Tag: FTTH

Report Says LUS Fiber Model Flawed; LUS Director Says Report Biased

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English: Fibre optic strands

English: Fibre optic strands (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A November 2013 report by the Reason Foundation, a self-proclaimed libertarian, free-market think tank, claims municipal broadband projects like Lafayette Utilities System’s fiber network are fundamentally flawed and practically destined to fail.

“For all the enthusiasm about municipal broadband, one fact remains: A great majority of systems fail,” author Steven Titch wrote in “Lessons in Municipal Broadband from Lafayette, Louisiana.” “Those that survive end up falling short of their promised goals of lower prices, better service and ubiquity.”

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The Government Could Build You Faster Internet, But Cable Companies Won’t Let It

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This article takes a stance that government can do things better than private industry although history has consistently proven different. Few will question the fact that incumbents will do what is necessary to continue the business model in which they are comfortable. Also, several states have felt the need to “protect” taxpayers from getting stuck with the bill from a failed investment in municipal broadband. Despite the un-based assertion that most municipal broadband projects are financially successful, more than half of the projects have left bondholders and taxpayers with the debt from a poorly executed strategy. 

The article fails to address that the FCC has no legal authority to override state law nor that it is not the government’s role in a capitalist society to enter the communications business. The article implies that municipalities have rights and freedoms to enter certain businesses. I do not recall anything in the Constitution granting municipalities any rights.
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Syracuse looks to install city-wide high-speed broadband

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The mayor realizes how important broadband is to the city’s future, but her approach to enter into becoming a service provider is off mark. The government should enter into a business enterprise ONLY when it is not feasible for a private company. Syracuse already has two retail communications provider and others that serve businesses. It is correct that communications companies are challenged to build last-mile infrastructure so maybe they should consider constructing infrastructure and lease access to different communications providers.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – Mayor Stephanie Miner is in the early stages of researching installing broadband internet fiber in the City of Syracuse.

The mayor says high speed internet should be a public service, almost as important as trash pick-up and water.

Miner said high-speed internet is “the modern day equivalent of infrastructure.”

She adds, “It’s clear that broadband is going to be a foundation of our new economy.”

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Colorado’s Gigabit March Continues

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English: I took photo with Canon camera in Lon...

English: I took photo with Canon camera in Longmont, CO. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The city of Longmont should be required to provide equal access to any qualified communications company with non-discriminatory pricing so it does not compete with commercial service providers.

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The city of Longmont, Colorado which voted in 2011 to build out its own gigabit municipal network is moving forward on this plan with Calix. Longmont Power and Communications will be the new municipal entity tasked with providing electricity and telecommunications services to residents. Calix will be providing voice and data fiber and network technology for the project.

CivSource has been following efforts in Colorado to work around a 2005 law made at the state level which made building municipal broadband networks challenging. In recent years, cities in Colorado have voted on provisions to go ahead with these networks and gigabit access as telecom companies have been slow to act. Boulder,Colorado most recently decided to move forward with two ballot initiatives that would let residents decide how to move forward on gigabit broadband there.

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Google Fiber Is Beginning to Look Like a Head Fake

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How a little knowledge is a dangerous thing especially in the hands of people making investments.  There is no question that “The Motley Fool” provides investment advice; therefore, it is in the business of analyzing and editorializing so I’m fine with Tim’s predictions.  I’m just going to debunk them as foolish.

Google’s Wi-Fi initiative is complementary to Google Fiber.  Their objectives are to increase people coming to Google properties to look at ads and content.  We all know that Wi-Fi signals barely cover most homes and that they need a wired network behind them to work.  What Google is doing is providing public broadband access to compete against other wireless providers.  These little Wi-Fi hotspots will not provide a signal into residential neighborhoods so it is no threat to Google Fiber that has deviated from its initial mission.

Secondly Google is supporting the misinformation campaign of “net neutrality” because it is in its best interest all the while expanding Google Fiber and Wi-Fi to prepare for the era of “walled gardens” should they occur.  Providing free power and cooling is a token effort for only those content providers large enough like themselves and Netflix to deploy thousands of servers across the country instead of relying on content delivery companies and managed services.  

Is it still net neutrality when a small startup cannot afford to create their own caching appliance to deploy in all of these offices like Netflix and Google?  Aren’t these little startups at a disadvantage and a virtual walled garden is created?  Hmmm.  The content providers, of which Google is one, are merely trying to preserve status quo to maintain their bandwidth costs and keep smaller players out of the game all while trying to appear to be not evil.  

I’m not saying Google is evil no more than I’m saying that Comcast is evil.  They are just behaving like any market-driven company until they divert from capitalism and use the government to gain a business advantage.

By Tim Beyers

English: Comcast service van, Ypsilanti Townsh...

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) may not need to blanket the country with Fiber after all, Fool contributor Tim Beyers says in the following video.

According to a report in The Information (via Android and Me), the search king plans to supply businesses with low-cost Wi-Fi equipment for enabling broadband access at retail locations and the like. A recent deal with Starbucks to power Wi-Fi at its various locations could serve as a template for others.

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Google Fiber Fights Buffering Issues for Users

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Google has done a good job of avoiding the discussion of the effects of the equipment in their and other networks have on quality of experience.  They discuss what happens outside their network and imply that buffering problems are caused by the content providers, other service providers, and inadequate peering arrangements.  I agree that all of those components are potential culprits for the dreaded “buffering” message, but Google neglects to mention that network equipment, in and out of the Google network, contain buffers.  

Those buffers fill and empty as packets transit through them.  When they are flooded with video traffic they fill to capacity and other traffic has to wait until the queue is not full anymore before it can start accepting packets again.  It is this effect that “slows” down packets on the network the most.  Network operators can either make the queues very large or they can choose to set up multiple queues to manage packets based on parameters such as traffic type.  This is where the issue of packet prioritization comes in.

Google is implying that since most of the problems with buffering happen outside their network, content caching in their network will solve the problem for Google Fiber.  It will certainly help but there are still multiple network elements between the caching servers and the customer that have queues that can become bogged down.  Proper traffic management will reduce the latency and jitter of those time-sensitive services to ensure a quality experience for all traffic types.  I truly wish that the people at Google Fiber would have discussed this aspect as well, but it would fly in the face of the other part of Google that is against paid peering and prioritization. 

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Google Fiber Logo

By Todd R. Weiss  |  Posted 2014-05-27

Google says it is working more closely with content providers to make service as efficient as possible, including allowing content providers to install their networking gear in Google facilities.

Google Fiber wants users to know that it is continuously working hard to ensure that its customers are getting the best service possible, making constant adjustments and configuring to keep bothersome video buffering to a minimum.

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SiFi Networks to build FTTH network for Pacific Grove, CA

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April 20, 2014
Lightwave Staff
English: Point Piños Light near Pacific Grove,...

English: Point Piños Light near Pacific Grove, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SiFi Networks says it has signed an agreement to build an open access fiber to the home (FTTH) network in Pacific Grove, CA. The proposed network will be capable of delivering 1-Gbps services.

The UK-based SiFi Networks builds FTTH networks based on its Fiber Optic Cable Ubiquitous Solution (FOCUS) to create a “FiberCity.” The approach leverages the company’s patented Wastewater Fiber Technology (WFT), in which fiber-optic cable is deployed in sanitary and storm wastewater conduit.

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