From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Jan 6 17:32:10 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 18:32:10 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC - Open Internet Challenge Message-ID: The FCC has announced a challenge to researchers and software developers to engage in research and create apps that help consumers foster, measure, and protect Internet openness. "The Open Internet Challenge is part of the FCC?s efforts to empower end users to help preserve Internet openness. Details of the challenge are posted at openinternet.gov/challenge http://challenge.gov/FCC/114-fcc-open-internet-apps-challenge ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Jan 26 08:28:08 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:28:08 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Akamai: State of the Internet Report - NM tops quarterly adoption growth rate Message-ID: <66AF4A6D-8BB4-436D-823A-5B975DDFAFD3@designnine.com> Akamai State of the Internet Report Fastest U.S. States The overall average connection speed for the U.S. as a whole in the third quarter of 2010 was 5.0 Mbps. Delaware continued to maintain its standing as the state with the fastest average connection speed. The overall average peak connection speed in the U.S. during the third quarter was 20 Mbps. In looking at high broadband adoption in the U.S. during the third quarter, trending was mostly positive. Quarterly increases in high broadband adoption of 10% or more were seen in 23 states and the District of Columbia, with New Mexico topping the list at 60% growth. In reviewing year-over-year changes in U.S. broadband adoption, four states (Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, and Alabama) grew more than 100% year-over-year, with Alaska?s massive 191% growth leading the way. www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2011/press_012411.html www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ Senior Broadband Planner Design Nine, Inc. lowenberg at designnine.com www.designnine.com Design Nine provides visionary broadband architecture and engineering services, telecommunications master planning, and broadband project management. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Fri Jan 28 17:37:12 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:37:12 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] NM Tech / ICASA Admin. named to head NM DoIT Message-ID: <33b1fca39d0995ba3fa0d98c1e5c7c02@dcn.org> NM Tech administrator to head info tech department Posted at: 01/27/2011 4:17 PM By: The Associated Press ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) - Gov. Susana Martinez has nominated a New Mexico Tech administrator to lead the state Department of Information Technology. Since 2001, Darryl Ackley has overseen the Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. The agency operates systems used to compute sensitive government information. Martinez says she wants to seek technology solutions to cut state government waste. She said Thursday in Roswell that Ackley's background will be an asset as her administration works to streamline the flow of information. Ackley says he is looking forward to eliminating unnecessary costs and red tape from state government. He says technology can help make government more efficient at a lower cost to New Mexico taxpayers. -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Feb 17 10:19:06 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:19:06 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] National Broadband Map Message-ID: <5D8E7310-B244-43C3-9A5E-E8DC07D08E3B@designnine.com> 1st-Milers, The FCC and NTIA just debuted the first iteration of the National Broadband Map. This is a work-in-progress, which will be added to and improved over time, as more detailed and accurate data is gathered and included. RL From the NTIA: The National Broadband Map is now live. http://www.Broadbandmap.gov ?The National Broadband Map is a tool to search, analyze and map broadband availability across the United States. Created and maintained by the NTIA, in collaboration with the FCC, and in partnership with 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia.? Here is the first blog post. http://www.broadbandmap.gov/blog/1/hello-world/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Fri Feb 18 18:29:06 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:29:06 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Wealthy suburbs get best broadband deals; D.C., rural areas lag behind | Investigative Reporting Workshop Message-ID: This is probably no surprise, but .... http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/connected/story/washington-dc-broadband-speed/ I wonder about those Congressmen sleeping in their offices? Think they can download movies? -tj -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From editorsteve at gmail.com Fri Feb 18 19:02:42 2011 From: editorsteve at gmail.com (Steve Ross) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:02:42 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Wealthy suburbs get best broadband deals; D.C., rural areas lag behind | Investigative Reporting Workshop In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The study is worthless. There's a lot more to service than Mbps download speed, and Verizon would not break out DSL vs FiOS customers. DSL is, however, more common in densely populated areas -- which means low income around DC -- and Verizon has committed to bringing FiOS to DC so the problem is self-correcting.. Bottom line: what they THINK they are measuring is a secondary effect. I have a choice between Comcast and Verizon DSL. Verizon DSL is a third the price and much more reliable. And upload speed (very important to me) is faster with Verizon. But Comcast download speed is 3 times greater (actual, not promised). So I go with Verizon. AU says I'm being overcharged..... On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 9:29 PM, Tom Johnson wrote: > This is probably no surprise, but .... > > > http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/connected/story/washington-dc-broadband-speed/ > > I wonder about those Congressmen sleeping in their offices? Think they can > download movies? > > -tj > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -- Steve Ross 201-456-5933 mobile 781-284-8810 landline 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice editorsteve (Facebook) editorsteve1 (Twitter) editorsteve at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Tue Feb 22 09:43:17 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:43:17 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Sense at last ? - The Flaw in Obama's Wireless Plan " DO IT WITH FIBER " Message-ID: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_09/b4217033849315.htm ( : ( : pete -- -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Feb 24 09:35:11 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:35:11 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Native Nations Day at the FCC Message-ID: Native Nations Day at the FCC On Thursday, March 3, 2011, in conjunction with the National Congress of American Indians Executive Council Winter Session, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host ?Native Nations Day? at the FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C. This day?s events will focus directly on the issues of Tribal Nations and Native Communities. The all-day event will consist of two parts. The first is an open Commission meeting in the morning at which the five FCC Commissioners will meet to consider and vote on proceedings relating to the provision of communications services in Indian Country, including a number of issues related to the deployment of broadband, broadcast, wireless and satellite services for tribal communities. One of these items will be a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) being developed by the FCC?s Office of Native Affairs and Policy. The NOI is intended to get input from tribal leaders on a broad range of telecommunications issues. The second part of Native Nations Day, held in the afternoon, will be a listening session at which tribal leaders have the opportunity to share information and views on communications topics with FCC senior staff and invited Commissioners. What: Native Nations Day at the FCC Date: Thursday March 3, 2011 Time: 9:45 am (9:15 early arrival for security purposes) Where: FCC Headquarter, 445 12th Street SW Washington DC 20554 FCC Contact: Dan Rumelt, FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy, 202-418-7512 or Dan.Rumelt at fcc.gov ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Thu Feb 24 15:40:40 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:40:40 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Fwd: [sfx: Discuss] Fw: News from City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division In-Reply-To: <791068.50573.qm@web162015.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> References: <791068.50573.qm@web162015.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Gee, Santa Fe needs better broadband. Who would have thought? -tj ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dena Aquilina Date: Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 3:35 PM Subject: [sfx: Discuss] Fw: News from City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division To: discuss lists FYI Dena --- On *Thu, 2/24/11, City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division < info at santafebiz4biz.com>* wrote: From: City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division < info at santafebiz4biz.com> Subject: News from City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division To: dena400 at yahoo.com Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 11:15 AM Having trouble viewing this email? Click here *Dear Dena,* While we continue to sift through the many comments and responses received so far from the Roundtable event held in January, one item of interest that came up in a number of comments was the question: what is the City doing to increase the access to broadband in our community? We felt that we could address this question directly by providing some background information, current activities and next steps. The City has been and continues to work toward providing access to broadband. To date the City has commissioned a number of studies which provided a better perspective on the existing availability and pricing of broadband services in the region. The results indicate that the lack of adequate broadband infrastructure and affordable telecommunications services has inhibited our overall economic growth potential as well as placed roadblocks to our ability to provide for our public safety, health and education. The City has used these findings to seek private sector partnerships as well as funding to build a municipal broadband network, the technical specifications of which would put us in the top ten American cities for such technology.. In the past two years the City has applied to a number of private and public funding sources such as the Google Wired Cities initiatives and the federal Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP). While these efforts have so far not yielded any funding allocations, we continue to pursue other avenues, including public private partnerships through a request for proposals (RFP) process. Discussions with several potential private sector partners have been ongoing and we hope to be able to issue an RFP by early summer. Rest assured that we will not stop until we are able to find a way to fund this absolutely critical infrastructure. In the coming months we plan to have more public discussion and forums on this topic. In the meantime, if you would like more information on the City's Broadband plan, you can find it at www.sfrtc.org . *[image: New Signatures 2_24_11] * Forward email This email was sent to dena400 at yahoo.com by info at santafebiz4biz.com | Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe? | Privacy Policy . City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division | 200 Lincoln Avenue | Santa Fe | NM | 87501 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Santa Fe Complex "discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to discuss at sfcomplex.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to discuss+unsubscribe at sfcomplex.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/a/sfcomplex.org/group/discuss -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA www.analyticjournalism.com 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com ========================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Tue Mar 1 14:32:29 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:32:29 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] TEDx Simulcast: Wed. March 2 Message-ID: For those of you in the Santa Fe or Albuquerque areas, please note that there will be a live web simulcast of the TED Conference (in Long Beach, CA) taking place all day tomorrow, Wed. March 2nd, 9:30 am - 7:45 pm. in Albuquerque: www.TEDxABQ.com for location and details; and at the Santa Fe Complex, http://sfcomplex.org for location, program details and registration. Over 20 presenters during the day include many of potential interest to this list. Hope to see some of you tomorrow. RL -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From lowenberg at designnine.com Tue Mar 1 16:08:01 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 17:08:01 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] TEDx Simulcast: Wed. March 2 Message-ID: <01F5EA4A-68DB-420D-8045-42F8A5DCC803@designnine.com> Please excuse possible multiple postings; a first emailing did not get to all. RL TEDx Simulcast: Wed. March 2 For those of you in the Santa Fe or Albuquerque areas, please note that there will be a live web simulcast of the TED Conference (in Long Beach, CA) taking place all day tomorrow, Wed. March 2nd, 9:30 am - 7:45 pm. in Albuquerque: www.TEDxABQ.com for location and details; and at the Santa Fe Complex, http://sfcomplex.org for location, program details and registration. Over 20 presenters during the day include many of potential interest to this list. Hope to see some of you at the Complex tomorrow. RL ------------------------------------------- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com -------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov Fri Mar 4 11:33:19 2011 From: Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov (Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall)) Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:33:19 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FYI: RUS Community Connect Grants Message-ID: NM Broadband folks: FYI only. The USDA Rural Utility Service (RUS) announced a "Notice of solicitation of applications" for Community Connect grants. The notice and application information is attached. I've excerpted a couple points below describing the grants and some of the eligibility requirements for your convenience. If any New Mexico entities decide to apply for a Community Connect grant, please let them know that they can request a letter of support from Senator Udall (and the Congressional delegation) by contacting Laura Davidson in our office (Laura_Davidson at tomudall.senate.gov). Good luck, Kevin Kevin Cummins Office of Sen. Tom Udall ------------------------------------- Excerpts from attached NOSA: "The purpose of the Community Connect Grant Program is to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to eligible applicants that will provide currently unserved areas, on a ''community-oriented connectivity'' basis, with broadband transmission service that fosters economic growth and delivers enhanced educational, health care, and public safety services. Rural Utilities Service will give priority to rural areas that it believes have the greatest need for broadband transmission services, based on the criteria contained herein." ----------- Eligibility: "1. Only entities legally organized as one of the following are eligible for Community Connect Grant Program financial assistance: a. An incorporated organization, b. An Indian tribe or tribal organization, as defined in 25 U.S.C. 450b(b) and (c), c. A State or local unit of government, d. A cooperative, private corporation or limited liability company organized on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis. 2. Individuals are not eligible for Community Connect Grant Program financial assistance directly. 3. Applicants must have the legal capacity and authority to own and operate the broadband facilities as proposed in its application, to enter into contracts and to otherwise comply with applicable federal statutes and regulations." -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Community Connect 2011 NOSA.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 72638 bytes Desc: Community Connect 2011 NOSA.pdf URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Mon Mar 7 13:02:03 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 14:02:03 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Fwd: [NICAR-L] Come work at NPR In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: See the 2nd graf. Here's the direction the "right thinkers" are heading, so how can NM become a pilot state for this project? -tj ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Chris Amico Date: Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 1:10 PM Subject: [NICAR-L] Come work at NPR To: NICAR-L at po.missouri.edu Hi all-- NPR is hiring. Some of you might have seen the tweets from Raleigh, and I may have talked to you in person and asked you to spread the word. Specifically, we're looking for a Database Reporting Coordinator for the Impact of Government project, which I'm working on. The project will eventually put two reporters in every state, starting with eight pilot sites launching in June. The goal is to fill in some of the gaps left by shrinking statehouse bureaus, with a specific focus on policy and outcomes, with less emphasis on day-to-day politicking and decision-making. We want someone to lead a group of reporters in planning, coordinating and executing data-driven stories on beats including education, energy, the economy and politics, all at the state level. The job is based at NPR HQ in DC. If you're interested, or know someone we should be talking to, or just have questions, drop me an email (camico at npr.org). Full job description is here: http://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=216583&company_id=15859&version=1&source=ONLINE&jobOwner=992315&aid=1 Best, Chris Amico p.s. We're also looking for a site designer: http://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=216578&company_id=15859&version=1&source=ONLINE&jobOwner=992315&aid=1 -- --- www.chrisamico.com ==================================================================== To unsubscribe from NICAR-L, please send "unsubscribe NICAR-L" in the body of an e-mail message to "listserv at lists.missouri.edu". Please e-mail listmaster at ire.org if you need help or have questions. ==================================================================== -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA www.analyticjournalism.com 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com ========================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stephen.guerin at redfish.com Mon Mar 7 14:40:29 2011 From: stephen.guerin at redfish.com (Stephen Guerin) Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 15:40:29 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Fwd: [NICAR-L] Come work at NPR In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Cool, Tom! If there were a couple reporters interested, there's backup support capability at Santa Fe Complex on data analytics and visualization.... -Stephen -- --- -. . ? ..-. .. ... .... ? - .-- --- ? ..-. .. ... .... Stephen.Guerin at Redfish.com 624 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87501 office: 505.995.0206 mobile: 505.577.5828 redfish.com ?| ?sfcomplex.org? |? simtable.com? |? ambientpixel.com On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 2:02 PM, Tom Johnson wrote: > See the 2nd graf.? Here's the direction the "right thinkers" are heading, so > how can NM become a pilot state for this project? > > -tj > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Chris Amico > Date: Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 1:10 PM > Subject: [NICAR-L] Come work at NPR > To: NICAR-L at po.missouri.edu > > > Hi all-- > NPR is hiring. Some of you might have seen the tweets from Raleigh, and I > may have talked to you in person and asked you to spread the word. > Specifically, we're looking for a Database Reporting Coordinator for the > Impact of Government project, which I'm working on. The project will > eventually put two reporters in every state, starting with eight pilot sites > launching in June. The goal is to fill in some of the gaps left by shrinking > statehouse bureaus, with a specific focus on policy and outcomes, with less > emphasis on day-to-day politicking and decision-making. > We want someone to lead a group of reporters in planning, coordinating and > executing data-driven stories on beats including education, energy, the > economy and politics, all at the state level. The job is based at NPR HQ in > DC. > > If you're interested, or know someone we should be talking to, or just have > questions, drop me an email (camico at npr.org). Full job description is > here:?http://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=216583&company_id=15859&version=1&source=ONLINE&jobOwner=992315&aid=1 > Best, > Chris Amico > p.s. We're also looking for a site > designer:?http://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=216578&company_id=15859&version=1&source=ONLINE&jobOwner=992315&aid=1 > -- > --- > www.chrisamico.com > ==================================================================== To > unsubscribe from NICAR-L, please send "unsubscribe NICAR-L" in the body of > an e-mail message to "listserv at lists.missouri.edu". Please e-mail > listmaster at ire.org if you need help or have questions. > ==================================================================== > > > -- > ========================================== > J. T. Johnson > Institute for Analytic Journalism ? -- ? Santa Fe, NM USA > www.analyticjournalism.com > 505.577.6482(c)? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 505.473.9646(h) > http://www.jtjohnson.com? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ?? tom at jtjohnson.com > ========================================== > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > From Elizabeth.Kistin at nm.usda.gov Tue Mar 8 12:45:16 2011 From: Elizabeth.Kistin at nm.usda.gov (Kistin, Elizabeth - Albuquerque, NM) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 14:45:16 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] USDA Announces Broadband and Distance Learning/Telemedicine Grant Programs and e-workshop for interested applicants Message-ID: <97EAFF0B28FC96409008A2FD0690FC3471A1C3AE17@mostlouis7s304.agent.one.usda.gov> Dear colleagues, The United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service recently announced two grant opportunities in Broadband and Distance Learning and Telemedicine that could greatly benefit New Mexico communities. The Community Connect Grant Program is designed to provide financial assistance to eligible applicants that will provide currently unserved areas on a "community-oriented connectivity" basis, with broadband transmission service that fosters economic growth and delivers enhanced educational, health care and public safety services. Applications for this program are due on May 3, 2011. The Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program provides financial assistance to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas through the use of telecommunications, computer networks and related advanced technologies to be used by students, teachers, medical professionals and rural residents. Applications for this program are due on April 25, 2011. Details on eligibility, applications and funding for both grant opportunities are attached and can be located at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/RUSTelecomPrograms.html. On March 22nd, from 12:00-2:00pm MST, the Rural Utilities Service will host a Community Connect Application Workshop to discuss the application process and provide time for questions and answers. To join the workshop by phone dial 1-800-988-9407 and enter passcode: 4175260. To join by computer: https://rurdev.webex.com/rurdev/k2/j.php?ED=151760247&UID=1198213427&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D. Enter your name and email address. Enter the session password: rus. Click "Join Now" and follow the instructions on your screen. Please let me know if you have any questions about the grant opportunities. We look forward to assisting interested applicants and working together to harness resources to improve the quality of life in rural New Mexico. Additionally, please feel free to pass this information along to anyone who may be interested. Many thanks, Elizabeth --- Elizabeth Kistin, PhD Development Coordinator USDA Rural Development-NM 6200 Jefferson NE, Room 255 Albuquerque, NM 87109 Office: (505) 761-4985 Cell: (505) 379-0287 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Community Connect Grant Announcement.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 72636 bytes Desc: Community Connect Grant Announcement.pdf URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Announcment.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 80085 bytes Desc: Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Announcment.pdf URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Mar 23 12:23:59 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:23:59 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Message-ID: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLink and Qwest Communications International. As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh the potential harms. Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state territory. The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Jason.Marks at state.nm.us Wed Mar 23 13:05:54 2011 From: Jason.Marks at state.nm.us (Marks, Jason, PRC) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:05:54 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> Message-ID: I read this order a couple of days ago, and I think they (FCC) pretty much got it right. I am worried, however, that it may prefigure approval of the ATT/T-Mobile deal, justified by the imposition of regulatory conditions. Regulators often find the opportunity to "impose" regulatory conditions that would otherwise be beyond the regulator's jurisdiction to be very attractive. E.g., in Centurytel, ordering levels of DSL penetration and pricing concessions in what is supposed to be a unregulated market. (I put "impose" in quotes because I think I read that the Qwest/Centurytel conditions not just agreed to by the merging companies, they were initially proposed by them.) Vis a vis ATT/T-Mobile, I am concerned that further consolidation and market concentration in the wireless sector will prove to be harmful to consumers in the long term. Jason Marks From: Richard Lowenberg [mailto:lowenberg at designnine.