without a Telecom Connection Leaves you Up a Creek

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The Daily Yonder always does a nice job presenting the rural side of the story. The more I talk to folks in cities, the more I realize how valuable the service they provide is. Last week they wrote a harrowing story of what it’s like to be in the wilderness in NE Wisconsin and off the communication grid when an emergency happens…

When the folks on “Green Acres” had to climb a telephone pole to make a call, it was funny. But no one here was laughing when our rural volunteer fire department had to resort to something similar. We had been paged out for a river rescue — an injured rafter clinging to a rock in a Class III rapid.

That may sound straightforward, but as usual it wasn’t. There were concerns about other members of the party, which had become separated. It was pouring rain, cold, and lightning flashed around us. We had team members on the water and others deployed at a location several miles downstream, and were getting ready to send searchers out on foot while trying to get an ambulance unstuck from mud halfway up the wheels.

And we couldn’t communicate with any of our people. Our portable radios were not connecting with the county’s communication infrastructure. So the tallest person on the scene stood on the tailgate of a pick-up truck holding a portable radio as high as possible (despite the lightning), and the best we could get was broken and scratchy.

The author explains the tower situation…

Here are some things you should know about public safety communications systems in rural areas.

Who Owns Those Towers?

Good question. In Langlade County, two of the towers are owned by the county. Others are owned by private enterprises. County zoning ordinances require any towers erected here to allow space for emergency communications equipment. The contracts are non-lapsing and the county does not pay for the use of the space, only for its equipment and maintenance. Those towers generally reserve space at the top for local government, then quickly fill up the rest with paying tenants.

And part of the problem…

It’s not just fire departments, emergency medical systems (EMS) and law enforcement using local government channels. The airways are crowded with other users that may include the Department of Natural Resources and public utilities. Last winter, when parts of the Upper Midwest had record cold temperatures that caused widespread freeze-ups in public water utility lines, we heard a lot of pages for the on-call worker for the water department in the county seat.

Public utilities are considered integral to homeland security. But a lot of that traffic on local government channels could be carried out effectively by other means. And some of it will be, soon, in our area, thanks to E-Sponder — software that sends out simultaneous phone, text and email alerts instead of paging for non-emergency situations.

Paging is what the local government communication system was designed to support. And paging was a huge step up from the telephone tree used to summon firefighters when my husband joined the volunteer fire department in 1987. But now, in addition to paging, the system is expected to support more traffic on more channels. We need to be able to get the alert for volunteers. We also need to know who’s responding and to where, to get situation reports from those first on the scene, to relay information to and get authorizations from medical control and a hundred other things. And in rural areas where small departments rely on mutual aid partners and where EMS transports are long, we must be able to communicate with each other.

Finally he adds that money is always part of the problem and/or solution too.

Just something to consider as you head out for the 4th weekend. Will you be able to communicate if you need too? What’s that worth?

Kanabec County rallies for better broadband and prepares for MN broadband fund opportunity

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I attended Senator Schmit’s broadband talking tour in Mora last month so I was delighted to see follow up in the local paper, the Kanabec County Times. It looks like a rally and local call for action getting people to start thinking about how, why, when and where they could prepare to take advantage of the $20 million broadband development fund, which should be made available later this summer.

Nice to see the conversations starting – or in the case of Kanabec County continuing. I think luck is going to favor the prepared when it comes to the broadband funds…

“KBI is ready to go,” Peoples National Bank President Doyle Jelsing pointed out, spearheading local efforts to put together a local match that may include a combination of private investment, bonding, loans and in-kind services.

A feasibility study estimated that it could cost $2-$7 million to create an effective broadband network in the county that may involve both fiber and wireless.

Telecommunications providers like CenturyLink, MidContinent Communications, Genesis Wireless, and Kanabec Systems have a seat at the table and have expressed interest in working together to help achieve the ambitious goals.

“One of Kanabec Broadband Initiative’s goals is to utilize existing broadband to help make Kanabec County a great place to live, work, play and visit,” KBI Chair Marc Johnson said. “Providing our local businesses with a Web presence will assure that they can be found by residents and visitors alike. Johnson serves as executive director of the East Central Minnesota Education Cable Cooperative (ECMECC) — a consortium of 13 area school districts along with Pine Technical College.

He also praised the support of the Blandin Foundation, which provided $47,165 in local grants this year to help increase public access to the Internet in Kanabec County by creating Wi-Fi hotspots, furnishing area businesses with a Web presence, and assisting with the development of a Telework Center with high capacity bandwidth and technology for tele-commuting and after-school homework.

A couple of MInnesota broadband/technology bills go into effect this month

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Thanks to the Fairbault News for making it so easy to share any technology-related bills that took effect yesterday (July 1). I’ve talked a lot about the first – not as much about the smartphone issues, but wanted to add them as a heads up anyway…

Jobs and economic development

The biggest ticket item in this portion of the law is $20 million in one-time money for grants to improve broadband connectivity in the state. The money will be available until June 30, 2017. As part of the broadband effort, the law creates the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program to expand services in unserved or underserved parts of the state.

