AT&T isn’t letting Google Fiber’s expansion plans go unanswered. The telecom giant hasannounced that it’s looking at bringing its GigaPower internet service to as many as 21 additional big cities and their nearby municipalities. There’s some potential for direct competition with Google, as both companies are looking into gigabit access for key urban areas like Atlanta, San Antonio and San Jose. However, it’s clear that AT&T is taking some initiative here — it’s also exploring rollouts in Chicago, Los Angeles and other hubs that aren’t currently on its rival’s roadmap.
Tag: FTTH
Wyoming Town Creates Broadband Bonanza
How does a town of 5000 people in a sparsely populated region get its own fiber-to-household broadband system — WITHOUT relying on federal funding? Powell, Wyoming, is one of the great broadband success stories of the decade.
Powell, Wyoming, at first glance may appear to be the typical rural community that large and even some small broadband service providers avoid. The town has just over 5,000 residents in a county with a population density of four people per square mile. The last place for a fiber network, right? Wrong! Powell’s community-owned network, Powellink, is one of the great success stories in broadband.
Bucolic Barrington Hills hotbed of technology
Mark Welsh, Staff Photographer
Nestled among rolling hills, massive horse farms, 5-acre minimum lot homes and thousands of acres of forest preserve, Barrington Hills remains unadulterated by suburban sprawl.
Straddling roughly 29 square miles over four counties — Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry — the village has little more than 3,900 residents, lots of trees and open space.
But along with the benefits of living in a quintessential rural setting comes spotty cellular phone service and dropped Internet connections.
iProvo still has some tough hills to climb
iProvo has had a tough time making a go of their network initiative, but now Veracity is doing much better. Veracity is marketing the network and selling services as well as maintaining the network. They are generating cash so Provo can make the bond payments minus some operating expenses. Over time they should be able to generate cash to make the bond payments, operate the network, and eek out a modest profit. The Provo example shows that municipalities need private sector partners with experience in operating broadband networks and a business.
Genelle Pugmire – Daily Herald
After five years, a couple of owners and few other course corrections, Provo’s fiberoptic network, otherwise known as iProvo, seems to be coming of age, according to Mayor John Curtis.
As he looks back on the year, Curtis said he felt talking to residents about what the fiber optic network is, and is not, has been a benchmark.
SoftBank CEO Urges an End to Copper
- Image by Danny Choo via Flickr
- Image by Danny Choo via Flickr
Japanese media giant has a bold if somewhat self-serving plan to cover the country in optical fiber
By John Boyd / November 2010
Japan has long been regarded as a leader when it comes to providing broadband connectivity and deploying “fiber to the home” (FTTH). Yet entrepreneur Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of telecom and media company SoftBank Corp., is critical of the way broadband technology is being implemented and has urged the government to back his ideas for radical change.
As is the case in most developed countries, the Japanese industry is employing broadband in two ways: over existing copper phone lines using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, which provides theoretical maximum download speeds of around 50 megabits per second, and over newly laid optical fiber cable with the claim of delivering data at up to 200 Mb/s. Even though SoftBank has the largest number of DSL subscribers—a 38 percent market share—Son says this two-tier deployment strategy is costly and inefficient and is causing Japan to lose its competitive edge.
Salisbury, NC to launch municipal FTTH service next month
After AT&T (NYSE: T) and Time Warner Cable(NYSE: TWC-WI)–two of North Carolina’s largest service providers–failed to get necessary state legislative support to stop municipal broadband from getting off the ground, Salisbury, N.C. will now begin offering residential Fiber to the Home services beginning this November.
One of the attractive elements about the Salisbury’s “Fibrant” service set is the price. According to the intial pricing list, subscribers could buy a symmetrical 15 Mbps data tier for $45 a month, while a symmetrical 25 Mbps tier will cost $65 a month.
Lyfe Communications reaches TV broadcast agreement with UTOPIA
- Image via Wikipedia
OCTOBER 19, 2010 — Lyfe Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: LYFE) Connected Lyfe, provider of converged network services, says it has reached an agreement to acquire television broadcast rights from the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA). The company’s television service includes local and basic cable network channels, a premium or extended channel package, and individual add on channel packages.
UTOPIA provides open access fiber to the home (FTTH) infrastructure to 16 communities in Utah.