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 01:23 PM To: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLink and Qwest Communications International. As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh the potential harms. Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state territory. The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Wed Mar 23 13:57:39 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:57:39 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> Message-ID: Good points Jason Every time I look at these orders for a Quality Assurance perspective I ask myself this question 1. How is this edict going to be monitored and enforced. Over many years Qwest / and before US West have been asked to provide a network map of existing ( & Future ) broadband service area and the SLA under which the services are monitored and they have steadfastly refused because they know that without this its simply a legal wrangle when they default on any promise and or commitment legally bound or not. Qwest and the Old US West had a great record for coming up with reasons that they could not keep regulated promises and lets not forget that the reason that this merger is taken place in the first place is that Qwest is nearly bankrupt due to an imploding dial-tone wire-line market This is going to get more complex with Rural broadband as the Federal ( Dept Agriculture ) money is streaming out to vendors and builders in 2010 / 11 ( often putting them in huge dept that they will have a hard time recovering from ) and the best practice regulations and how toos containing the above Network Design / Operation and SLA agreements being developed by NTIA / NIST will not be funded until 2013 You simply cannot mange what you do not measure and you cannot measure what you do not " see " and our Telcos are well aware of this. Trying to regulate the later is a lesson in futility In a better world the FCC should have said , : Fine merge anyway you like but provide at no cost every one of your users now and in the future and Ipad 2 and or Iphone with service and let Apple monitor the SLA " Now that would be fun and enforceable So Jason how about doing that for NM ( : ( : pete -- -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 2:05 PM, Marks, Jason, PRC wrote: > I read this order a couple of days ago, and I think they (FCC) pretty > much got it right. I am worried, however, that it may prefigure approval of > the ATT/T-Mobile deal, justified by the imposition of regulatory conditions. > Regulators often find the opportunity to "impose" regulatory conditions that > would otherwise be beyond the regulator's jurisdiction to be very > attractive. E.g., in Centurytel, ordering levels of DSL penetration and > pricing concessions in what is supposed to be a unregulated market. (I put > "impose" in quotes because I think I read that the Qwest/Centurytel > conditions not just agreed to by the merging companies, they were initially > proposed by them.) > > Vis a vis ATT/T-Mobile, I am concerned that further consolidation and > market concentration in the wireless sector will prove to be harmful to > consumers in the long term. > > Jason Marks > > *From*: Richard Lowenberg [mailto:lowenberg at designnine.com] > *Sent*: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 01:23 PM > *To*: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> > *Subject*: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with > conditions > > FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions > > Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM > > > http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ > > > The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLinkand Qwest > Communications International . > > As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the > risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to > its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption > program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. > > Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that > the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh > the potential harms. > > Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption > for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring > the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the > millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state > territory. > > The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at > less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the > window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the > company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and > digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an > independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From david at breeckerassociates.com Wed Mar 23 14:24:39 2011 From: david at breeckerassociates.com (David Breecker) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:24:39 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> Message-ID: <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure is? dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 www.BreeckerAssociates.com On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions > Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM > > http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ > > > The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLink and Qwest Communications International. > As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. > > Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh the potential harms. > > Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state territory. > > The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Wed Mar 23 15:14:08 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:14:08 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Message-ID: Its here from the " National "sic plan although its a future goal so dvide by year and political willpower http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/broadband_speeds_in_perspective http://www.broadband.gov/ *The U.S. National Broadband Plan sets a goal of 4 Mbps downloads (1Mbps upload) by 2020, which, by comparison is a minimum of a half-decade later and often substantially slower than other countries. The concomitant goal of 100 Mbps access for 100 million households by 2020 would cover an estimated 74-76% of the population.[25] 10 years ago, the United States was a leader in broadband penetration; however, the latest OECD ranks the U.S. 15th, behind France, Sweden, Canada, and a dozen other countries.[26]As our research clearly documents, even if the U.S. achieves its current broadband speed targets by 2020, unless it substantially raises its broadband goals, the country will remain substantially behind many other countries. * Why is this a too low Junk speed, simple speeds are measured in megabits and storage in Megabytes ( 8 bits in a byte ) so the true target for 9 years out is .5 megabyte per second down and .125 megabyte up which I am sure is what the target in the FCC and agreement plan defines although today who knows, cocombinet goal is per price fluctuaion so they wil not be giving you 100 mps / 12.5 megabytes per second at $10 a month in the future or today. The Jetsons must be laughing their heads of and thank goodness for smart wireless and Steve Jobs For those of you who are interested this is what we missed 10 years ago http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html and why the smoke and mirrors with speeds http://www.ideapete.com/megaBS.html ( : ( : pete -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:24 PM, David Breecker < david at breeckerassociates.com> wrote: > Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes > "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure > is? > > dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. > Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 > Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 > www.BreeckerAssociates.com > > > > On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > > FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions > > Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM > > > http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ > > > The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLinkand Qwest > Communications International . > > As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the > risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to > its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption > program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. > > Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that > the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh > the potential harms. > > Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption > for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring > the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the > millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state > territory. > > The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at > less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the > window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the > company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and > digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an > independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Wed Mar 23 15:34:44 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:34:44 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Message-ID: Shucks even the Kiwis are talking 100 Gig http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/alcatel_bids_110g_kiwi_fibre/ by the french no less and look whats happening in the fourth world " Valsecchi says. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan telco Kazakhtelecom recently put a 100Gbps link in the backbone network between Alma-Aty and Taldy-Kurgan." Yikes where does that leave the USA ? Nice one for Jason " Kazakhtelecom is XXXXXXXX faster than our system " ( : ( : pete On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM, peter baston wrote: > Its here from the " National "sic plan although its a future goal so dvide > by year and political willpower > > http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/broadband_speeds_in_perspective > > http://www.broadband.gov/ > > *The U.S. National Broadband Plan sets a goal of 4 Mbps downloads (1Mbps > upload) by 2020, which, by comparison is a minimum of a half-decade later > and often substantially slower than other countries. The concomitant goal of > 100 Mbps access for 100 million households by 2020 would cover an estimated > 74-76% of the population.[25] 10 > years ago, the United States was a leader in broadband penetration; however, > the latest OECD ranks the U.S. 15th, behind France, Sweden, Canada, and a > dozen other countries.[26]As our research clearly documents, even if the U.S. achieves its current > broadband speed targets by 2020, unless it substantially raises its > broadband goals, the country will remain substantially behind many other > countries. * > > Why is this a too low Junk speed, simple speeds are measured in megabits > and storage in Megabytes ( 8 bits in a byte ) so the true target for 9 years > out is .5 megabyte per second down and .125 megabyte up which I am sure is > what the target in the FCC and agreement plan defines although today who > knows, cocombinet goal is per price fluctuaion so they wil not be giving you > 100 mps / 12.5 megabytes per second at $10 a month in the future or today. > > The Jetsons must be laughing their heads of and thank goodness for smart > wireless and Steve Jobs > > For those of you who are interested this is what we missed 10 years ago > http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html and why the smoke and mirrors with > speeds http://www.ideapete.com/megaBS.html > > > ( : ( : pete > > -------------------------------------- > Pete Baston > IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence > www.ideapete.com > Cell: 303-579-6531 > Mailto:pete at ideapete.com > > > > On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:24 PM, David Breecker < > david at breeckerassociates.com> wrote: > >> Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes >> "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure >> is? >> >> dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. >> Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 >> Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 >> www.BreeckerAssociates.com >> >> >> >> On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: >> >> FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions >> >> Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM >> >> >> http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ >> >> >> The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLinkand Qwest >> Communications International . >> >> As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the >> risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to >> its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption >> program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. >> >> Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found >> that the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to >> outweigh the potential harms. >> >> Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption >> for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring >> the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the >> millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state >> territory. >> >> The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at >> less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the >> window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the >> company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and >> digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an >> independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> Richard Lowenberg >> P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 >> 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> >> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Thu Mar 24 10:08:30 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:08:30 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Message-ID: John The most important part of your email is the last piece " since economics often play a minor role in such decisions " this is were the whole view on broadband and connectivity is wrong. ( Yes i know you mean cost to service but it goes deeper ) Ill use the Kazak example. I was sent this by a friend of mine at NOAA who are major funders in many of these initiatives as environmental data collection is a billion dollar market and accuracy and dependability of data is a major issue and that why huge investment is being made in systems like this ( yes US tax dollars ) Gotta have the big backbone and then plug in the sites by any means necessary. To them the real economic model is right up front especially with ferengi experts writing checks and showing them how We always talk about the speed of the system and its size but pay little attention to the return value of what it can really do and what that means in economic returns current and in the future. You were probably present when *Deutsche Telekom* made a bid for US West and that was the model they were using which has now been picked up by other European Telcoms like Alcatel. Probably in your filing system its still around , go look at the return layer value and how they wanted to go about it. Sadly they have now been sunk in the US by smart devices like Iphones and Ipods , talking of which there was a great conference up here on smart radio which you would have loved, If you want a link let me know Metcalf's law still applies especially to the ultimate $$$$$ value of what systems can do. To understand that you have to put on your bit hat and learn what network design best practices 101, how they are designed and and how they GROW are, which I doubt many today do, certainly at the telcoms and cable companies I deal with. You are totally correct in the middle mile and the "latest rush to dooooooo something " but this again is politics with getting the money out there before you have developed a standard and practice of how to use the money and what the end result needs to be. Getting a local electrical utility to commit to 30% of its value in debt to build something they do not know how to is insanity but I am sure that problem will breed a bunch of experts which I suppose is some form of job creation. So John next time you are up on the hill ( The pajarito one ) go ask them how much they spend on environmental data collection and utilization ( and how they do it ) and what that costs them to get it right and wrong ? Then dig deeper for other uses, will not even mention parametric modeling but that again is huge $$$ return. Then think about what the transmission of this and similar data is worth. Love the Sacred Wind metaphor, Be well ( : ( : pete -- -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 9:48 AM, John Badal wrote: > Peter, > > > > Correct me if I?m wrong, but doesn?t WDM enable each strand of a fiber > route to carry an OC192, which operates at a capacity of nearly 10 Gigs? If > that?s the case, the backhaul capacity (which is what Kazakh?s system is) of > only one of our national carriers can ramp up to 1,440 Gigs. Multiply that > by the number of national and regional fiber routes commonly possessing 96 > fiber strands or 144 fiber strands, and we get a big number. The issue > really is for us, and certainly will be for the Kazakhs (except those > pillaging on horseback), how much of it will be lit and driven to the > neighborhood node to be made locally available. I think we?re witnessing > the local telcos now making a mad rush to the node in urban areas as a pure > defensive move against the Cable TV companies. > > As for rural areas, the Broadband Stimulus program largely backed the > middle mile and, I bet, a good chunk of that goes to rights of way payments. > Do we need fiber to every node in rural areas? My take is no, but I?ll let > the policymakers make that decision since economics often play a minor role > in such decisions. > > > > John > > > > *From:* 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto: > 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] *On Behalf Of *peter baston > *Sent:* Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:35 PM > *To:* David Breecker > *Cc:* Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > *Subject:* Re: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with > conditions > > > > Shucks even the Kiwis are talking 100 Gig > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/alcatel_bids_110g_kiwi_fibre/ by > the french no less and look whats happening in the fourth world > > " Valsecchi says. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan telco Kazakhtelecom recently put a > 100Gbps link in the backbone network between Alma-Aty and Taldy-Kurgan." > > Yikes where does that leave the USA ? > > Nice one for Jason " Kazakhtelecom is XXXXXXXX faster than our system " > > ( : ( : pete > > On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM, peter baston wrote: > > Its here from the " National "sic plan although its a future goal so dvide > by year and political willpower > > http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/broadband_speeds_in_perspective > > http://www.broadband.gov/ > > *The U.S. National Broadband Plan sets a goal of 4 Mbps downloads (1Mbps > upload) by 2020, which, by comparison is a minimum of a half-decade later > and often substantially slower than other countries. The concomitant goal of > 100 Mbps access for 100 million households by 2020 would cover an estimated > 74-76% of the population.[25] 10 > years ago, the United States was a leader in broadband penetration; however, > the latest OECD ranks the U.S. 15th, behind France, Sweden, Canada, and a > dozen other countries.[26]As our research clearly documents, even if the U.S. achieves its current > broadband speed targets by 2020, unless it substantially raises its > broadband goals, the country will remain substantially behind many other > countries. * > > Why is this a too low Junk speed, simple speeds are measured in megabits > and storage in Megabytes ( 8 bits in a byte ) so the true target for 9 years > out is .5 megabyte per second down and .125 megabyte up which I am sure is > what the target in the FCC and agreement plan defines although today who > knows, cocombinet goal is per price fluctuaion so they wil not be giving you > 100 mps / 12.5 megabytes per second at $10 a month in the future or today. > > The Jetsons must be laughing their heads of and thank goodness for smart > wireless and Steve Jobs > > For those of you who are interested this is what we missed 10 years ago > http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html and why the smoke and mirrors with > speeds http://www.ideapete.com/megaBS.html > > > > ( : ( : pete > > -------------------------------------- > Pete Baston > IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence > www.ideapete.com > Cell: 303-579-6531 > Mailto:pete at ideapete.com > > > On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:24 PM, David Breecker < > david at breeckerassociates.com> wrote: > > Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes > "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure > is? > > > > dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. > > Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 > > Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 > > www.BreeckerAssociates.com > > > > > > > > On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > > > > *FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions* > > Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM > > > http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ > > > > > The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLinkand Qwest > Communications International . > > As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the > risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to > its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption > program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. > > Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that > the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh > the potential harms. > > Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption > for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring > the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the > millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state > territory. > > The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at > less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the > window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the > company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and > digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an > independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbadal at sacred-wind.com Thu Mar 24 08:48:45 2011 From: jbadal at sacred-wind.com (John Badal) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 08:48:45 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Message-ID: Peter, Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't WDM enable each strand of a fiber route to carry an OC192, which operates at a capacity of nearly 10 Gigs? If that's the case, the backhaul capacity (which is what Kazakh's system is) of only one of our national carriers can ramp up to 1,440 Gigs. Multiply that by the number of national and regional fiber routes commonly possessing 96 fiber strands or 144 fiber strands, and we get a big number. The issue really is for us, and certainly will be for the Kazakhs (except those pillaging on horseback), how much of it will be lit and driven to the neighborhood node to be made locally available. I think we're witnessing the local telcos now making a mad rush to the node in urban areas as a pure defensive move against the Cable TV companies. As for rural areas, the Broadband Stimulus program largely backed the middle mile and, I bet, a good chunk of that goes to rights of way payments. Do we need fiber to every node in rural areas? My take is no, but I'll let the policymakers make that decision since economics often play a minor role in such decisions. John From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of peter baston Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:35 PM To: David Breecker Cc: Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Shucks even the Kiwis are talking 100 Gig http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/alcatel_bids_110g_kiwi_fibre/ by the french no less and look whats happening in the fourth world " Valsecchi says. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan telco Kazakhtelecom recently put a 100Gbps link in the backbone network between Alma-Aty and Taldy-Kurgan." Yikes where does that leave the USA ? Nice one for Jason " Kazakhtelecom is XXXXXXXX faster than our system " ( : ( : pete On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM, peter baston > wrote: Its here from the " National "sic plan although its a future goal so dvide by year and political willpower http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/broadband_speeds_in_perspective http://www.broadband.gov/ The U.S. National Broadband Plan sets a goal of 4 Mbps downloads (1Mbps upload) by 2020, which, by comparison is a minimum of a half-decade later and often substantially slower than other countries. The concomitant goal of 100 Mbps access for 100 million households by 2020 would cover an estimated 74-76% of the population.[25] 10 years ago, the United States was a leader in broadband penetration; however, the latest OECD ranks the U.S. 15th, behind France, Sweden, Canada, and a dozen other countries.[26] As our research clearly documents, even if the U.S. achieves its current broadband speed targets by 2020, unless it substantially raises its broadband goals, the country will remain substantially behind many other countries. Why is this a too low Junk speed, simple speeds are measured in megabits and storage in Megabytes ( 8 bits in a byte ) so the true target for 9 years out is .5 megabyte per second down and .125 megabyte up which I am sure is what the target in the FCC and agreement plan defines although today who knows, cocombinet goal is per price fluctuaion so they wil not be giving you 100 mps / 12.5 megabytes per second at $10 a month in the future or today. The Jetsons must be laughing their heads of and thank goodness for smart wireless and Steve Jobs For those of you who are interested this is what we missed 10 years ago http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html and why the smoke and mirrors with speeds http://www.ideapete.com/megaBS.html ( : ( : pete -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:24 PM, David Breecker > wrote: Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure is? dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 www.BreeckerAssociates.com On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLink and Qwest Communications International. As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. Based on the companies' agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh the potential harms. Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the millions of low-income consumers in the combined company's 37-state territory. The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an independent analysis of the program's effectiveness. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbadal at sacred-wind.com Thu Mar 24 10:31:52 2011 From: jbadal at sacred-wind.com (John Badal) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:31:52 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Message-ID: Thanks, Peter. You're right on so many fronts. I was not around, though, when Deutsche Telekom bid on US West - fortunately, for I've always been a fan of local ownership and local self determination. John From: peter baston [mailto:pete at ideapete.com] Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 10:09 AM To: John Badal Cc: David Breecker; Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions John The most important part of your email is the last piece " since economics often play a minor role in such decisions " this is were the whole view on broadband and connectivity is wrong. ( Yes i know you mean cost to service but it goes deeper ) Ill use the Kazak example. I was sent this by a friend of mine at NOAA who are major funders in many of these initiatives as environmental data collection is a billion dollar market and accuracy and dependability of data is a major issue and that why huge investment is being made in systems like this ( yes US tax dollars ) Gotta have the big backbone and then plug in the sites by any means necessary. To them the real economic model is right up front especially with ferengi experts writing checks and showing them how We always talk about the speed of the system and its size but pay little attention to the return value of what it can really do and what that means in economic returns current and in the future. You were probably present when Deutsche Telekom made a bid for US West and that was the model they were using which has now been picked up by other European Telcoms like Alcatel. Probably in your filing system its still around , go look at the return layer value and how they wanted to go about it. Sadly they have now been sunk in the US by smart devices like Iphones and Ipods , talking of which there was a great conference up here on smart radio which you would have loved, If you want a link let me know Metcalf's law still applies especially to the ultimate $$$$$ value of what systems can do. To understand that you have to put on your bit hat and learn what network design best practices 101, how they are designed and and how they GROW are, which I doubt many today do, certainly at the telcoms and cable companies I deal with. You are totally correct in the middle mile and the "latest rush to dooooooo something " but this again is politics with getting the money out there before you have developed a standard and practice of how to use the money and what the end result needs to be. Getting a local electrical utility to commit to 30% of its value in debt to build something they do not know how to is insanity but I am sure that problem will breed a bunch of experts which I suppose is some form of job creation. So John next time you are up on the hill ( The pajarito one ) go ask them how much they spend on environmental data collection and utilization ( and how they do it ) and what that costs them to get it right and wrong ? Then dig deeper for other uses, will not even mention parametric modeling but that again is huge $$$ return. Then think about what the transmission of this and similar data is worth. Love the Sacred Wind metaphor, Be well ( : ( : pete -- -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 9:48 AM, John Badal > wrote: Peter, Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't WDM enable each strand of a fiber route to carry an OC192, which operates at a capacity of nearly 10 Gigs? If that's the case, the backhaul capacity (which is what Kazakh's system is) of only one of our national carriers can ramp up to 1,440 Gigs. Multiply that by the number of national and regional fiber routes commonly possessing 96 fiber strands or 144 fiber strands, and we get a big number. The issue really is for us, and certainly will be for the Kazakhs (except those pillaging on horseback), how much of it will be lit and driven to the neighborhood node to be made locally available. I think we're witnessing the local telcos now making a mad rush to the node in urban areas as a pure defensive move against the Cable TV companies. As for rural areas, the Broadband Stimulus program largely backed the middle mile and, I bet, a good chunk of that goes to rights of way payments. Do we need fiber to every node in rural areas? My take is no, but I'll let the policymakers make that decision since economics often play a minor role in such decisions. John From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of peter baston Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:35 PM To: David Breecker Cc: Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Shucks even the Kiwis are talking 100 Gig http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/alcatel_bids_110g_kiwi_fibre/ by the french no less and look whats happening in the fourth world " Valsecchi says. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan telco Kazakhtelecom recently put a 100Gbps link in the backbone network between Alma-Aty and Taldy-Kurgan." Yikes where does that leave the USA ? Nice one for Jason " Kazakhtelecom is XXXXXXXX faster than our system " ( : ( : pete On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM, peter baston > wrote: Its here from the " National "sic plan although its a future goal so dvide by year and political willpower http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/broadband_speeds_in_perspective http://www.broadband.gov/ The U.S. National Broadband Plan sets a goal of 4 Mbps downloads (1Mbps upload) by 2020, which, by comparison is a minimum of a half-decade later and often substantially slower than other countries. The concomitant goal of 100 Mbps access for 100 million households by 2020 would cover an estimated 74-76% of the population.[25] 10 years ago, the United States was a leader in broadband penetration; however, the latest OECD ranks the U.S. 15th, behind France, Sweden, Canada, and a dozen other countries.[26] As our research clearly documents, even if the U.S. achieves its current broadband speed targets by 2020, unless it substantially raises its broadband goals, the country will remain substantially behind many other countries. Why is this a too low Junk speed, simple speeds are measured in megabits and storage in Megabytes ( 8 bits in a byte ) so the true target for 9 years out is .5 megabyte per second down and .125 megabyte up which I am sure is what the target in the FCC and agreement plan defines although today who knows, cocombinet goal is per price fluctuaion so they wil not be giving you 100 mps / 12.5 megabytes per second at $10 a month in the future or today. The Jetsons must be laughing their heads of and thank goodness for smart wireless and Steve Jobs For those of you who are interested this is what we missed 10 years ago http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html and why the smoke and mirrors with speeds http://www.ideapete.com/megaBS.html ( : ( : pete -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:24 PM, David Breecker > wrote: Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure is? dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 www.BreeckerAssociates.com On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLink and Qwest Communications International. As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. Based on the companies' agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh the potential harms. Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the millions of low-income consumers in the combined company's 37-state territory. The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an independent analysis of the program's effectiveness. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Mar 24 13:23:49 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:23:49 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] From Kevin Cummins Message-ID: <34DC61A2-A82C-4C39-857E-43FB3FDFBAE2@designnine.com> From: "Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall)" Date: March 24, 2011 1:50:45 PM MDT To: "1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org" <1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org> Subject: USDA Rural Development Broadband Loan Program Workshop in Denver 4/20 - 4/21 1st Milers: Attached is a flyer announcing the RUS Broadband Loan Program applicant Workshop on April 20-21, 2011, in Denver, CO. This may not be useful for all on this list, but I wanted to be sure those concerned are aware of it. Cheers! --Kevin ---- > From the attached flyer: USDA Rural Development Broadband Workshop April 20-21, 2011 Sheraton Downtown Hotel 1550 Court Place Denver, Colorado Please join us to learn more about how to apply for Rural Development's broadband programs. On March 14, 2011, Rural Development published its new Broadband loan program regulations and a Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA - available at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_farmbill.html). Rural Development also recently announced a NOSA for the Community Connect Grant Program (available at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_commconnect.html). Rural Development Broadband Division staff will offer a workshop for prospective applicants for both programs at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel, Denver, Colorado on April 20 and April 21, 2011. The workshop is free; however prior registration is required. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: USDABroadbandWorkshopFlyer.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 110655 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: BBreg Web final.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 209618 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Thu Mar 24 14:05:30 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:05:30 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions In-Reply-To: References: <7D163F38-CC91-44FE-9199-D630EF61454E@designnine.com> <4A44FEAA-71E2-46AE-B969-DD23E3C02D9C@breeckerassociates.com> Message-ID: Then its interesting to look at the basis of how DT arrived at the conclusion that US West would be a good fit and how they would make money where no one else saw it. Regarding the local connection (pun ) the project moto was American Einfallsreichtum und deutscher Pr?zision which basically means American ingenuity and German Precision and they meant it and naturally AIGP T shirts are still around. They also figured with regulatory hurdles they faced in their other markets it was a top growth priority, little did they understand the local pols What was so different about the business model, well the understanding of a node value for one thing The model layout classified operational nodes in a network of a - b - c with a = Value x 5 b = Value x 3 and c = Value x 1 Value was the economic return of the type of servicers the node used to the customer of the node. Now here is where it gets interesting , Metcalf's law ML ( *the network value grows exponentially as the network accumulates more users. *) whose inventor Bob M developed the Ethernet and its protocols is often attributed to device compatibility in groupnets but the true engineering data behind ML was node value exponential value and how Ethernet mutipoint networking did it better. Most telecoms companies ( and Cable ) utilize today from their basic design a backbone , hub and spoke design ( HS ) for short which is very similar to the Token ring development of early IBM networks which Ethernet in the end outperformed and drove to extinction ( Except in the UN and IAEA which should say something ) . What DT found is that true ML also applies to the value of the services the node is using and that type of value has a distinct relationship to the expansion value and that value is far higher with true Ethernet ( 5 squared ) . Also the creation of a basic type (a) node is approx 1000 times less that the service value and any additional node that the type ( a ) breeds diminishes by a further factor of 5 ie: Node Type ( a ) grow 5 times faster than Node type ( c ) and the value of the services grows and expands accordingly. Its interesting to note who understands this model very well today , Google and Apple. I wouldn't be to worried about where cable ends up as they just had different cash cows ( Movies ) to support expansion where as most telcoms had dial tone which is now a dying species. Cable does not understand network design or best practices and I can tell you from interaction they barely grasp the true meaning of functional efficient management with IPV4 and the un-managed tunnels in IPV6 will be way beyond their grasp. Simple logic is that cash cows make a company inherently lazy, nothing wrong with that but ! Most of our conversation at all levels today is about the basic right to type ( c) connection speed or less and I doubt ( chime in please telcos / cables if I am wrong ) that most companies in this industry cannot define and understand the true value of Node Type (a) ( b ) ( c) . FYI a standard Voip / Video / IP user is a type (c) customer not a type ( a ) Goverment should understand that type (a) nodes provide 5 times the total economic return of lesser nodes and that again increase exponentially. DTs model was all about understanding and developing the node types , and converting users up the scale accordingly. To understand types you have to understand the service value not only to the node user but the business and services that that node deals with. ie, environmental risk and insurance risk profile analysis using parametric design and interaction is a trillion dollar business poorly served, there are many many more. ( we are working on a project Nimrod for a major re-insurer with some phenomenal potential ) At a recent conference in Boulder another fascinating topic arose ( This was from worldwide participation all the top telcos etc ) in that the conclusion was that most large telcos and cable cos had missed the boat by not providing services that the customer wanted and as a result a whole new generation of devices had sprouted up allowing the customer to carry his complete service device anywhere and to any connection he / she wanted. The topic was smart radio but what they meant was smart device period. url here if you want to dig further - http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/isart/art10/slides_and_videos10/ Another interesting fact came outa that conference is that of total worldwide spectrum the average usage is around 2% of capacity at peak. The devices that are blowing the windows of most connectivity plans are of course from Apple with the Ipad and Iphone and Goggle with Android devices and it layered services. Go look at what it forced ATT to do with true network expansion ( both fiber and wireless ) and who now controls the industry and service model. Its also worth noting that the upper limits of the speed and service types are as yet unknown and you will find that at every tech conference no mater how sophisticated the layout of the services installed, demand is always two to three times ahead and that at any cost. I think this can be attributed to Steve Jobs when he asked his team how do we create type ( a ) users really fast and they replied " Give them affordable type ( a) service capable devices and like the famous star-trek responses the boss said " make it so " and they did , the nimble team at Goggle are following much the same path Lots more here but for those of you who want to follow the DT story more http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html ( forgive the Patrick Henry pun I could not resist ) and if anyone at Qwest has the full DT - US West merger plan please post it on line, some great stuff in it. Declaration statement : I was involved with the AIGP project at many levels mostly with regard to systems engineering QA due diligence. ( : ( : pete On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 11:31 AM, John Badal wrote: > Thanks, Peter. You?re right on so many fronts. I was not around, though, > when Deutsche Telekom bid on US West ? fortunately, for I?ve always been a > fan of local ownership and local self determination. > > > > John > > > > *From:* peter baston [mailto:pete at ideapete.com] > *Sent:* Thursday, March 24, 2011 10:09 AM > *To:* John Badal > *Cc:* David Breecker; Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > > *Subject:* Re: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with > conditions > > > > John > > The most important part of your email is the last piece " since economics > often play a minor role in such decisions " this is were the whole view on > broadband and connectivity is wrong. ( Yes i know you mean cost to service > but it goes deeper ) > > Ill use the Kazak example. I was sent this by a friend of mine at NOAA who > are major funders in many of these initiatives as environmental data > collection is a billion dollar market and accuracy and dependability of data > is a major issue and that why huge investment is being made in systems like > this ( yes US tax dollars ) Gotta have the big backbone and then plug in > the sites by any means necessary. To them the real economic model is right > up front especially with ferengi experts writing checks and showing them how > > We always talk about the speed of the system and its size but pay little > attention to the return value of what it can really do and what that means > in economic returns current and in the future. > > You were probably present when *Deutsche Telekom* made a bid for US West > and that was the model they were using which has now been picked up by other > European Telcoms like Alcatel. Probably in your filing system its still > around , go look at the return layer value and how they wanted to go about > it. Sadly they have now been sunk in the US by smart devices like Iphones > and Ipods , talking of which there was a great conference up here on smart > radio which you would have loved, If you want a link let me know > > Metcalf's law still applies especially to the ultimate $$$$$ value of what > systems can do. > > To understand that you have to put on your bit hat and learn what network > design best practices 101, how they are designed and and how they GROW are, > which I doubt many today do, certainly at the telcoms and cable companies I > deal with. > > You are totally correct in the middle mile and the "latest rush to dooooooo > something " but this again is politics with getting the money out there > before you have developed a standard and practice of how to use the money > and what the end result needs to be. Getting a local electrical utility to > commit to 30% of its value in debt to build something they do not know how > to is insanity but I am sure that problem will breed a bunch of experts > which I suppose is some form of job creation. > > So John next time you are up on the hill ( The pajarito one ) go ask them > how much they spend on environmental data collection and utilization ( and > how they do it ) and what that costs them to get it right and wrong ? Then > dig deeper for other uses, will not even mention parametric modeling but > that again is huge $$$ return. > > Then think about what the transmission of this and similar data is worth. > > Love the Sacred Wind metaphor, > > Be well > > ( : ( : pete > > -- > -------------------------------------- > Pete Baston > IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence > www.ideapete.com > Cell: 303-579-6531 > Mailto:pete at ideapete.com > > On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 9:48 AM, John Badal > wrote: > > Peter, > > > > Correct me if I?m wrong, but doesn?t WDM enable each strand of a fiber > route to carry an OC192, which operates at a capacity of nearly 10 Gigs? If > that?s the case, the backhaul capacity (which is what Kazakh?s system is) of > only one of our national carriers can ramp up to 1,440 Gigs. Multiply that > by the number of national and regional fiber routes commonly possessing 96 > fiber strands or 144 fiber strands, and we get a big number. The issue > really is for us, and certainly will be for the Kazakhs (except those > pillaging on horseback), how much of it will be lit and driven to the > neighborhood node to be made locally available. I think we?re witnessing > the local telcos now making a mad rush to the node in urban areas as a pure > defensive move against the Cable TV companies. > > As for rural areas, the Broadband Stimulus program largely backed the > middle mile and, I bet, a good chunk of that goes to rights of way payments. > Do we need fiber to every node in rural areas? My take is no, but I?ll let > the policymakers make that decision since economics often play a minor role > in such decisions. > > > > John > > > > *From:* 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto: > 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] *On Behalf Of *peter baston > *Sent:* Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:35 PM > *To:* David Breecker > *Cc:* Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > *Subject:* Re: [1st-mile-nm] FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with > conditions > > > > Shucks even the Kiwis are talking 100 Gig > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/alcatel_bids_110g_kiwi_fibre/ by > the french no less and look whats happening in the fourth world > > " Valsecchi says. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan telco Kazakhtelecom recently put a > 100Gbps link in the backbone network between Alma-Aty and Taldy-Kurgan." > > Yikes where does that leave the USA ? > > Nice one for Jason " Kazakhtelecom is XXXXXXXX faster than our system " > > ( : ( : pete > > On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM, peter baston wrote: > > Its here from the " National "sic plan although its a future goal so dvide > by year and political willpower > > http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/broadband_speeds_in_perspective > > http://www.broadband.gov/ > > *The U.S. National Broadband Plan sets a goal of 4 Mbps downloads (1Mbps > upload) by 2020, which, by comparison is a minimum of a half-decade later > and often substantially slower than other countries. The concomitant goal of > 100 Mbps access for 100 million households by 2020 would cover an estimated > 74-76% of the population.[25] 10 > years ago, the United States was a leader in broadband penetration; however, > the latest OECD ranks the U.S. 15th, behind France, Sweden, Canada, and a > dozen other countries.[26]As our research clearly documents, even if the U.S. achieves its current > broadband speed targets by 2020, unless it substantially raises its > broadband goals, the country will remain substantially behind many other > countries. * > > Why is this a too low Junk speed, simple speeds are measured in megabits > and storage in Megabytes ( 8 bits in a byte ) so the true target for 9 years > out is .5 megabyte per second down and .125 megabyte up which I am sure is > what the target in the FCC and agreement plan defines although today who > knows, cocombinet goal is per price fluctuaion so they wil not be giving you > 100 mps / 12.5 megabytes per second at $10 a month in the future or today. > > The Jetsons must be laughing their heads of and thank goodness for smart > wireless and Steve Jobs > > For those of you who are interested this is what we missed 10 years ago > http://www.ideapete.com/leapfrog.html and why the smoke and mirrors with > speeds http://www.ideapete.com/megaBS.html > > > > ( : ( : pete > > -------------------------------------- > Pete Baston > IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence > www.ideapete.com > Cell: 303-579-6531 > Mailto:pete at ideapete.com > > On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:24 PM, David Breecker < > david at breeckerassociates.com> wrote: > > Does this rely on a standard FCC definition of what constitutes > "broadband"? And would someone please remind me of what that too-low figure > is? > > > > dba | David Breecker Associates, Inc. > > Santa Fe: 505-690-2335 > > Abiquiu: 505-685-4891 > > www.BreeckerAssociates.com > > > > > > > > On Mar 23, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > > > > *FCC approves CenturyLink, Qwest merger with conditions* > > Mar 23, 2011 12:02 PM > > > http://broadcastengineering.com/news/fcc-approves-centurylink-qwest-merger-with-conditions-20110323/ > > > > > The FCC approved the merger March 18 of CenturyLinkand Qwest > Communications International . > > As a condition of the approval, the FCC imposed protections against the > risk of harm to competition and ensured the merged entity will live up to > its commitments to expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption > program for low-income consumers, an FCC statement said. > > Based on the companies? agreement to certain conditions, the FCC found that > the potential public interest benefits of the merger are likely to outweigh > the potential harms. > > Among the conditions for approval were steps to improve broadband adoption > for low-income households. Specifically, the conditions include requiring > the launch of a major broadband adoption program focused on connecting the > millions of low-income consumers in the combined company?s 37-state > territory. > > The company also must offer qualifying households broadband starting at > less than $10 per month and a computer for less than $150 and keep the > window open for five years for qualifying consumers to sign up. And, the > company must make a significant annual commitment to marketing, outreach and > digital literacy training and include detailed reporting on outcomes and an > independent analysis of the program?s effectiveness. > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Thu Mar 24 13:40:58 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:40:58 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] SUBSCRIBE Message-ID: subscribe From jdmenapace at comcast.net Fri Mar 25 08:43:30 2011 From: jdmenapace at comcast.net (Joseph D Menapace) Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:43:30 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] subscibe Message-ID: <003e01cbeb03$649c8680$2dd59380$@comcast.net> Joseph D. Menapace, Ph.D. Menapace Government Relations 4 Wide Ruin Ct. Placitas, NM 87043-8853 505-867-5052 Office 505-771-2914 Fax 505-690-0555 Mobile -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Sun Mar 27 00:23:31 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:23:31 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] municipal broadband In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: An interesting summary of where media companies have trumped public governance in community broadband: http://www.muninetworks.org/content/community-broadband-preemption-map marcos -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Santa Fe Complex "discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to discuss at sfcomplex.