Smartphones

Manufacturers will have until July 1, 2015 to equip phones with an antitheft function. All phone dealers must keep a written record of each acquisition.

The law also requires a dealer to install and operate video cameras positioned to record the face of used cell phone sellers, and the date and time.

Smartphones manufactured after July 1, 2015, that are bought or sold in Minnesota must be equipped with antitheft functionality or capable of downloading that functionality, at no cost to the buyer.

Lake County signs up first FTTH customers

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Better broadband in Lake County has seemed like a dream and a nightmare – and I’m writing from the sidelines! The very abridged version is that Lake County got ARRA funding to build a fiber network. Their road was not smooth but the Lake County News Chronicle reports that they have signed up their first customers…

There has been no shortage of opposition to the ambitious project, however, and legal battles, delays caused by competitors and contractual issues have plagued the initiative since its 2010 inception.

Through all of the setbacks, the county has persevered, stringing fiber cable and touting the benefits of bringing broadband to homes and businesses throughout the area.

“Right now, we’re just focusing on finishing our build and turning up services,” said county administrator Matt Huddleston.

Roiland said about 100 customers in Silver Bay, a town of 1,800, have been connected to services and a few beta testers are trying it out in Two Harbors, including Granite Gear, an outdoor equipment company headquartered in the town. Dave Johnson, the strategic accounts manager for the 28-year-old company, said fast internet has become essential to Granite Gear in recent years.

“It’s not just nice having faster internet, but it has become an absolute necessity,” he said.

Blandin Broadband e-News July 2014

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BBC MapNews from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Minnesota Won’t Make 2015 Broadband Goals
Julio Ojeda- Zapata declared in the St Paul Pioneer Press that Minnesota will not reach the 2015 broadband goals of ubiquitous broadband with speeds of 10-20 Mbps downstream and 5-10 Mbps up. The Minnesota Broadband Task Force said as much in their latest report, but getting attention in mainstream press always makes a splash. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jx

Minnesota Poised to Take Advantage of Broadband Opportunities
Minnesota communities are talking about broadband. Senator Schmit visited nine towns throughout Minnesota to talk about broadband and the recently approved broadband development fund. He had 10-30 attendees at each session. http://wp.me/p3if7-2IL Community leaders and stakeholders are showing innovation too. The FCC recently requested recommendations for Rural Broadband Experiments. Minnesota sent in more than 62 ideas out of 1000 sent throughout the US. It’s a good sign that Minnesota is shovel-ready and poised to deploy. It’s a bad sign that Minnesota still needs better broadband. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jl

Broadband Task Force Learns about Real Cost of Rural Broadband
The Broadband Task Force heard from local providers about Gigabit access in Minnesota communities. During the meeting urban and rural providers outlined the differences in their markets and expenses – starting with the fact that the Gigabit access to a backbone provider costs 50 cents a month in Minneapolis, a dollar in Red Wing and $10,000-20,000 in Thief River Falls. http://wp.me/p3if7-2JQ

President Clinton offers advice that could help broadband
President Clinton spoke at the University of Minnesota. He offered advice for a more civil society, but the advice could also support broadband efforts in a community: http://wp.me/p3if7-2IT

  • Focus on similarities.
  • If you want great impact, give aid to the bottom of the economic pyramid.
  • Strive to form a more perfect union.
  • Trust.
  • Big business needs goals beyond the shareholders.

Funding Opportunities for Communities looking at Broadband

  • The details for the Minnesota Broadband Development Fund are being decided this summer. Danna MacKenzie, Director of the Office of Broadband Development, will speak via webinar on progress of the grant process on July 10. http://wp.me/p3if7-2JC
  • The USDA announces the availability of three funding opportunities: Community Connect, Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT), and Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Programs. Deadline for all three is July 7. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jd
  • AT&T is committing $100 million to award off-campus mobile broadband access to 50,000 students across the country. Connected Nation is administering the funds. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jf

The Minnesota Judicial Branch is accepting applications for court technology funds. Deadline is August 11. http://wp.me/p3if7-2JW

Local Broadband News

Aitkin
Senator Schmit stops in Aitkin as part of his broadband tour where providers and other stakeholders discussed issues including cost of developing services in unserved areas. http://wp.me/p3if7-2IP

Annandale
Senator Schmit stops in Aitkin as part of his broadband tour and hears about serious broadband outages experienced in the area. http://wp.me/p3if7-2J6

Central Minnesota
The Initiative Foundation highlights local businesses that thrive due to smart use of broadband technology, including stories from businesses in Pierz, Menahga, St. Joseph, Little Falls and Mann Lake. http://wp.me/p3if7-2J2