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to discuss+unsubscribe at sfcomplex.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/a/sfcomplex.org/group/discuss -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA www.analyticjournalism.com 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com ========================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Tue Mar 29 12:15:37 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:15:37 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FW: AT&T history map Message-ID: Thought folks might find this interesting. Shows the deal making and flow of telecom companies in the US -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: attmap03282011.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 215902 bytes Desc: attmap03282011.jpg URL: From pete at ideapete.com Tue Mar 29 13:56:08 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:56:08 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FW: AT&T history map In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks John / excellent clarity , the next 10 years should, as the Chinese say " live in interesting times " ( : ( : pete - -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 1:15 PM, John Brown wrote: > Thought folks might find this interesting. > > Shows the deal making and flow of telecom companies in the US > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Bill at Feiereisen.Net Tue Mar 29 14:26:23 2011 From: Bill at Feiereisen.Net (Bill Feiereisen) Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:26:23 -0400 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe Message-ID: I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local mobile companies. On my last trip, last year, my only data access, other than local wifi, was on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data package with unlimited data for about $20/month. In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB (gone in a flash). This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data access at all. Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between the American providers and their European counterparts? Or is something else going on? What kind of behavior are they trying to incentivize by these changes? Is this somehow analogous to the American service provider changes that limit data plans in response to increased demand on American networks? ...Bill -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov Wed Mar 30 08:52:06 2011 From: Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov (Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall)) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:52:06 -0400 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Google Fiber for Communities Award announcement In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: To all, The Google "Fiber for Communities" award announcement will be made shortly. (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/) Thanks again for everyone in the state who supported their local communities' applications. There were some strong applications from New Mexico that I hope can find other sources of support if they are not selected. I know Senator Udall had fun supporting Think BIG Farmington's application with an online video he did with Rep. Lujan. There's a lot of work still to be done improving broadband infrastructure and adoption across the state, so feel free to let me know how our office can be of assistance with your efforts moving forward. Best, Kevin Kevin Cummins Office of Sen. Tom Udall -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov Wed Mar 30 09:48:08 2011 From: Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov (Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall)) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:48:08 -0400 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Google Fiber for Communities Award announcement In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: And the winner is... Kansas City. See http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/03/google-picks-kansas-city-for-ultra-high-speed-network/1 or the Google statement. --Kevin Kevin Cummins Office of Sen. Tom Udall From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces+kevin_cummins=tomudall.senate.gov at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces+kevin_cummins=tomudall.senate.gov at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall) Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 11:52 AM To: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Google Fiber for Communities Award announcement To all, The Google "Fiber for Communities" award announcement will be made shortly. (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/) Thanks again for everyone in the state who supported their local communities' applications. There were some strong applications from New Mexico that I hope can find other sources of support if they are not selected. I know Senator Udall had fun supporting Think BIG Farmington's application with an online video he did with Rep. Lujan. There's a lot of work still to be done improving broadband infrastructure and adoption across the state, so feel free to let me know how our office can be of assistance with your efforts moving forward. Best, Kevin Kevin Cummins Office of Sen. Tom Udall -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Mar 30 11:14:27 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:14:27 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Kansas City, Kansas Message-ID: <78AD9F8B-05A1-48C2-875C-8A40CEA32869@designnine.com> The Google announcement: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/ultra-high-speed-broadband-is-coming-to.html This is the city of Kansas City, KS, across the river from the larger Kansas City, MO. RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ Senior Broadband Planner Design Nine, Inc. lowenberg at designnine.com www.designnine.com Design Nine provides visionary broadband architecture and engineering services, telecommunications master planning, and broadband project management. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradbury at recursos.org Fri Apr 1 09:22:11 2011 From: bradbury at recursos.org (Ellen Bradbury Reid) Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:22:11 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe AND MEXICO In-Reply-To: Message-ID: More Verison phone outrage. We are in Mexico where we have a second home. In September we spent a month here and came back to a huge Verison bill. Before we left for Mexico in September for a month I had asked Verison what would be their best Mexico plan, and after a long conversation we choose the one they recommended. When we got home the Verison bill was gigantic, over $1000. We protested and they cut it in half, but apparently never applied the credit. They do not confirm their deals. So we have their word against ours. Meanwhile we continued paying bills that seemed high but normal for Verison. Suddenly last week, while we are back in Mexico, we got a phone message from Verison saying that they are cutting off our service because of an unpaid bill. We could not get Verison on the phone, it was after hours, (I thought you could get Verison anytime) so we paid some part electronically. We are in and out of service areas, not an uncommon phenomena in rural Mexico and the way numbers show up here you cant tell if they tried to call us before cutting us off. When we called Verison, the recordings told us three different amounts that we had to pay before being cut off. We could not get a person. We are not using the Blackberry or the Droid for data, we are using ipad and computer, so the data charges should be very small. We have a Mexican phone for local calls. This trip we signed up for a plan that gives us 8 gig data download for $60. That is really expensive, but not as bad as paying for downloads without a plan. We actually download very infrequently on our phones. We have a friend who came back from Mexico with a $1000 AT&T iphone bill which they waved most of . What is going on? Don?t suppose they feel guilty. Are they getting screamed at a lot? Ellen -- Ellen Bradbury-Reid Recursos de Santa Fe 8o5 Early Street, suite 205c Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 phone 505-577-9659 fax 505-982-7125 on 3/29/11 3:26 PM, Bill Feiereisen at Bill at Feiereisen.Net wrote: > I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the > exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out between > my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local mobile > companies.? > > On my last trip, last year, my only data access, other than local wifi, was on > my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data package > with unlimited data for about $20/month.? > > In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and was > hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon told me > that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of data to the > smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the phone and the > hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB (gone in a flash). > This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data > access at all. > > Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so > punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between the American > providers and their European counterparts? Or is something else going on? What > kind of behavior are they trying to incentivize by these changes? Is this > somehow analogous to the American service provider changes that limit data > plans in response to increased demand on American networks? > > ...Bill > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cstevenlucero at latingroupllc.com Fri Apr 1 14:24:45 2011 From: cstevenlucero at latingroupllc.com (C Steven Lucero) Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 15:24:45 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe AND MEXICO In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Verizon's Nationwide PLUS Mexico is a voice minutes only service. Additional data rates apply. However, the bill was so large NOT becuase of Verizon, but becuase of Telmex (Telcel/America Movil) - Carlos Slim's company. They charge the most expensive data rates/minute in the World. The data roaming charges is more than likely what you were billed for, even though Verizon's plan says they are not billed. OR worse, the Mexican provider was Iusacell, which declared bankruptcy last year and is charging even more outrageous Int'l Roaming fees. There is a rumor that Verizon, for the third time in 7 years, is going to cancel the Nationwide PLUS Mexico plan. If so, AT&T and Cingular have one as well. But data will be similarly expensive. I have the Verizon plan w/Blackberry and do not get billed more than what I pay as a fixed per month fee, nor for web access on my BlackBerry. C. Steven Lucero President LatinGroup LLC (505) 217-9212 US Office (52) 55 5351 4922 Mexico Office CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained herein is considered as trade secret, and therefore is privileged and confidential. It is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, please reply this e-mail to sender or call (505) 217-9212, and delete or destroy all copies of this message including its attachments. The reader is hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this message is strictly prohibited. On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 10:22 AM, Ellen Bradbury Reid wrote: > More Verison phone outrage. We are in Mexico where we have a second > home. > > In September we spent a month here and came back to a huge Verison bill. > Before we left for Mexico in September for a month I had asked Verison what > would be their best Mexico plan, and after a long conversation we choose the > one they recommended. When we got home the Verison bill was gigantic, over > $1000. We protested and they cut it in half, but apparently never applied > the credit. They do not confirm their deals. So we have their word against > ours. Meanwhile we continued paying bills that seemed high but normal for > Verison. > > Suddenly last week, while we are back in Mexico, we got a phone message > from Verison saying that they are cutting off our service because of an > unpaid bill. We could not get Verison on the phone, it was after hours, (I > thought you could get Verison anytime) so we paid some part electronically. > We are in and out of service areas, not an uncommon phenomena in rural > Mexico and the way numbers show up here you cant tell if they tried to call > us before cutting us off. When we called Verison, the recordings told us > three different amounts that we had to pay before being cut off. We could > not get a person. > > We are not using the Blackberry or the Droid for data, we are using ipad > and computer, so the data charges should be very small. We have a Mexican > phone for local calls. > > This trip we signed up for a plan that gives us 8 gig data download for > $60. That is really expensive, but not as bad as paying for downloads > without a plan. We actually download very infrequently on our phones. > > We have a friend who came back from Mexico with a $1000 AT&T iphone bill > which they waved most of . > > What is going on? Don?t suppose they feel guilty. Are they getting > screamed at a lot? > > Ellen > > > -- > Ellen Bradbury-Reid > Recursos de Santa Fe > 8o5 Early Street, suite 205c > Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 > phone 505-577-9659 > fax 505-982-7125 > > > > > on 3/29/11 3:26 PM, Bill Feiereisen at Bill at Feiereisen.Net wrote: > > I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the > exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out > between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local > mobile companies. > > On my last trip, last year, my only data access, other than local wifi, was > on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data > package with unlimited data for about $20/month. > > In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and > was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon > told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of > data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the > phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB (gone > in a flash). This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy > the data access at all. > > Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so > punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between the American > providers and their European counterparts? Or is something else going on? > What kind of behavior are they trying to incentivize by these changes? Is > this somehow analogous to the American service provider changes that limit > data plans in response to increased demand on American networks? > > ...Bill > > ------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pete at ideapete.com Sat Apr 2 11:58:52 2011 From: pete at ideapete.com (peter baston) Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 12:58:52 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Another Rural Broadband suffers major setback in Northern NM Message-ID: http://www.taosfriction.com -- -------------------------------------- Pete Baston IDEAS "I" Quality Assurance - Due Diligence www.ideapete.com Cell: 303-579-6531 Mailto:pete at ideapete.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Elizabeth.Kistin at nm.usda.gov Mon Apr 4 12:43:59 2011 From: Elizabeth.Kistin at nm.usda.gov (Kistin, Elizabeth - Albuquerque, NM) Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2011 14:43:59 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] USDA Broadband Workshop, April 20-21 in Denver, CO Message-ID: <97EAFF0B28FC96409008A2FD0690FC3471B1235EE9@mostlouis7s304.agent.one.usda.gov> USDA Rural Development is hosting a Broadband Workshop in Denver, CO on April 20th and 21st. The workshop will be geared to those interested in applying for the Broadband Loan Program (http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_farmbill.html) and the Community Connect Grant Program (http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utp_commconnect.html) The Workshop is free; however prior registration is required. See below and attached for registration instructions. For those who are interested but can't make it to Denver in April the workshop will be recorded and made available on our website at a later date. Registration information can be found at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/RUSTelecomPrograms.html For more information, contact Jenifer Stevenson at Jenifer.Stevenson at wdc.usda.gov or 202-205-9386 --- Elizabeth Kistin, PhD Development Coordinator USDA Rural Development-NM 6200 Jefferson NE, Room 255 Albuquerque, NM 87109 Office: (505) 761-4985 Cell: (505) 379-0287 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: USDA April 20-21 Broadband Workshop Flyer.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 110667 bytes Desc: USDA April 20-21 Broadband Workshop Flyer.pdf URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Tue Apr 5 11:50:53 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 12:50:53 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Navajo-Commnet Broadband Venture Message-ID: <8F81F56C-ABBD-421A-A349-C635C97254C7@designnine.com> Yesterday, the Navajo Nation and Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) proudly announced an agreement to acquire majority interest in Commnet Newco, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Commnet Wireless, LLC, which will allow NTUA to more fully participate in providing the first 3G wireless cell phone service and 4G broadband services, last-mile services, to residents of the Navajo Nation. The new company, NTUA Wireless, LLC, will deliver a substantial upgrade of telecommunications services currently available to residents of the Navajo Nation. The effort will provide new, affordable mobile phone service and access to high-speed data services and the development activities are being partially funded by the $32.1 million broadband grant NTUA received from the National Telecommunications & Information Association (NTIA) as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. (more info.): http://kayentatownship.net/blog/?p=2317 http://freshnews.com/news/475392/navajo-tribal-utility-authority-and-atlantic-tele-network-announce-partnership-deliver- ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Apr 6 10:42:54 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 11:42:54 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Another Rural Broadband suffers major setback in Northern NM : False Info. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: 1st-Milers, It is most unfortunate when individuals post false information on this or other online resource sites. This is to let you know that the posting a few days ago, with a link to a Taos periodical was entirely incorrect. Such April foolery is unwelcome here, year-round. I have spoken with Luis Reyes, CEO of Kit Carson Electric Coop, and all is well there. He remains on the job, and the open fiber network that KCEC received ARRA funding for, is on track. We look forward to an accurate update on the project, here soon. Apologies for the confusion. Richard ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Apr 14 19:02:52 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:02:52 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] [I2-NEWS] Internet2 and Level 3 to Provide Unprecedented Network Capacity to R&E Institutions Message-ID: <13B654F8-FCC4-41F7-86F6-7A8665677FEE@designnine.com> The following announcement from Internet2 and Level 3, as it notes, builds upon a large NTIA BTOP award to U.S. UCAN. It is of interest to this list as some of our state's networking champions at UNM are actively involved in this initiative, which will have specific networking enhancements and applications in NM. As this effort is realized, I hope we can be posted on New Mexico networking and anchor institution developments. RL > From: Ryan Bass > Date: April 14, 2011 9:49:27 AM EDT > To: i2-news at internet2.edu > Subject: [I2-NEWS] Internet2 and Level 3 to Provide Unprecedented Network Capacity to R&E Institutions > > Internet2 and Level 3 to Provide Unprecedented Amount of Network Capacity to Research and Educational Institutions in Support of Telemedicine, Distance Learning and a Range of Research Programs > > - Level 3 to provide fiber and network support - critical building blocks for new 8.8 Terabit network > - Federal stimulus-funded network to accommodate advanced applications for more than 200,000 community anchor institutions nationwide - three times the amount reached today > > ANN ARBOR, Mich. and BROOMFIELD, Colo., April 14, 2011 ? Internet2 and Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced a new, multi-year agreement to build a national network with an unprecedented 8.8 Terabits of capacity designed to support more than 200,000 community anchor institutions nationwide, including K-12 schools, libraries, community colleges, health centers, hospitals and public safety organizations. The new network, partially funded by a federal stimulus grant, will enable a wide variety of bandwidth-intensive applications and data sharing. Network development and deployment is scheduled to begin immediately with the first coast-to-coast segments expected to be in service by mid-summer. > > Under the terms of the agreement, Internet2, an advanced networking consortium led by the U.S. research and education community, will acquire the right to use fiber strands on Level 3?s fiber-optic network as well as Level 3?s network management support to enable its new national 8.8 Terabit Optical System and 100 Gigabit Ethernet Network. Internet2 will utilize more than 10,000 miles of fiber on the Level 3 national footprint and gain the ability to obtain additional miles for the next three years as needed. Level 3 will install Internet2?s 8.8 Terabit optical equipment and provide 24/7 monitoring and field support to these facilities. Colocation facilities and power for the network will also be provided by Level 3. > > Through a federal stimulus grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration?s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), Internet2 is dramatically expanding the capacity and footprint of its network to meet the immediate high-performance, high-capacity needs of research and higher education ? the community that Internet2 has served since its inception. > > Working with regional and state networks and through the recently established United States Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN) project, the Internet2 Network will enable education, health care, libraries, and public safety institutions to access advanced application opportunities not possible with consumer-grade Internet services. The network also provides researchers pushing today?s network capacity boundaries?like those in the fields of high energy physics, climate research and radio astronomy?with an unmatched resource to help accelerate their scientific output. > > ?Today?s announcement with Level 3 represents another major milestone in helping to fulfill the promise of Internet2?s BTOP grant by providing the critical underlying infrastructure needed to support community anchor institutions nationwide,? said Rob Vietzke, Internet2 executive director of Network Services. ?Level 3 has been a committed, reliable provider to Internet2 for many years. They have gained a unique understanding of the needs of the research and education community, providing a customer-directed network support arrangement that allows Internet2 to be highly innovative and highly flexible. When coupled with Level 3?s field support resources, this agreement is a natural evolution of our relationship. It also allows our members to leverage existing network investments to realize dramatically enhanced capabilities today, as well as position all of the communities we serve with the ability to significantly grow and take advantage of new opportunities well into the future.? > > Internet2 will partner closely with Level 3 on the daily operations of the network while remaining the owner of the optical equipment with the right of use on the fiber infrastructure and will also direct provisioning and capacity planning. The arrangement allows Internet2 to deliver aggressive service level commitments and maintain its network at the leading edge of technology deployment while also benefitting from Level 3?s extensive experience and the expertise of its field support and optical management team. > > "It takes a massive amount of bandwidth to educate the leaders of tomorrow, to keep the medical community connected to the latest findings, and to power cutting-edge research projects that can enhance everyday living. With Level 3?s fiber-optic network and expertise, Internet2 is ready to support the bandwidth-intensive scientific and medical research applications that are changing lives both today and in the future,? said Edward Morche, senior vice president of Level 3?s Federal Markets. > > Level 3?s managed fiber solution leverages the company?s extensive network reach, including 54,000 route miles of intercity dark fiber assets connecting more than 190 markets and 27,000 route miles of metro dark fiber. > > > # # # > > > About Internet2 > Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium led by the research and education community. An exceptional partnership spanning U.S. and international institutions who are leaders in the worlds of research, academia, industry and government, Internet2 is developing breakthrough cyberinfrastructure technologies that support the most exacting applications of today?and spark the most essential innovations of tomorrow. Led by its members and focused on their current and future networking needs since 1996, Internet2 blends its human, IP and optical networks to develop and deploy revolutionary Internet technologies. Activating the same partnerships that produced today?s Internet, the Internet2 community is forging the Internet of the future. For more information, see http://www.internet2.edu. > > About Level 3 Communications > > Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services. Enterprise, content, wholesale and government customers rely on Level 3 to deliver services with an industry-leading combination of scalability and value over an end-to-end fiber network. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and long-haul services, including transport, data, Internet, content delivery and voice. For more information, visit www.Level3.com. > > ? Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications and the Level 3 Communications Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. > > Forward-Looking Statement > > Some of the statements made in this press release are forward looking in nature. These statements are based on management?s current expectations or beliefs. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Level 3?s control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not limited to: the current uncertainty in the global financial markets and the global economy; a discontinuation of the development and expansion of the Internet as a communications medium and marketplace for the distribution and consumption of data and video; and disruptions in the financial markets that could affect Level 3?s ability to obtain additional financing. Additional factors include, but are not limited to, the company?s ability to: increase and maintain the volume of traffic on its network; develop effective business support systems; manage system and network failures or disruptions; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; defend intellectual property and proprietary rights; adapt to rapid technological changes that lead to further competition; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; successfully integrate acquisitions; and meet all of the terms and conditions of debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3?s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. > > ### > > Contact Information > > Level 3 Media Contact: Level 3 Investor Contact: > Monica Martinez Mark Stoutenberg > 720-888-3991 > 720-888-2518 > Monica.Martinez at Level3.com Mark.Stoutenberg at Level3.com > > Internet2 Media Contact: > Ryan Bass > 202.331.5342 > bassr at internet2.edu > > > To UNsubscribe, send an e-mail to pubsympa at internet2.edu **from the address you subscribed with** with the following message in the subject: unsubscribe i2-news > ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Apr 14 19:09:14 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:09:14 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] News from the UK: Fujitsu plans massive rural fibre-to-the-home network Message-ID: <7880C4FD-5A0B-49FE-87A5-85A7DE5172D4@designnine.com> Rights of way and pole line pricing/agreements are a critical matter for viable fiber deployments. For those of you paying attention to international broadband projects of possible note: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2011/04/13/fujitsu-plans-massive-rural-fibre-to-the-home-network-40092502/ NEWS Fujitsu is to build a wholesale fibre broadband network in the UK, with the aim of offering next-generation services to five million rural homes. According to Fujitsu, the "vast majority" of the rural connections will be full fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), which is capable of delivering speeds of up to 1Gbps for both uploads and downloads, with the potential to reach 10Gbps in the future [J: In contrast to BT which is planning only 16% FTTH ] Fujitsu's fibre rollout will completely avoid the use of BT's street cabinets and will "actively support the involvement of local community broadband groups, enabling dynamic and flexible solutions in rural communities for the first time", the company said. However, 80 percent of the planned rollout will rely on the use of BT's poles and ducts, Fujitsu told ZDNet UK. On 4 April, Fujitsu joined Virgin Media, TalkTalk and other ISPs in writing to communications minister Ed Vaizey. In their letter, they complained that BT's terms for allowing access to its poles and ducts are unfair and BT is trying to charge too much for public infrastructure access (PIA). On Wednesday, Fujitsu made clear that its newly-announced fibre plans will not go ahead unless it gets its way on PIA, which is a key part of the government's strategy to open up the super-fast broadband market. More: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4643-new-collaboration-to-offer-ftth-to-5-million-rural-homes-and-businesses.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13060548 ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Fri Apr 15 14:12:18 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:12:18 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Baca Valley Selects Calix Systems for Regional Broadband Stimulus Initiative. Message-ID: <0B9F04F5-06FA-4E16-A2A2-2546765622B6@designnine.com> Baca Valley Telephone, which received a first round $3.3 M. USDA RUS BIP award, has selected Calix to provide systems for it's extended fiber networking in north eastern NM. https://portal.calix.com/news/press_releases/press_release_20110413.html ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Fri Apr 15 14:19:03 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:19:03 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC Message-ID: Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Holds Broadband Summit March 30th, 2011 Rahul Gaitonde, Deputy Editor, BroadbandBreakfast.com http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2011/03/schools-health-and-libraries-broadband-coalition-holds-broadband-summit/ WASHINGTON March 30, 2011- The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition assembled broadband stimulus award winners and government officials for their inaugural broadband summit on Tuesday to share solutions and success in solving digital literacy and adoption issues. The SHLBC, formed two years ago, comprises libraries, hospitals, schools, non-profit groups and corporations that seek to further broadband availability for community anchor institutions. New Mexico?s State Librarian, Susan Oberlander, provided one of the most descriptive presentations on the state?s digital literacy program. ?By holding the programs in the libraries we found that the programs instantly gained credibility,? Oberlander said. ?People already trust the library as a source of good information.? Oberlander went on to describe how the state contacted telecommunications providers for assistance with developing and implementing the digital literacy and training programs, but the telecommunications providers were not receptive to providing assistance. As part of the training programs, the attendees participate in broadband usage surveys that track their interests and progress. ?Our preliminary findings are quite interesting,? said Oberlander. ?We found that a large number of small businesses that come to our workshops already have broadband, but they want to expand their knowledge of computers.? The surveys also found that cost of service and lack of a computer are the largest barriers to adoption. (snip) ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbadal at sacred-wind.com Fri Apr 15 14:39:51 2011 From: jbadal at sacred-wind.com (John Badal) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:39:51 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sacred Wind partnered with Susan's programs both at the Gallup and Aztec main libraries, including providing a Navajo-speaking Internet trainer for each. John Badal "Oberlander went on to describe how the state contacted telecommunications providers for assistance with developing and implementing the digital literacy and training programs, but the telecommunications providers were not receptive to providing assistance." From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Richard Lowenberg Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 3:19 PM To: 1st-Mile-NM Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Holds Broadband Summit March 30th, 2011 Rahul Gaitonde, Deputy Editor, BroadbandBreakfast.com http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2011/03/schools-health-and-libraries-broadband-coalition-holds-broadband-summit/ WASHINGTON March 30, 2011- The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition assembled broadband stimulus award winners and government officials for their inaugural broadband summit on Tuesday to share solutions and success in solving digital literacy and adoption issues. The SHLBC, formed two years ago, comprises libraries, hospitals, schools, non-profit groups and corporations that seek to further broadband availability for community anchor institutions. New Mexico's State Librarian, Susan Oberlander, provided one of the most descriptive presentations on the state's digital literacy program. "By holding the programs in the libraries we found that the programs instantly gained credibility," Oberlander said. "People already trust the library as a source of good information." Oberlander went on to describe how the state contacted telecommunications providers for assistance with developing and implementing the digital literacy and training programs, but the telecommunications providers were not receptive to providing assistance. As part of the training programs, the attendees participate in broadband usage surveys that track their interests and progress. "Our preliminary findings are quite interesting," said Oberlander. "We found that a large number of small businesses that come to our workshops already have broadband, but they want to expand their knowledge of computers." The surveys also found that cost of service and lack of a computer are the largest barriers to adoption. (snip) ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Fri Apr 15 18:20:22 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:20:22 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Fwd: Press invite, Dallas Broadband Summit, April 26-28 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Steve Ross Date: Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 7:17 PM Subject: Press invite, Dallas Broadband Summit, April 26-28 To: New Media Alumni A bit of shameless promotion: The magazine I edit, Broadband Properties, is hosting its big annual meeting in Dallas, April 26-28. The details and press registration are at http://www.bbpmag.com/2011s/11WhyAttend.php. Bloggers, tweeters and analysts are of course welcome. Broadband is what powers new media, and the magazine has been at the forefront of pushing for as much bandwidth as possible, in as many places at possible. We cover the technical details, but we?re really the ?business magazine? for network builders and developers of broadband services. Our ?Gold Standard? is fiber to the home. Our Broadband Summit meeting attracts about 1000 attendees and as always, the speakers are first-rate. We?ll have current and former FCC commissioners there, and people guiding Google?s gigabit-per-second build in Kansas City. Top management from Chattanooga?s municipal system, already offering 1 Gbps, and Lev Gonick from Cleveland's OneCommunity (planning 1 Gbps) will be speaking as well. There?s an entire day on economic development issues (it will be streamed), chaired by DC attorney Jim Baller, who represents municipalities when incumbent carriers try to block public broadband. He?s also an advisor to Google. Among the speakers in those sessions are Blair Levin, author of the National Broadband Plan, and Kevin Martin, former FCC chairman. Graham Richards, former mayor of Ft. Wayne, is running sessions on public-private partnerships. There are sessions on the latest in telehealth (including the first studies showing credible money savings), distance learning, telepresence and more. There?s an entire conference-within-a-conference on rural telecom issues. It has been noted that for the past few years the Broadband Summit is about the only place you?ll find optimistic real estate moguls, too. If you want to schedule interviews in advance, let me know ? and sign up ASAP. If you have been reading the NYT's broadband coverage, you have been told that rural broadband is a luxury the country can't afford and that none of the projects pay back their cost. If you have been reading Businessweek, you have been told that Verizon isn't making a profit, or even cash-flow break-even on FiOS. Nuts. A fifth of the nation's households have already been passed by telco fiber, and 82% have been passed by cable companies' DOCSIS-ready fiber and coax. There's a whole new industry out there, ready to deliver whole new media. Learn about it. A sample of some of the Summit's 100+ speakers: *Kevin Martin* ? *As FCC chairman, he paved the way for large-scale fiber to the home deployment* *Michael Render* ? *For a decade, he?s been the leading research authority on deploying fiber to the home* *Jim Baller* ? *A major force in helping communities across the U.S. take control of their broadband destiny* *Joanne Hovis* ? *Shows municipalities how to plan, design and benefit from fiber optic networks* *Lev Gonick* ? *Heads a project demonstrating how 1 Gbps broadband can transform lives and neighborhoods* *Blair Levin* ? *Led the country?s effort at the FCC to develop the National Broadband Plan* *Michael Curri* ? *Documents the powerful impact of true broadband on local economies* *Kelley Dunne* ? *Dynamic new CEO of the leading organization aimed at vanquishing the digital divide* Steve Ross -- Steve Ross Corporate Editor Broadband Properties Magazine 201-456-5933 mobile 781-284-8810 landline 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice editorsteve (Facebook) editorsteve1 (Twitter) editorsteve at gmail.com -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA www.analyticjournalism.com 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com ========================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Fri Apr 15 19:33:44 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:33:44 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Additional Comments on Prior Postings Message-ID: <8B478035-5810-4283-A69F-35F080E50373@designnine.com> From Alice Loy of the GCCE (Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship), a partner .org on the State Library's NTIA awarded Fast Forward New Mexico training and broadband adoption project. RL ----------- Dear 1st Mile and Broadband/BTOP Colleagues: I'd like to rectify Dr. Oberlander's oversight in her highlighted comment - made at the Broadband Summit described below. Dr. Oberlander did not mention the substantial support Fast Forward New Mexico has received from two steadfast community partners: Sacred Wind Communications and Southwest Communications Systems. Sacred Wind has provided interpretation services in trainings we have hosted in Gallup and Aztec, has sent mailings helping to advertise and promote our work, and has written articles about our program in their widely read newsletter. Sacred Wind pioneers and implements innovative programs that are creating positive change through technology access across the Navajo Nation and beyond. SCS has provided support for our curriculum development, printing of material, and mailings and community outreach. In large part due to their support we trained over 500 participants in Gallup and Aztec! Thank you to both SCS and Sacred Wind for your dedication to New Mexico and your support of Fast Forward NM! Alice >> ?Oberlander went on to describe how the state contacted telecommunications providers for assistance with developing and implementing the digital literacy and training programs, but the telecommunications providers were not receptive to providing assistance.? >> >> >> From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Richard Lowenberg >> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 3:19 PM >> To: 1st-Mile-NM >> Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC >> >> Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Holds Broadband Summit >> >> March 30th, 2011 >> Rahul Gaitonde, Deputy Editor, BroadbandBreakfast.com >> >> http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2011/03/schools-health-and-libraries-broadband-coalition-holds-broadband-summit/ >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Sun Apr 17 20:50:35 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:50:35 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC Message-ID: State did NOT contact this telecommunications provider.... We would certainly be willing to assist in any manner possible. We have been working in ABQ to deliver FREE internet backbone connectivity to city libraries. Any rural provider that has transport back to Albuquerque and needs IP (IPv4 or IPv6) transit to support a library project should contact me. We will provide it at cost, or at no-cost depending on the needs. The "State" needs to broaden is outreach..... From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of John Badal Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 3:40 PM To: Richard Lowenberg; 1st-Mile-NM Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC Sacred Wind partnered with Susan's programs both at the Gallup and Aztec main libraries, including providing a Navajo-speaking Internet trainer for each. John Badal "Oberlander went on to describe how the state contacted telecommunications providers for assistance with developing and implementing the digital literacy and training programs, but the telecommunications providers were not receptive to providing assistance." From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Richard Lowenberg Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 3:19 PM To: 1st-Mile-NM Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Former State Librarian at Broadband Breakfast in DC Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Holds Broadband Summit March 30th, 2011 Rahul Gaitonde , Deputy Editor, BroadbandBreakfast.com http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2011/03/schools-health-and-libraries-broad band-coalition-holds-broadband-summit/ WASHINGTON March 30, 2011- The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition assembled broadband stimulus award winners and government officials for their inaugural broadband summit on Tuesday to share solutions and success in solving digital literacy and adoption issues. The SHLBC, formed two years ago, comprises libraries, hospitals, schools, non-profit groups and corporations that seek to further broadband availability for community anchor institutions. New Mexico's State Librarian, Susan Oberlander, provided one of the most descriptive presentations on the state's digital literacy program. "By holding the programs in the libraries we found that the programs instantly gained credibility," Oberlander said. "People already trust the library as a source of good information." Oberlander went on to describe how the state contacted telecommunications providers for assistance with developing and implementing the digital literacy and training programs, but the telecommunications providers were not receptive to providing assistance. As part of the training programs, the attendees participate in broadband usage surveys that track their interests and progress. "Our preliminary findings are quite interesting," said Oberlander. "We found that a large number of small businesses that come to our workshops already have broadband, but they want to expand their knowledge of computers." The surveys also found that cost of service and lack of a computer are the largest barriers to adoption. (snip) ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Tue Apr 19 15:49:38 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:49:38 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Looking Through a Window Into a Room Full of Junk (A Capitol Hill Sketch) | techPresident Message-ID: This, at the federal level, discusses problems similar to what we have in NM; not just the sunshineportalnm.com but the perspectives of the state's DoI and how data should be managed and connected. - http://sunlightlabs.com/blog/2011/worst-government-website-weve-ever-seen/ - http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/looking-through-window-room-full-junk-capitol-hill-sketch --tom johnson Santa Fe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Bill at Feiereisen.Net Sun Apr 24 16:57:55 2011 From: Bill at Feiereisen.Net (Bill Feiereisen) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:57:55 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe Message-ID: I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local mobile companies. On my last trip last year my only data access, other than local wifi, was on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data package with unlimited data for about $20/month. In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB. This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data access at all. Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between US and the European providers? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From editorsteve at gmail.com Sun Apr 24 18:24:51 2011 From: editorsteve at gmail.com (Steve Ross) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:24:51 -0400 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: It is mainly just profiteering. I'm on T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsch Telecom anyway. If I roam on a T-Mobile SIM or buy a local SIm card, my rates are 30% higher than they were a year ago, in dollar terms, because the dollar has fallen against the euro. What I tend to do is use Skype and a Vonage softphone on my netbook, and call on a comparatively cheap pure wifi network instead. But T-Mobile unblocked my phone so I can use the alien SIM! Verizon can't (in its GSM-capable worldphones) and AT&T won't. Steve On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 7:57 PM, Bill Feiereisen wrote: > I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the > exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out > between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local > mobile companies. > > On my last trip last year my only data access, other than local wifi, was > on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data > package with unlimited data for about $20/month. > > In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and > was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon > told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of > data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the > phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB. This > is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data access > at all. > > Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so > punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between US and the > European providers? > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -- Steve Ross 201-456-5933 mobile 781-284-8810 landline 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice editorsteve (Facebook) editorsteve1 (Twitter) editorsteve at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Sun Apr 24 18:37:45 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 19:37:45 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe Message-ID: ATT has always unlocked all of our blackberry gsm phones with no fuss or muss ----- Original Message ----- From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org> To: Bill at feiereisen.net Cc: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> Sent: Sun Apr 24 19:24:51 2011 Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe It is mainly just profiteering. I'm on T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsch Telecom anyway. If I roam on a T-Mobile SIM or buy a local SIm card, my rates are 30% higher than they were a year ago, in dollar terms, because the dollar has fallen against the euro. What I tend to do is use Skype and a Vonage softphone on my netbook, and call on a comparatively cheap pure wifi network instead. But T-Mobile unblocked my phone so I can use the alien SIM! Verizon can't (in its GSM-capable worldphones) and AT&T won't. Steve On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 7:57 PM, Bill Feiereisen wrote: I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local mobile companies. On my last trip last year my only data access, other than local wifi, was on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data package with unlimited data for about $20/month. In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB. This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data access at all. Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between US and the European providers? _______________________________________________ 1st-mile-nm mailing list 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm -- Steve Ross 201-456-5933 mobile 781-284-8810 landline 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice editorsteve (Facebook) editorsteve1 (Twitter) editorsteve at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From editorsteve at gmail.com Sun Apr 24 19:51:58 2011 From: editorsteve at gmail.com (Steve Ross) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 22:51:58 -0400 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe In-Reply-To: <580B216A-2BC6-48D3-8097-FAD518D325CB@cs.unm.edu> References: <580B216A-2BC6-48D3-8097-FAD518D325CB@cs.unm.edu> Message-ID: Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that has been ONLY for Blackberry -- the deal RIM wanted.. On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 9:35 PM, Edward Angel wrote: > So has verizon. > > Ed > __________ > > Ed Angel > > Chair, Board of Directors, Santa Fe Complex > Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory > (ARTS Lab) > Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico > > 1017 Sierra Pinon > Santa Fe, NM 87501 > 505-984-0136 (home) angel at cs.unm.edu > 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel > http://artslab.unm.edu > http://sfcomplex.org > > On Apr 24, 2011, at 7:37 PM, John Brown wrote: > > ATT has always unlocked all of our blackberry gsm phones with no fuss or > muss > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org < > 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org> > To: Bill at feiereisen.net > Cc: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> > Sent: Sun Apr 24 19:24:51 2011 > Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe > > It is mainly just profiteering. I'm on T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsch > Telecom anyway. If I roam on a T-Mobile SIM or buy a local SIm card, my > rates are 30% higher than they were a year ago, in dollar terms, because the > dollar has fallen against the euro. What I tend to do is use Skype and a > Vonage softphone on my netbook, and call on a comparatively cheap pure wifi > network instead. > > But T-Mobile unblocked my phone so I can use the alien SIM! Verizon can't > (in its GSM-capable worldphones) and AT&T won't. > > Steve > > > On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 7:57 PM, Bill Feiereisen > wrote: > > > I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the > exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out > between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local > mobile companies. > > On my last trip last year my only data access, other than local wifi, was > on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data > package with unlimited data for about $20/month. > > In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and > was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon > told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of > data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the > phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB. This > is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data access > at all. > > Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so > punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between US and the > European providers? > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > > > > > > -- > Steve Ross > 201-456-5933 mobile > 781-284-8810 landline > 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice > editorsteve (Facebook) > editorsteve1 (Twitter) > editorsteve at gmail.com > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > > -- Steve Ross 201-456-5933 mobile 781-284-8810 landline 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice editorsteve (Facebook) editorsteve1 (Twitter) editorsteve at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From angel at cs.unm.edu Sun Apr 24 18:35:16 2011 From: angel at cs.unm.edu (Edward Angel) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 19:35:16 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <580B216A-2BC6-48D3-8097-FAD518D325CB@cs.unm.edu> So has verizon. Ed __________ Ed Angel Chair, Board of Directors, Santa Fe Complex Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS Lab) Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico 1017 Sierra Pinon Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-984-0136 (home) angel at cs.unm.edu 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel http://artslab.unm.edu http://sfcomplex.org On Apr 24, 2011, at 7:37 PM, John Brown wrote: > ATT has always unlocked all of our blackberry gsm phones with no fuss or muss > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org> > To: Bill at feiereisen.net > Cc: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> > Sent: Sun Apr 24 19:24:51 2011 > Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe > > It is mainly just profiteering. I'm on T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsch Telecom anyway. If I roam on a T-Mobile SIM or buy a local SIm card, my rates are 30% higher than they were a year ago, in dollar terms, because the dollar has fallen against the euro. What I tend to do is use Skype and a Vonage softphone on my netbook, and call on a comparatively cheap pure wifi network instead. > > But T-Mobile unblocked my phone so I can use the alien SIM! Verizon can't (in its GSM-capable worldphones) and AT&T won't. > > Steve > > > On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 7:57 PM, Bill Feiereisen wrote: > > > I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local mobile companies. > > On my last trip last year my only data access, other than local wifi, was on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data package with unlimited data for about $20/month. > > In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and was hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon told me that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of data to the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the phone and the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB. This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the data access at all. > > Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between US and the European providers? > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > > > > > > -- > Steve Ross > 201-456-5933 mobile > 781-284-8810 landline > 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice > editorsteve (Facebook) > editorsteve1 (Twitter) > editorsteve at gmail.com > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Mon Apr 25 08:23:02 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:23:02 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] How 'rebel' phone network evaded shutdown - Features - Al Jazeera English Message-ID: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114233530919767.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon Apr 25 11:43:32 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:43:32 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Sacred Wind in the News Message-ID: <5B771247-9E7F-475E-B78F-3219353D28ED@designnine.com> The complexities of realizing broadband provision on native lands continue to be daunting. Are there some ways that we can facilitate the 'red tape', multi-agency impositions and timeframes and tribal needs, so as to get win-win outcomes for the people in these areas? Even the smallest of steps forward might be worthwhile. Richard Broadband access in Native American communities lagging far behind http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/04/25/tech-report-broadband-access-in-native-american-communities-lagging-behind/?refid=0 By John Moe Marketplace Tech Report, Monday, April 25, 2011 Listen to this Story The Obama administration has made broadband availability a major priority. But while access is around 65 percent in the general population, in Native American communities, it's around 5 to 10 percent. Service map of Sacred Wind Communications (Sacred Wind Communications) That's obviously a big gap. We talk to John Badal. He runs a company called Sacred Wind Communications, which is trying to bring broadband access to Native communities in New Mexico. He says customers he talks to desperately want to be able to get online but he says the biggest hurdle in making that happen is getting through red tape. "Most areas that we serve, we have to get permission from the tribe and from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to survey a particular site," he says. "Once we get that permission to survey the site, then we have to go out and conduct a center line survey and archaeological and environmental assessment and package all of those things with proper documentation. Pay a permit fee, submit it to various jurisdictions depending on who's managing the lands. That process can take from six months to two and a half years." We also talk to Geoffrey Blackwell, chief of the the Office of Native Affairs and Policy for the FCC. Blackwell says that getting some of these homes online means coordinating efforts among federal agencies but also between those agencies and state and tribal agencies. Blackwell cites a recent study that says Native American households are more likely to adopt broadband when it's available than the general population is. The challenge is getting that access to happen. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Sat Apr 30 15:42:14 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:42:14 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Broadband Properties Mag. Articles Message-ID: I've just returned from this week's Broadband Properties and Rural Telecon. Conferences, in Dallas. Excellent program, and lots to learn and share with colleagues and projects from around the country. This month's Broadband Properties magazine has some articles of interest to 1st-Mile subscribers. Of particular interest may be 1st-Mile subscriber Andrew Cohill's article: Worst Practices in Community Broadband: Mistakes community broadband networks make - and how to avoid them. http://broadbandpropertiesmagazine.epubxpress.com/wps/portal/bbp/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3iLkCAPEzcPIwP3MF9TAyMnT0_PYDdvY3dLc_1I_ShznPIBxvohIBMz9SMtTIzMQcxi_UgDEF2gH2loZKJfkJ2YVJUaqQgAvn1NGw!!/ Many more articles and information at www.bbpmag.com/ Richard From lowenberg at designnine.com Tue May 10 07:51:21 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 08:51:21 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] MIcrosoft buys Skype Message-ID: <287614B1-E3B8-4688-95A2-DF18CF68CECE@designnine.com> MICROSOFT BUYING SKYPE [SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik] Microsoft has bought Skype for $8.5 billion, in an all cash deal. Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft is said to be a big champion of the deal, the largest in the history of the company. Skype has been up for sale for some time, thanks to some very antsy investors -- both eBay and Silver Lake Partners have been getting nervous about the delayed initial public offering and have been pushing for a sale of Skype. Facebook and Google were said to be earlier dance partners for Skype, and Microsoft was a late entrant and is now walking away with the prize. Skype gives Microsoft a boost in the enterprise collaboration market, thanks to Skype?s voice, video and sharing capabilities, especially when competing with Cisco and Google. It gives Microsoft a working relationship with carriers, many of them looking to partner with Skype as they start to transition to LTE-based networks. It would give them a must-have application/service that can help with the adoption of the future versions of Windows Mobile operating system. However, the biggest reason for Microsoft to buy Skype is Windows Phone 7 (Mobile OS) and Nokia. The software giant needs a competitive offering to Google Voice and Apple?s emerging communication platform, Facetime. GigaOm See also: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576314854222820260.html ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed May 11 15:24:13 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 16:24:13 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] City of Cortez FTTH Network Goes Live Message-ID: City of Cortez and OFS Announce That FTTH Network Goes Live http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=722529&Itemid=30 OFS, a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of innovative fiber optic network products, and the City of Cortez, Colorado, today announced that phase one of the City's Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network went live this month serving businesses in the City increasing the bandwidth for commerce, communications and data. "The multiphase FTTH plan for the City of Cortez is an open access/ open service model of deploying high capacity fiber to the community," said Rick Smith, City General Services Director. "The open access model means that Cortez will not be providing the services to end-users, but instead partnering with area service providers who will use the system to bring high capacity services to the businesses and enterprises that request the service." Southwest Colorado Council of Governments secured the initial funding for this project which came from a state grant of one million dollars from oil, gas and coal leasing rights. The City of Cortez provided the 25% match for the grant funds. The funds are being funneled back into developing the economy and growth of Cortez and the surrounding area by offering potential large employers or data center providers the bandwidth and technology to grow their business from Colorado. The City of Cortez network utilized a complete OFS FOX FTTH Solution including a customized fundamental network design plan using OptiCost? modeling software, Fortex? DT All-Dielectric gel-free cable with AllWave? ZWP fiber, Orbital? fiber distribution cabinets, as well as full spectrum optical splitters. "In keeping with requests by the City of Cortez, the installation of the fiber was through underground conduit into OFS' Orbital fiber distribution cabinets and to businesses covered in phase one," said John George, Director, Systems and Applications Engineering for OFS. "The city-wide fundamental network design plan provided by OFS incorporates the anchor institutions already connected by the City. Future phases of the project are planned to expand the network to service areas outside the first phase business area with additional fiber rings and distribution cabinets covering the city." About City of Cortez The City of Cortez offers businesses an ideal location to reach markets in Southwestern Colorado and the Four-Corners area. Our goal is to make Metro style broadband affordable in a rural Colorado setting. We believe our high quality of life and outdoors lifestyle promotes a positive experience for businesses and industry. Please visit our website to learn more about doing business in and with the City. www.cityofcortez.com About OFS OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTX, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products. Our manufacturing and research divisions work together to provide innovative products and solutions that traverse many different applications as they link people and machines worldwide. Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods, and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components for efficient, cost-effective transmission. OFS' corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and includes technology powerhouses such as AT&T and Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent). Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications. Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta) Georgia, U.S., OFS is a global provider with facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed May 11 18:37:29 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 19:37:29 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] City of Cortez FTTH Network Goes Live In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I grabbed the OFS oriented press release, and have not yet looked for other (better written) news stories or City announcements. I will add that the Cortez fiber network is being connected to a regional communities' southwest Colorado fiber network, currently being deployed in phases. More news on this as it is announced. RL On May 11, 2011, at 7:26 PM, Tom Johnson wrote: > Congrats to the City of Cortez. > > (But this press release is the kind of thing that I used to teach my students NOT to do if they want it to run in any reputable newspaper or magazine. The only one who is interested in "OFS, a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of innovative fiber optic network products," is the OFS CEO and his/her mother.) > > But that doesn't matter. I'm envious of the good citizens of Cortez. > > -tj > > On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 4:24 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > > City of Cortez and OFS Announce That FTTH Network Goes Live > > http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=722529&Itemid=30 > > > OFS, a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of innovative fiber optic network products, and the City of Cortez, Colorado, today announced that phase one of the City's Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network went live this month serving businesses in the City increasing the bandwidth for commerce, communications and data. > > "The multiphase FTTH plan for the City of Cortez is an open access/ open service model of deploying high capacity fiber to the community," said Rick Smith, City General Services Director. "The open access model means that Cortez will not be providing the services to end-users, but instead partnering with area service providers who will use the system to bring high capacity services to the businesses and enterprises that request the service." > > Southwest Colorado Council of Governments secured the initial funding for this project which came from a state grant of one million dollars from oil, gas and coal leasing rights. The City of Cortez provided the 25% match for the grant funds. The funds are being funneled back into developing the economy and growth of Cortez and the surrounding area by offering potential large employers or data center providers the bandwidth and technology to grow their business from Colorado. > > The City of Cortez network utilized a complete OFS FOX FTTH Solution including a customized fundamental network design plan using OptiCost? modeling software, Fortex? DT All-Dielectric gel-free cable with AllWave? ZWP fiber, Orbital? fiber distribution cabinets, as well as full spectrum optical splitters. > > "In keeping with requests by the City of Cortez, the installation of the fiber was through underground conduit into OFS' Orbital fiber distribution cabinets and to businesses covered in phase one," said John George, Director, Systems and Applications Engineering for OFS. "The city-wide fundamental network design plan provided by OFS incorporates the anchor institutions already connected by the City. Future phases of the project are planned to expand the network to service areas outside the first phase business area with additional fiber rings and distribution cabinets covering the city." > > About City of Cortez > > The City of Cortez offers businesses an ideal location to reach markets in Southwestern Colorado and the Four-Corners area. Our goal is to make Metro style broadband affordable in a rural Colorado setting. We believe our high quality of life and outdoors lifestyle promotes a positive experience for businesses and industry. Please visit our website to learn more about doing business in and with the City. > > www.cityofcortez.com > > About OFS > > OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTX, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products. Our manufacturing and research divisions work together to provide innovative products and solutions that traverse many different applications as they link people and machines worldwide. Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods, and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components for efficient, cost-effective transmission. > > OFS' corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and includes technology powerhouses such as AT&T and Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel-Lucent). Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in optical communications. > > Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta) Georgia, U.S., OFS is a global provider with facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton, Georgia; Somerset, New Jersey; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Denmark, Germany and Russia. > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > > > > -- > ========================================== > J. T. Johnson > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA > www.analyticjournalism.com > 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) > http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com > ========================================== ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ Senior Broadband Planner Design Nine, Inc. lowenberg at designnine.com www.designnine.com Design Nine provides visionary broadband architecture and engineering services, telecommunications master planning, and broadband project management. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed May 11 18:44:47 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 19:44:47 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] More Cortez Fiber Net Links Message-ID: <7BA72970-DE6E-4BD9-BC96-0AE8F88D6AD9@designnine.com> A quick search brought up the following links, for those interested in more detail on the Cortez fiber network. RL www.cityofcortez.com/government/general_services/cortez_fiber_home_project/so_what_exactly_cortez_fiber_project www.cortezjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=14757 ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Fri May 13 09:24:32 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 10:24:32 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC Tribal Matters Message-ID: <9C0D6892-6372-46A9-9F70-9CEC6D3E53F1@designnine.com> Tribal matters are a big part of life in NM, and many tribal communities are in need of and actively involved in broadband access and use developments. The FCC is taking a greater interest and involvement in tribal communications matters, under the new stewardship of Geoffrey Blackwell (originally from NM), heading the FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy. Two months ago, the FCC announced its new Native Nations Broadband Task Force, which includes representatives of many tribal constituencies, including Joe Garcia from Ohkay Owingeh and Brian Tagaban from Navajo Nation. They have much on their plate. For more information, announcement and document downloads, see: http://transition.fcc.gov/indians/ RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From jetorres at ci.santa-fe.nm.us Wed May 18 15:30:56 2011 From: jetorres at ci.santa-fe.nm.us (TORRES, JUAN E.) Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 16:30:56 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Broadband data from the FCC is notoriously inaccurate. Measurement Lab can fix that. - Slate Magazine Message-ID: <568C20B278CE6B41A91B6907FF2599A812896B2D@email-svr-1.santa-fe.local> A very good article from Slate: "The FCC has now failed twice at producing good broadband data. Time to give someone else a try." By Benjamin Lennett and Sascha Meinrath http://www.slate.com/id/2294814/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Thu May 19 08:41:47 2011 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 10:41:47 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Community Broadband Network Map Updated with Cortez, Others Message-ID: We have updated the Community Broadband Map with a few new exciting networks, including one in Idaho and one in rural SW Colorado that Richard announced on this list: http://www.muninetworks.org/communitymap I recently wrote about 2 new networks being built that you may be interested in: Cortez, Colorada, in the SW most county of Colorado. http://www.muninetworks.org/content/cortez-colorado-also-launches-open-access-network Cortez is building an open access network... the current phase is connecting businesses. I get the distinct impression that they eventually want to connect the whole county eventually. They have a great set of principles for the project: http://www.cityofcortez.com/government/general_services/cortez_fiber_home_project/principles_community_broadband Cortez is 8,000 people and is the county seat for a rural county long screwed by Qwest. Meanwhile, up in Idaho, the town of Ammon is building a similar open-access network: http://www.muninetworks.org/content/idaho-town-builds-incremental-open-access-network This is town of 15,000 outside the larger area of Idaho Falls, so a bit less rural. But nonetheless, these incremental approaches may be the single best approach to expanding access right now. They often expand as other projects (water, road repairs, etc) allow the community to increase its fiber or conduit assets at a very low cost. For those who are interested in the daily stories we publish at MuniNetworks.org (which are mixed with urban/rural focus), we do have a weekly newsletter that compiles the week's stories. Sign up here: https://spreadsheets0.google.com/viewform?formkey=dF9ZdmFsam5FNHN1MTJXNkt4V3VsRGc6MA Christopher Mitchell Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative Institute for Local Self-Reliance http://www.muninetworks.org @communitynets 612-276-3456 From christopher at newrules.org Thu May 19 08:51:12 2011 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 10:51:12 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Rural Broadband Policy Group Message-ID: Hey Folks, I wanted to make sure you are aware of a good group of folks trying to represent some of the feelings about rural broadband that I've seen expressed on this list... affordable, reliable, and fast access to the Internet should be available to everyone. I'm a part of the Rural Broadband Policy Group, a coalition of people who organize for these policies. I wrote about the group here: http://www.muninetworks.org/content/organizing-change-rural-communities-and-broadband I'm letting you know in case you, or a group you represent, may be interested in learning about, and possibly signing on to comments we make on issues that impact that. It is often hard for each of us to respond to all the requests for comments from DC agencies and such, but this group makes it possible to amplify our voice and try to be heard in DC. I'm not calling for a DC-centric strategy by any stretch - we also try to keep each other informed on what is happening at the state level and arrange meetings with officials to educate them so they don't get all their information solely from existing incumbents. Best, Christopher Mitchell Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative Institute for Local Self-Reliance http://www.muninetworks.org @communitynets 612-276-3456 From david at santafeinnovate.org Thu May 26 10:58:28 2011 From: david at santafeinnovate.org (David Breecker) Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 11:58:28 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC broadband penetration report Message-ID: <34A973FF-7422-4C0C-91D6-8B07DFF36134@santafeinnovate.org> I don't think I've seen this on this list, but apologies if this is duplicative: U.S. Ranks Ninth in Broadband Penetration The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Seventh Broadband Progress Report reveals that 63 percent of U.S. households receive high-speed Internet services, which would put the U.S. in ninth place in the rankings published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Broadband penetration varies by state, ranging from 73 percent in Alaska, Utah and New Hampshire to 41 percent in Mississippi. The report includes a detailed U.S. map of underserved areas. Read the report... David Breecker, President SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park Accelerating Innovation http://SantaFeInnovate.org Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 Skype: dbreecker Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu May 26 12:06:04 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 13:06:04 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC Report: NM Data Message-ID: <0AAE1F60-4D86-4017-81B9-E5CB130B2862@designnine.com> The FCC report just posted to this list, may be informative, but should be regarded cautiously. Many of the statistics are based on incomplete data. Much of the report's information comes from Form 477 filings by the telecom. providers, and from the first round of data and mapping being done by each State and some territories, under NTIA SBDDP funding, with deliverables and refinement of data continuing through 2014. Of note to most on this list are tables which note New Mexico statistical information, on pages 43, 45, 48 and 60. RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From leticia at medialiteracyproject.org Thu May 26 12:57:59 2011 From: leticia at medialiteracyproject.org (Miranda, Leticia) Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 13:57:59 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC Report: NM Data In-Reply-To: <0AAE1F60-4D86-4017-81B9-E5CB130B2862@designnine.com> References: <0AAE1F60-4D86-4017-81B9-E5CB130B2862@designnine.com> Message-ID: <80576EB93C4A58489708D64DA491CC7915A7E80B54@gemini> Thanks for sending this out Richard. I've been looking for a copy of the FCC report for part of the morning. Do you have a copy of it you could send to me or a link to it online? Thank you again! Leticia --- Leticia Miranda Strategic Communications Director Media Literacy Project 6400 Wyoming Blvd. NE Albuquerque NM 87109 leticia at medialiteracyproject.org tel: 505-828-3311 fax: 505-828-3142 medialiteracyproject.org Creating digital opportunities. -----Original Message----- From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces+leticia=medialiteracyproject.org at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces+leticia=medialiteracyproject.org at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Richard Lowenberg Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 1:06 PM To: 1st-Mile-NM Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC Report: NM Data The FCC report just posted to this list, may be informative, but should be regarded cautiously. Many of the statistics are based on incomplete data. Much of the report's information comes from Form 477 filings by the telecom. providers, and from the first round of data and mapping being done by each State and some territories, under NTIA SBDDP funding, with deliverables and refinement of data continuing through 2014. Of note to most on this list are tables which note New Mexico statistical information, on pages 43, 45, 48 and 60. RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ 1st-mile-nm mailing list 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm From tom at jtjohnson.com Sat May 28 17:28:10 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Sat, 28 May 2011 18:28:10 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Open Workshop Using Fusion Tables for Mapping - Message-ID: I'm wondering how much interest there might be in Santa Fe for a one-day workshop like this? Let me know if we should try to do one. http://openhamilton2.eventbrite.com/ -tom johnson tom at jtjohnson.