Duluth
Project Lulu, based out of Duluth, creates an online opportunities that combine private journaling with community. They are currently being used to support and foster good health. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jn

Eagan
DataBank, which operates data co-location facilities in Edina, Dallas and Kansas City, Mo., plans to turn the Taystee Foods building in Eagan into a data center to serve the region. http://wp.me/p3if7-2JU

CenturyLink sends out notices of beta testing of Gigabit access in Eagan. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jv

Fargo
Minneapolis co-working company CoCo has announced that they are launching a CoCo Fargo location, in partnership with Emerging Prairie. http://wp.me/p3if7-2JO

Minnetonka
Minnetonka mall upgrades Wi-Fi access to accommodate for growing need from patrons. http://wp.me/p3if7-2JZ

Mora
Senator Schmit stops in Mora during his broadband talking tour. Attendees have very specific questions about the broadband development fund. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jj

St. PaulSaint Paul Public Schools announces a new summer-program texting service for parents looking to find activities for their kids while school is out. http://wp.me/p3if7-2IX

Staples
Senator Schmit stops in Staples during his broadband talking tour. Attendees have concerns about accuracy of Connect Minnesota maps. http://wp.me/p3if7-2J4

Twin Cities
Metro State is starting an IT residency or apprentice prorgam. http://wp.me/p3if7-2IC

Google selected the University of Minnesota’s MARS Lab as its primary academic partner for Project Tango, a high-profile indoor mapping initiative that has been compared to Google Maps. http://wp.me/p3if7-2IH

Change Lane, a startup that lets consumers order at-home oil changes via the Web, has raised about $1.2 million in capital as it prepares to test-drive its service in Wayzata. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jz

Willmar
Senator Schmit completes his broadband talking tour with a full house in Willmar. http://wp.me/p3if7-2Jp

Events  

JULY 10
Blandin Community Broadband Program webinar: MN Office of Broadband Development Update on Funding http://wp.me/p3if7-2JC

JULY 23
MN Broadband Task Force Meeting (location TBD) http://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/task-force/task-force.jsp

AUGUST 5-7
Farm Fest (Redwood County) http://www.ideaggroup.com/farmfest

Stirring the PotBill_Coleman

By Bill Coleman, Community Technology Advisors

As my annual physical approaches, I can already hear my doctor proscribing “Less beer, more fiber.” I am already working on the second part of that advice, the first not so much. In turn, I will give the same advice to our Twin Cities leaders, again with the emphasis  on the second half.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are both experiencing significant redevelopment in their urban cores. In Minneapolis, it is widespread throughout the North Loop, Dinkytown, Vikingsville and Uptown. In St. Paul, the Central Corridor is undergoing rapid redevelopment. There is a continuous flow of press releases about new breweries in these neighborhoods attracting young newcomers and relocating baby boomers to enjoy the beer and bicycle urban lifestyle.

I wish I was hearing more about fiber connections in these new communities. With individual buildings containing hundreds of apartments and neighborhoods totaling thousands of new units; these developments are larger than many rural communities. With these demographics, providers have no need to educate hipster consumers on the benefits of broadband. With proximity to the downtowns and the U of M, I assume that dark fiber is readily available. With a billion dollars spent on the Central Corridor light rail, I hope that someone put some fiber and spare conduits in the ground along the route.

With a minimum of discussion and cost, city leaders could be ensuring that these new units are fiber-connected by either enacting ordinances like Loma Linda California or by simply strongly encouraging the developers, Comcast, CenturyLink or a competitive provider to install and market these fiber connected buildings. With a bit of planning, tenants in these buildings could have secure network connections to the U of M and any of the large and small companies in downtown and elsewhere.

It is possible that these buildings are appropriately fibered-up and these ultra-high speed connections are offered with as much notice as basic amenities like water and heat, but I do not think so. If fiber is being installed in these developments, then Twin Cities marketers like Mayor’s Offices and Greater MSP, are missing out on opportunities to build our brand as a place for competitive economic development and quality of life.

Back to my physical… I recognize that there is nothing that I can do today to change what my doctor will find later this week. Likewise if a business came to many towns today wanting fiber, there would be no simple and affordable solution. So, I want to recognize Eagan for its long term broadband lifestyle – convening their key technology stakeholders, installing conduit and fiber, working with broadband providers. They created and pursued strategies which emerged from a technology plan completed almost a decade ago. Congratulations to Mayor Mike Maguire and staff members Tom Garrison and Jon Hohenstein for their commitment and efforts. As a result, they have AccessEagan, a community-owned open-access fiber and conduit network that is used by multiple private carriers to provide highly competitive fiber connections to their primary business parks. Building on this infrastructure, they have just announced the imminent development of a telecom hotel/data center, also a long-term goal and a tremendous benefit to the entire metro region. And to show that Eagan is not only all about fiber, the city council has just revised ordinances to enable development of craft breweries, taprooms and distilleries!”

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