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon May 30 19:12:44 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 20:12:44 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] NM Digital Media Forum @ "currents" Message-ID: <80F5162C-0F02-4A2A-A694-A0BCA051B615@designnine.com> Of interest to some on this list, regarding the future of digital media content and applications development in New Mexico. On Friday afternoon, June 17th, 4:00-6:00, there will be a New Mexico Digital Media Forum, at the Santa Fe Complex. The Forum is part of the "currents" Santa Fe International New Media Festival, which opens on Friday, June 10, and continues through Sunday the 19th. For complete program and schedule: www.currents2011.com You are invited to attend and participate in this facilitated open Forum discussion and the setting of action agendas to further digital media related developments. The NM computing Applications Center is currently determining possible Gateway connection to the Forum from selected sites around the state. Seating may be limited; please register to attend, and find additional information at: http://nmdigitalmediaforum.eventbrite.com Richard ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Jun 9 15:40:12 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2011 16:40:12 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC: Information Needs of Communities Message-ID: The FCC?s eighteen-months-in-the-making, Future of Media report? now called ?The Information Needs of Communities?, at nearly 500 pages, is now out and available for download at the FCC web site. www.fcc.gov/info-needs-communities RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From tom at jtjohnson.com Sun Jun 12 14:32:23 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:32:23 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] NYTimes.com: U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors In-Reply-To: <20110612120715.475FF1707C30@ofarelay05.hostedemail.com> References: <20110612120715.475FF1707C30@ofarelay05.hostedemail.com> Message-ID: So what do we have to do to get the U.S. to attack us so it will build open WiFi in New Mexico? -tj [image: The New York Times] [image: E-mail This] * WORLD * | June 12, 2011 * U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors * By JAMES GLANZ and JOHN MARKOFF The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy "shadow" Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments. Advertisement Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA www.analyticjournalism.com 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com ========================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon Jun 13 14:33:51 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:33:51 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] RUS Smart Grid Funding Message-ID: <09017A7D-BCE9-4B71-8E99-AE4BD6096108@designnine.com> RUS to administer $250 million in smart grid loans Funding is one element of government smart grid initiatives announced today http://connectedplanetonline.com/independent/news/RUS-to-administer-250-million-in-smart-grid-loans-0613/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon Jun 13 14:40:53 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:40:53 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] RUS Smart Grid Funding In-Reply-To: <09017A7D-BCE9-4B71-8E99-AE4BD6096108@designnine.com> References: <09017A7D-BCE9-4B71-8E99-AE4BD6096108@designnine.com> Message-ID: <2DA43AE9-53DB-45C5-830F-DBCB80717979@designnine.com> Looking directly at the USDA RUS press release on the Smart Grid funding, it notes that ten states will receive funding; New Mexico is not one of the ten. www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2011/06/0247.xml&navid=NEWS_RELEASE&navtype=RT&parentnav=LATEST_RELEASES&edeployment_action=retrievecontent RL On Jun 13, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > RUS to administer $250 million in smart grid loans > > Funding is one element of government smart grid initiatives announced today > > > http://connectedplanetonline.com/independent/news/RUS-to-administer-250-million-in-smart-grid-loans-0613/ > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ Senior Broadband Planner Design Nine, Inc. lowenberg at designnine.com www.designnine.com Design Nine provides visionary broadband architecture and engineering services, telecommunications master planning, and broadband project management. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Jun 22 07:52:35 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:52:35 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] New Library Technology Study Message-ID: <679F6E87-5B78-469A-9A8E-A2F6458AE6CD@designnine.com> www.ala.org/ala/research/initiatives/plftas/2010_2011/index.cfm Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2010-2011 assesses public access to computers, the Internet, and Internet-related services in U.S. public libraries, and the impact of library funding changes on connectivity, technology deployment, and sustainability. The study builds on the longest-running and largest study of Internet connectivity in public libraries begun in 1994 by John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure. The report provides information that can help library directors and library IT staff benchmark and advocate for technology resources in communities across the nation. The data are also of importance for policymakers at local, state, and federal levels, manufacturers of information and communication technologies, and the communities served by public libraries. To learn about Fast Forward New Mexico, and to see what the New Mexico State Library and partner organizations are doing with broadband stimulus funding from the NTIA Sustainable Broadband Adoption program, log on to: www.fastforwardnm.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Jun 22 08:06:35 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:06:35 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Framework for Digitally Inclusive Communities: Report Message-ID: <9E28E898-A94E-44A6-A497-6B27B221ABBF@designnine.com> Here's another just released report of value to libraries, cultural institutions, communities and individuals in NM and elsewhere. RL From: Janell Muhammad Date: Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 9:20 AM Subject: Proposed Framework for Digitally Inclusive Communities Dear Colleague, I am pleased to let you know that the first phase of our work on digital inclusion has come to an end and that, with your help, we have published the ?Proposed Framework for Digitally Inclusive Communities.? Together with the University of Washington Information School and the International City/County Management Association, we provided a platform for libraries, community based organizations and the many publics they serve ? to come together and share a vision for digitally inclusive communities. Thank you for the important role you played in this effort and for sharing your expertise about the needs and complexities of local communities. Your perspective helped to ground this work with sound principles and goals that set a foundation for the future. As you know this work was undertaken in response to the National Broadband Plan, which identified the rising costs of digital exclusion in American society. It is clear that public officials have new roles to play to help their communities assess their current capabilities, and to work across institutional boundaries to create, implement and evaluate plans for broadband adoption and use. We hope that a common set of principles, will help business, anchor institutions (schools, hospitals, libraries), public safety and cultural institutions, to work together to fully and effectively realize the value of a digitally inclusive community. During the next few months we will be holding a series of community forums to further develop and test the proposed framework and continue to develop plans for implementation and outreach. We hope that the work we have done together will inspire the development of new tools to help community leaders make strategic investments in public access technology to meet the public?s ever changing information needs. You remain an important part of this process and we hope that you will disseminate the proposed framework among your colleagues, use your blog or other communications networks to talk about your participation in the process and continue to be in touch with us with your thoughts and insights. Here are links to the materials: ? Building Digitally Inclusive Communities: A brief guide to the proposed framework http://www.imls.gov/pdf/DIC-FrameworkBrief.pdf (provides a high level summary of the proposed framework) ? Building Digitally Inclusive Communities: A guide to the proposed framework http://www.imls.gov/pdf/DIC-FrameworkGuide.pdf ? Proposed Framework for Digitally Inclusive Communities: Final Report http://www.imls.gov/pdf/DIC-FrameworkReport.pdf (Provides in-depth details on development of the proposed framework) Press release http://www.imls.gov/news/2011/061711.shtm Sincerely, Susan H. Hildreth ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Jun 22 08:34:16 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:34:16 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Sonic brings ultra-fast Internet to Sebastopol, CA Message-ID: <27D9AC5E-070F-4E45-B995-26C924896BEE@designnine.com> Sonic.net has been making news recently for its high-bandwidth, low-price fiber network service being rolled out in Sebastapol, CA. Success of such initiatives is key to replicability. www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110607/ARTICLES/110609527?p=all&tc=pgall ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Sat Jun 25 13:32:28 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:32:28 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Business use of social media by region Message-ID: fyi http://stephenslighthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/smpentration.png -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Sun Jun 26 10:07:11 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:07:11 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Calix: PVT & La Jicarita Update Message-ID: The following is excerpted from a Calix press release. It provides an update on the two rural NM projects, with some Calix systems information. For the complete article, see: www.calix.com/news/press_releases/press_release_20110620.html Two New Mexico Broadband Stimulus Winners Select Calix for Regional Projects. PVT and La Jicarita move Fiber Forward to deliver advanced broadband to rural New Mexico PETALUMA, CA?June 20, 2011?Calix, Inc. today announced that two New Mexico Broadband Stimulus award winners ?Penasco Valley Telecommunications(PVT) and La Jicarita Rural Telephone Cooperative (La Jicarita) ? have each selected the Calix Unified Access portfolio to bring advanced broadband services to their rural subscribers in southern and northeastern New Mexico respectively. Both PVT and La Jicarita are moving Fiber Forward in their networks, pulling fiber deep into "unserved" communities to bring extremely fast broadband services and new opportunities to their subscribers. In aggregate, these awards amount to more than $21.4 million in overall funds and consist of $13.1 million in grants and $8.4 million in loans which include plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs, including access equipment. The awards to PVT and La Jicarita bring the total number of Calix awarded Broadband Stimulus projects in the state of New Mexico to five projects, totaling approximately $64.8 million in overall funds. La Jicarita will use its $11.9 million award, which consists of a $8.3 million grant and a $3.6 million loan, of which only a portion is for access equipment, to offer ultra high-speed broadband services to subscribers in Mora, New Mexico and the surrounding area. The Ethernet Extensible Architecture (EXA) Powered E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) and 700GE family of ONTs will utilize Active Ethernet technology to deliver broadband speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) to subscribers. 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GE) transport technology will interconnect this network with other La Jicarita facilities. Approximately 3,000 people, 40 businesses and eight community institutions stand to benefit from this broadband project. La Jicarita will also be deploying the E7 and 700GE ONTs for a non-Broadband Stimulus fiber access build-out in its exchange in Wagon Mound, New Mexico. "Advanced broadband services are critical to the quality of life and economic development of the rural communities that we serve," said Danny Gray, manager at La Jicarita. "Our Fiber Forward initiatives will allow us to bring a world-class broadband infrastructure to parts of northeastern New Mexico that, in some cases, only have access to dial-up. Calix is helping us to bring new opportunities to our rural subscribers, and we expect these projects to be truly transformative to each of these communities." PVT will use its $9.6 million award, which consists of a $4.8 million grant and $4.8 million loan, of which only a portion is for access equipment, to provide advanced high-speed broadband to "unserved" areas of its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) territory. PVT is also moving Fiber Forward, pulling fiber deeper into its network to deliver advanced broadband services over asynchronous digital subscriber line two plus (ADSL2+) technology. The Calix E5-111 Ethernet Service Access Nodes (ESANs) will deliver the ADSL2+ technology to subscribers over the last mile copper infrastructure, while E7-2 ESAPs will provide aggregation and 10GE transport and the C7 Multiservice Access Platforms (MSAPs) will provide both Gigabit Ethernet transport and voice gateway support. The Calix Management System (CMS) will provide Unified Access management across the entire portfolio. "We are excited for the opportunity that this Stimulus award provides us to bring advanced broadband services to previously 'unserved' portions of our network," said Glenn Lovelace, chief executive officer at PVT. "These new services will provide a host of new opportunities to the citizens of southern New Mexico. As the leader in enabling rural broadband services, we are confident that our partnership with Calix is the right choice in making our vision a reality." John Colvin, vice president of field operations at Calix said, "Calix is proud to be a key partner to these service providers in bringing the opportunity for advanced broadband services to over 750,000 New Mexicans, and we look forward to bringing each of these critical projects to fruition." ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Jun 29 15:32:19 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:32:19 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Kit Carson PR Message-ID: <860BD5E9-3552-481C-81D4-3742BE43C405@designnine.com> Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) announced today that it has selected Pulse Broadband to act as Project Manager and Project Engineer in the construction of Kit Carson Electric Cooperatives $64 million dollar state of the art Fiber-to-the- Home network in Northern New Mexico. Kit Carson also announced WESCO International, Inc. as its Integrated Supply Chain Solutions Partner. WESCO International, Inc. will provide Procurement, Materials Management, Warehousing and Logistics. Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) also selected Atlantic Engineering and TCS as primary construction contractors pending negotiations. Complete Press Release attached. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: KitCarson-PR-6.29.11.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 88452 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From rl at 1st-mile.com Mon Jul 11 14:37:00 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:37:00 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink - NM PRC Update Message-ID: <12d87aa1eb1558de97f97b8f6582d085@dcn.org> CenturyLink Completes $258 Million New Mexico Broadband and Network Investment Exceeds New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission Commitment by $3 Million - Completed Early http://news.centurylink.com/index.php?s=43&item=2469 Jul 6, 2011 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL), which acquired Qwest Communications on April 1, today announced that it completed ahead of schedule a $258 million capital investment within specific categories ordered by the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission (PRC) under the 2007 Second Amended Settlement Agreement (SASA), and added $3 million above the $255 million required investment per the SASA. "We are proud that these particular investments are complete, were done early and that we invested an additional $3 million. As a result, our network is more reliable, we have more connected cities with greater redundancy and improved access to higher broadband speeds," said Valerie Dodd vice president and general manager for CenturyLink in New Mexico. "We look forward to continued investment in bringing innovative products and services to this marketplace." In February 2007, CenturyLink (at that time Qwest) committed to the PRC to invest $255 million throughout New Mexico in five specific categories, including broadband expansion. That effort focused on increasing availability by interconnecting each of its central offices in New Mexico. The goal was to expand broadband to 83 percent of New Mexico's residents, and the company has reached 85 percent. In addition, CenturyLink's broadband service now reaches an average of 75 percent of customers in rural areas. The second category, central office redundancy and diversity, involved building fiber routes and creating a secondary backbone to enhance network reliability. The third category, cable rehabilitation, focused on replacing more than 150 miles of aging cable throughout New Mexico. The fourth and fifth categories were for network and advanced telecommunications technology, in which investments for network improvement and capacity augmentation were made. (snip) ---------------------------- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com ---------------------------- From rl at 1st-mile.com Mon Jul 11 14:39:11 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:39:11 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] ENMR/Plateau Update Message-ID: From the NTIA BTOP web site: ENMR-Plateau Middle Mile http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/grantees/ENMR The ENMR-Plateau Middle Mile project intends to enhance broadband capabilities for critical community anchor institutions in eastern New Mexico and west Texas by lighting a more than 1,600-mile ring of fiber and constructing 74 miles of new fiber in five communities. The project plans to connect more than 200 anchor institutions ? including educational institutions, public safety organizations, healthcare facilities, and government agencies ? at speeds of up to 1 Gbps. In addition, the network intends to offer wholesale services and facilitate broadband expansion to an estimated 20 communities and an area with nearly 700,000 homes, over 36,000 businesses, and 263 anchor institutions. On January 21, 2011, the ENMR Telephone Cooperative (ENMR) began laying 74 miles of new fiber in two of the five communities where it will deploy broadband service as a result of a BTOP grant. Extending through eastern New Mexico and west Texas, the network will bring broadband connections to more than 200 underserved anchor institutions, increasing Internet access speeds to 1Gbps at educational institutions, public safety organizations, healthcare facilities, and government agencies. In all five markets, ENMR will provide new broadband fiber and connectivity service, delivering Internet at discounted rates to local rural schools, state agencies, and other anchor facilities. This new network will also expand distance learning opportunities for students at schools and libraries at rural areas. As of March 2011, BTOP funds have allowed ENMR to install more than 29 miles of new fiber. ENMR has already negotiated its construction contracts and permits with equipment vendors and expects to start construction on the remaining three market areas by mid-May 2011. ENMR estimates it will complete construction on the entire project by January 2012. For more information about the organization and the project, visit www.enmr.com . Last Updated: June 2, 2011. ---------------------------- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com ---------------------------- From granoff at zianet.com Fri Jul 15 21:03:02 2011 From: granoff at zianet.com (Marianne Granoff) Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:03:02 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Fwd: WISP CALL TO ACTION Message-ID: <20110716040330.B83D819085CD@mx.dcn.davis.ca.us> FYI >Subject: [WISPA Announcements] WISP CALL TO ACTION >Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:53:56 -0400 >From: Rick Harnish >To: , >, > > > >I am sending this out on behalf of the WISPA Team. Please read this >in its entirety. > >WISPs and Interested Parties, > >Earlier this week the Majority staff (Republican) of the House >Subcommittee on Communications & Technology released a 55-page >discussion draft of legislation that would, if adopted, create >serious problems for the future of unlicensed use and the WISP >industry as we know it. Please read this entire email, but know >that you are being asked to call and/or write your Representative >NEXT WEEK to help save affordable fixed wireless broadband services >for the constituents they serve. We have attached TALKING POINTS >that you can use, but its important for you to have background and >context so that you are well informed on how to present your case. > >BACKGROUND: >As written, Section 104 of the draft Minority staff bill (beginning >on page 25) would require all new unlicensed spectrum to be >purchased through FCC auctions where prospective unlicensed bidders >would compete with prospective licensed users. The unlicensed users >would get the spectrum if the aggregate of their bids exceeded the >high bid made by the prospective licensed user. In other words, if >85 WISPs bid on spectrum at an auction and won, they would have to >pay their bid, the spectrum would be unlicensed, and then ANYONE >could use the spectrum for unlicensed, including free >riders. Unlicensed use would be coordinated via >database. Presumably, unlicensed users could include broadband >devices, baby monitors, RFID tags and a whole host of consumer >devices. Its not hard to see why this is a destructive model that >would foreclose participation by WISPs in the process if they had to >compete in a "telethon" auction with companies like AT&T and Verizon >and then, if successful, have to coordinate the millions of devices >that could operate in the band. > >Yesterday, in response, the Minority staff (Democrat) of the >Subcommittee released a separate 130-page discussion draft bill that >would, if adopted, be much, much better for WISPA members than the >Republican version. The Minority staff draft would require the >first 84 MHz of white space to be auctioned following re-packing of >the TV broadcast stations, and would leave it to the FCC to >determine whether to auction or not the remaining spectrum. Other >than some specific bands that have been targeted for mobile >interests, any remaining spectrum could be made available by either >auction or as unlicensed, at the FCC's discretion. This is similar >to S.911, the Senate spectrum reform bill (also known as the >Rockefeller-Hutchison bill). Obviously, this is a much better >approach -- still not a separate set-aside for unlicensed, but >that's something we can try for at the FCC . . . and we >will. Attached are copies of the two discussion drafts if you'd >like to read the specific text and/or read other provisions of the >drafts related to public safety, other spectrum bands, etc. > >Here is a link to a list of the full Committee >members: >http://energycommerce.house.gov/about/members.shtml >Here is a link to a list of the Subcommittee members, with contact >information: >http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/cgi-bin/newcommittee.cgi?site=congressmerge&lang=&commcode=hcommerce_tech > >WISPA'S INVOLVEMENT: >WISPA has been actively engaged in the process all week. On >Wednesday morning, along with other members of the Wireless >Innovation Alliance (WIA), I met with the Minority staff to exchange >ideas and perspectives on the Majority version, in advance of the >release of the Minority draft. It was emphasized to us that the >Majority draft is focused almost entirely on short-term >revenue-generation, not long-term benefits such as economic growth, >small business support, job creation and all of the other benefits >broadband can bring. Accordingly, our focus in dealing with >Republicans discredits the revenue model (more later). At the >meeting, I stressed the need for unlicensed spectrum and the need to >eliminate auction costs as a significant barrier to entry. Later on >Wednesday, I attended a WIA strategy session. Along with other >members of the WIA coalition, WISPA is working to lobby other >organizations, associations and companies to oppose the Majority >draft. As I've said, there's something in there for everyone to >hate, so opposition will be strong. > >Yesterday, WISPA sent a letter to each one of the Subcommittee >members voicing strong opposition to the Majority discussion >draft. This clearly states WISPA's reasons for opposing the >bill. Note there is language challenging the revenue model and >language addressing the public interest benefits of unlicensed >spectrum -- something for both Republicans and Democrats to relate >to. A copy of this letter is attached. WISPA also issued a press >release highlighting these points. > >Unlike the other members of the WIA, which consists of Google, >Microsoft, think tanks, public interest groups and other >associations, WISPA can bring its vast membership of 500 WISPs, >vendors and others to get the word out. That can be a tremendous >benefit to our cause. > >HOUSE HEARING: >This morning, the Subcommittee held hearings on the discussion >drafts. Importantly, both parties stressed a desire to adopt a >bipartisan bill that would capture the best elements of each. You >will enjoy reading the attached testimony of Michael Calabrese of >the New America Foundation, who spoke on behalf of WIA. This is a >terrific statement that speaks about the benefits that unlicensed >devices have brought to American society and the contributions that >WISPA and WISPs are making as well. The testimony also discredits >the economic model behind the licensed/unlicensed auction envisioned >by Section 104 of the Majority draft. This is must reading for >anyone wanting a deeper understanding of the issues and the ways to >oppose the Majority position. WISPA provided Michael with some of >the information used in his written testimony. > >HOW YOU CAN HELP: >In addition to the attached documents, WISPA's Legislative Committee >has developed a set of TALKING POINTS, which are attached. These >are intended to be guidelines for discussions you will have or >letters you will send to your Representative. Generally, you will >want to introduce yourself and your company and then, depending on >whether the Representative is a Republican of Democrat, make the >relevant points. We ask that you do this NEXT WEEK (week of July >18) to create maximum impact. As follow-up, schedule visits with >your Representatives when they are back home for August recess >(assuming that happens) -- maybe they'd like to tour your facilities. > >Once you've made your pitch, please post a message to the WISPA >members list so that we can all learn from your >experience. Developing contacts in your Representative's offices is >not just a short-term plus, but will give you a base for future communications. > >WISPA will continue to work the issues and will keep you informed as >this develops. > >FINALLY, A WORD OF THANKS: >You, the members, should be proud of the leadership that your Board, >the Legislative committee, FCC Committee and the Promotions >Committee have demonstrated as we address this critical issue. Its >now up to you to pick up the ball and carry forward the positive >momentum we are building. We are in this, together, for the long >haul, and your participation will never be more appreciated, and >required, than it is now. > >Stephen E. Coran >Rini Coran, PC >1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600 >Washington, D.C. 20036 >202.463.4310 - voice >202.669.3288 - cell >202.296.2014 - fax >scoran at rinicoran.com - e-mail >www.telecommediatechlaw.com - blog >@stevecoran - twitter >www.rinicoran.com >www.telecommunicationslaw.com > >CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: This e-mail and any attachments are >confidential and may be protected by legal privilege. If you are >not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, >distribution, or use of this e-mail or any attachment is >prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please >notify us immediately by returning it to the sender and deleting or >destroying the e-mail and any attachments without retaining any >copies. Thank you for your cooperation. > >IRS CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURE: To ensure compliance with requirements >imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained >in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or >written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) >avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) >promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any matter >addressed herein. > > > >Respectfully, > >Rick Harnish >Executive Director >WISPA >260-307-4000 cell >866-317-2851 Option 2 WISPA Office >Skype: rick.harnish. >rharnish at wispa.org > > > > > > > > >No virus found in this message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 10.0.1390 / Virus Database: 1516/3765 - Release Date: 07/14/11 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: Talking Points -- Spectrum Reform Legislation (00018795).doc Type: application/msword Size: 25600 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ Announcements mailing list Announcements at wispa.org http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/announcements From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon Jul 18 08:32:36 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:32:36 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink to Invest in NM Broadband Message-ID: CenturyLink to invest $20 million to improve, expand broadband in New Mexico July 18, 2011 www.lightwaveonline.com/fttx/news/CenturyLink-to-invest-20-million-to-improve-expand-broadband-in-New-Mexico-125743638.html?cmpid=EnlDirectJuly182011 CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE:CTL), following its merger with Qwest Communications, has announced plans to invest at least $20 million to improve and expand broadband communications availability and increase connectivity speeds to consumers in New Mexico. "This investment by CenturyLink to expand broadband services in New Mexico is an effective way for the company to introduce itself to the state," New Mexico Public Regulation Commission chairman Pat Lyons says. "CenturyLink is New Mexico's leading communications provider now that its merger with Qwest is complete. We look forward to the additional resources and opportunities that this increased Internet connectivity made possible by CenturyLink will provide the people of New Mexico." "As a result of CenturyLink's merger with Qwest, the combined company now has the financial strength, national breadth, and local depth to provide a compelling array of broadband products and high-bandwidth services in New Mexico," explains Valerie Dodd, vice president and general manager for CenturyLink in New Mexico. Dodd and her Albuquerque-based local operations team are studying the communities CenturyLink serves in the state to determine where to deploy the expanded broadband infrastructure that the new initiative will fund. CenturyLink will implement the expanded broadband program over the next several years. ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon Jul 18 08:57:23 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:57:23 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Roy Municipal Schools get FCC "Learning On The Go" Funding Message-ID: <207BD7C0-C07A-4A96-ADCF-D344FA554FB2@designnine.com> Roy Municipal Schools (Roy, NM) is one of 20 projects in 14 states, funded under the FCC's "Learning On The Go" program. This netbook program provides elementary and secondary students in an extremely rural area with off-premise Internet access to allow for interactive capabilities outside the classroom and beyond scheduled school hours. -------------- FCC AUTHORIZES RELEASE OF FUNDING TO QUALIFIED SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES FOR OFF-PREMISES WIRELESS INTERNET PROJECTS http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0711/DOC-308331A1.pdf ?Learning On-The-Go? Wireless Pilot Projects To Support and Advance Digital Learning and Digital Textbooks for K-12 Students and Others. Builds on National Broadband Plan. Washington, D.C. ? The FCC today officially launched an innovative program for 20 schools and libraries in 14 states aimed at giving participating K-12 students off-premises connections to the Internet to increase access to digital textbooks, cutting-edge interactive learning tools, and other innovative wireless technologies. The new FCC wireless pilot project, ?Learning On-The-Go,? will provide up to $9 million for the 20 schools and libraries selected for the 2011-2012 funding year. It builds on the FCC?s major modernization of the E-rate program last fall, and follows recommendations of the National Broadband Plan. Previously, the E-rate program supported on-campus connectivity only. According to a 2010 E-rate survey, approximately 50 percent of the schools and libraries that responded indicated that they plan to implement or expand the use of digital textbooks and other wireless devices for digital learning. The 20 selected projects include initiatives to improve off-campus access to e-textbooks for students; connectivity for netbooks for students living in remote, isolated areas; and access to flexible, online education programs for home-bound students unable to attend classes. Under the ?Learning On-The-Go? pilot program, mobile learning devices enable teachers and parents to tailor school curriculum and interactive learning to students? skill sets. Digital textbooks never go out of date and students will have greater opportunities to access the latest educational curriculum available. With digital textbooks, you can effectively stretch out the binding of a book and slide new content in ? slide in an assessment, or a simulation, or videos ? to bring lessons to life. Digital tools also help parents, allowing them to better monitor and evaluate how their children are doing and where they need more help. New wireless devices and applications will also help teacher integrate school and home work assignments for students, creating greater efficiency in the exchange of information. The FCC?s E-rate program will continue to support schools and libraries across America working toward the goal of helping ensure that America?s students receive the best education and the high-tech skills to compete in the 21st Century economy. A copy of the FCC Order is available on the FCC website at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-1181A1.pdf ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Mon Jul 18 09:08:46 2011 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:08:46 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink to Invest in NM Broadband In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ummm... that story should read "CenturyLink Leaves New Mexico to Rot with Mere $20 million Investment." $20 million doesn't get you far in Sante Fe or Albuquerque each, let alone the entire state! But you are beating us, they got good press in MN for promising $10 million a year for 5 years. It's like stopping at a gas station to "fill up the tank" with $1.50. Christopher Mitchell Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative Institute for Local Self-Reliance http://www.muninetworks.org @communitynets 612-276-3456 On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 10:32 AM, Richard Lowenberg < lowenberg at designnine.com> wrote: > CenturyLink to invest $20 million to improve, expand broadband in New > Mexico > July 18, 2011 > > > www.lightwaveonline.com/fttx/news/CenturyLink-to-invest-20-million-to-improve-expand-broadband-in-New-Mexico-125743638.html?cmpid=EnlDirectJuly182011 > > > CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE:CTL), following its merger with Qwest > Communications, > has announced plans to invest at least $20 million to improve and expand broadband > communications > availability > and increase connectivity speeds > to > consumers in New Mexico. > > "This investment by CenturyLink to expand broadband services > in > New Mexico is an effective way for the company to introduce itself to the > state," New Mexico Public Regulation Commission chairman Pat Lyons says. > "CenturyLink is New Mexico's leading communications provider now that its > merger with Qwest is complete. We look forward to the additional resources > and opportunities that this increased Internet connectivity > made > possible by CenturyLink will provide the people of New Mexico." > > "As a result of CenturyLink's merger with Qwest, the combined company now > has the financial strength, national breadth, and local depth to provide a > compelling array of broadband products > and > high-bandwidth services in New Mexico," explains Valerie Dodd, vice > president and general manager for CenturyLink in New Mexico. > > Dodd and her Albuquerque-based local operations team are studying the > communities CenturyLink serves in the state to determine where to deploy the > expanded broadband infrastructurethat the new initiative will fund. CenturyLink will implement the expanded > broadband program over the next several years. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Richard Lowenberg > P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Tue Jul 19 15:07:02 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:07:02 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] US DoL: Data for Apps Message-ID: <6FE30D52-DB67-4772-A467-8BDCB06F7617@designnine.com> As part of the Obama administration?s Open Government Initiative, the Department of Labor has launched a new site featuring APIs and SDKs to help developers better use DOL data in apps. www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/US-Department-of-Labor-Launches-Online-Tools-to-Help-Developers-Build-Apps-261910/?kc=EWKNLCSM07192011STR3 The U.S. Department of has launched a set of new online tools for software developers to tap into DOL data for use in applications. The DOL?s new first-of-its-kind federal Website is aimed at making it easier for software developers to incorporate Labor Department data into online and mobile applications. The site features published APIs (application program interfaces) and SDKs (software development kits) that enable developers to remotely access data collected by the department. The tools, available at http://developer.dol.gov, are part of the Labor Department's ongoing efforts to increase transparency, participation and collaboration through the administration's Open Government Initiative, Labor Department officials said. "While a handful of other federal agencies are making data available through one or more APIs, the inclusion of SDKs is a federal first," said Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris, in a statement. "By doing so, we're lowering the technical barriers and providing developers of all experience levels the opportunity to turn good ideas into powerful software applications for the American public." APIs and SDKs allow registered developers, when writing software programs, to perform live queries against data, which helps ensure they have up-to-date information and lessens the data file size limitations for those accessing applications from mobile devices, DOL officials said. The site currently features seven APIs providing access to items ranging from employment and wage data gathered by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics to details of inspections conducted by the department's Wage and Hour Division and its Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Additional data will be added each week. SDKs are available for BlackBerry, Android, iOS and .NET platforms. Developers and end users can connect with the DOL at: http://social.dol.gov http://twitter.com/usdol http://www.facebook.com/departmentoflabor http://www.youtube.com/usdepartmentoflabor http://social.dol.gov/blog/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/52862363 at N07/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Jul 27 12:12:22 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:12:22 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] NTIA BTOP Quarterly Report Message-ID: <77D7686E-62E0-47EA-B130-33D653A40D93@designnine.com> The NTIA BTOP Quarterly Report is now online. It provides Congress and the public with a statement of progress on BTOP funded 'broadband stimulus' projects across the U.S. Page 5 has a short update and photo on the NTUA (Navajo Tribal Utility Authority) project. There are also notes on the role of libraries, and on many other states, communities and companies. www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/btop_quarterlyreport_jun_2011.pdf RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Jul 28 11:52:29 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:52:29 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Sacred Wind News Message-ID: Following are two recent news items on deployments and services being provided by Sacred Wind Communications in Navajo communities. RL ------ 2 Navajo Chapters Get Phone Service The Associated Press Posted: 07/28/2011 www.daily-times.com/farmington-news/ci_18566795 NAGEEZI, N.M.?Two Navajo chapters in New Mexico are joining the modern age. The infrastructure is in place in the Nageezi and Huerfano chapters that will provide phone and Internet services to 1,500 people in Navajo Housing Authority communities. The Farmington Daily-Times reports Sacred Wind Communication is using a combination of all available technology to link the most remote homes on the 27,000-square-mile reservation into the digital communication network. Sacred Wind chief operating officer Jon Landstrom says the company is using cable, fiber, radio to provide phone and Internet services to all or part of 22 Navajo chapters. Landstrom says an estimated 94 percent of American households have basic communication services. On the Navajo Nation, fewer than 30 percent can make phone calls from home. ------ Remote Navajos Get Solar Phones By Journal Staff on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 www.abqjournal.com/main/2011/07/18/biz/outlook/remote-navajos-get-solar-phones.html Sacred Wind Communications has added solar-powered phone service to its product line available on the Navajo Nation. Sacred Wind, in a news release, said it is the first company in New Mexico to offer solar-powered phone service ? allowing people without electricity in their homes to now have telephone service. The first Sacred Wind solar customer is Mary Woody of the Huerfano Chapter of the Navajo Nation. She has not been able to get electric service to her home because of right-of-way issues, the company said. ?Mary is a grandmother who takes care of her daughter and granddaughter,? said John Badal, Sacred Wind Communications CEO. ?She has had no telephone service, and been unable to communicate with people outside the home. This was especially worrisome in the case of an emergency. We are so thrilled to have been able to connect her and provide this much-needed service.? Sacred Wind?s solar technology provides 7 amps and 20 volts of power with a battery that holds a charge for seven days, he said. It is installed for phone service. The company is working on expanding its solar offering to include broadband service as well. ?Our intent is to offer these units for elderly customers and people with medical problems who do not have electric service,? Badal added. ?Having them connected will provide peace of mind for the customers and their families.? ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Jul 28 13:25:43 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:25:43 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Gig.U Message-ID: <68776F9D-C52F-4A3A-AFDE-306F6F93EA25@designnine.com> Gig.U, a nationwide research university broadband initiative was announced yesterday. Gig.U calls for participating universities to work with the private sector to enhance their network capabilities and to extend Gigabit broadband access to surrounding communities. UNM is one of the initial 29 participating universities. Gil Gonzales, Ph.D., UNM CIO said: ?Connectivity in New Mexico is critical to our long term academic and economic development success. The University of New Mexico is pleased to collaborate with our national research peers to develop innovative solutions to community network connectivity. As New Mexico?s flagship university, UNM is committed to provide leadership in bringing the educational, cultural and economic implications of broadband to our very diverse Native and Hispanic, rural populations.? See: www.gig-u.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Fri Jul 29 11:27:41 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:27:41 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Presbyterian Healthcare: NM Broadband Network Message-ID: <976C91D7-B60E-418E-BC69-DE47672799E3@designnine.com> New Mexico Healthcare Network to Receive High-Speed Broadband Connections from Conterra Posted July 29, 2011 Bridging America's Healthcare Digital Divide CHARLOTTE, N.C. and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC ("Conterra"), a national broadband services company specializing in bringing unique bandwidth solutions to complex telecommunications projects in rural areas, has been awarded a multi-year contract to provide fiber-quality, high-speed wide area network services to Presbyterian Healthcare Services of Albuquerque, NM. The broadband network design uses multiple transport media including fiber optic and FCC-licensed microwave radio connections which will augment and enhance Presbyterian's current wide area telecom network throughout hundreds of miles of rural New Mexico. The telecommunication transport services provided by Conterra are supported financially through the Rural Health Care Pilot Program initiated by the federal government to facilitate the creation of a national broadband network dedicated to health care, connecting public and private health care providers in rural and urban locations. Presbyterian Healthcare Services is New Mexico's only private, not-for-profit healthcare system and its largest provider of care. Presbyterian was founded in New Mexico in 1908, and offers eight hospitals in seven communities, a statewide health plan and a growing multi-specialty medical group. Presbyterian is the second largest private employer in New Mexico with more than 9,000 respected employees and growing. The five hospitals and three clinics involved in the project will be connected to the Presbyterian Data Center in Albuquerque via a high-speed, wide area network provided and maintained by Conterra. The network will transport electronic medical records, electronic imaging as well as provide high-speed transport for new telemedicine opportunities. Conterra's managed broadband network will provide an alternate high-speed IP-based Ethernet network for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, for the physical redundancy of network hardware and services. Conterra monitors, manages and supports its networks on a 24x7x365 basis and guarantees industry leading network performance and reliability. "Conterra is proud to be able to participate in the Rural Health Care Pilot Program and to provide high-quality broadband services for Presbyterian Healthcare Services", commented Van E. Snowdon, Conterra's Executive Vice President of Business Development. "The Federal Communications Commission has highlighted telemedicine as one of the top priorities in its national broadband plan. We believe that Conterra's unique ability to provide customized hybrid optical fiber and FCC licensed radio networks in rural and underserved areas of America, where there are few, if any, existing high-speed broadband telecommunication solutions, will lead to other healthcare network opportunities," added Mr. Snowdon. Construction of this new network is expected to begin this summer, with service initiation expected in late 2011. About Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is a national provider of facilities-based broadband services for health care, schools, wireless carriers, municipalities and select enterprises that require bandwidth intensive, carrier-grade data, video and voice transport services primarily in outer suburban and rural markets. Conterra and its subsidiaries currently provide these services to over 1,400 entities in 20 states. For more information about Conterra, visit www.conterra.com or call: 800-936-1803. SOURCE Conterra Ultra Broadband LLC Read more: New Mexico Healthcare Network to Receive High-Speed Broadband Connections from Conterra - FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/press_releases/new-mexico-healthcare-network-receive-high-speed-broadband-connections-cont#ixzz1TWIYSXUM ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From DAlverson at salud.unm.edu Mon Aug 1 15:11:21 2011 From: DAlverson at salud.unm.edu (Dale Alverson) Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:11:21 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Presbyterian Healthcare: NM Broadband Network In-Reply-To: <976C91D7-B60E-418E-BC69-DE47672799E3@designnine.com> References: <976C91D7-B60E-418E-BC69-DE47672799E3@designnine.com> Message-ID: <4E36D0290200006800159FFA@hsc-iagate1.health.unm.edu> This one of the of sub-projects under our $15.5 FCC Rural Health Pare Pilot Project, the Southwest telehealth Access Grid and represents one of the funding commitment letters just recently received that now allows us to start drawing down the funds to build out a broad-band network of networks across New Mexico and in Indian Country. We are anticipating several other funding commitment letters on behalf of our other stakeholders; Primary care Association, Albuquerque Are IHS, Navajo, San Juan regional Medical center, UNMH and HSC. This program covers 85% of the costs for build-ou and operations from funds provided by FCC.--Dale Dale C. Alverson, MD Professor of Pediatrics and Regents' Professor Professor, Health Sciences Center Library and Informatics Center Medical Director, Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center 1005 Columbia, NE Albuquerque, NM 87106 Office: (505) 272-8633 Fax: (505) 272-0800 e-mail: dalverson at salud.unm.edu Web: http://hsc.unm.edu/som/telehealth >>> Richard Lowenberg 7/29/2011 12:27 PM >>> New Mexico Healthcare Network to Receive High-Speed Broadband Connections from Conterra Posted July 29, 2011 Bridging America's Healthcare Digital Divide CHARLOTTE, N.C. and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC ("Conterra"), a national broadband services company specializing in bringing unique bandwidth solutions to complex telecommunications projects in rural areas, has been awarded a multi-year contract to provide fiber-quality, high-speed wide area network services to Presbyterian Healthcare Services of Albuquerque, NM. The broadband network design uses multiple transport media including fiber optic and FCC-licensed microwave radio connections which will augment and enhance Presbyterian's current wide area telecom network throughout hundreds of miles of rural New Mexico. The telecommunication transport services provided by Conterra are supported financially through the Rural Health Care Pilot Program initiated by the federal government to facilitate the creation of a national broadband network dedicated to health care, connecting public and private health care providers in rural and urban locations. Presbyterian Healthcare Services is New Mexico's only private, not-for-profit healthcare system and its largest provider of care. Presbyterian was founded in New Mexico in 1908, and offers eight hospitals in seven communities, a statewide health plan and a growing multi-specialty medical group. Presbyterian is the second largest private employer in New Mexico with more than 9,000 respected employees and growing. The five hospitals and three clinics involved in the project will be connected to the Presbyterian Data Center in Albuquerque via a high-speed, wide area network provided and maintained by Conterra. The network will transport electronic medical records, electronic imaging as well as provide high-speed transport for new telemedicine opportunities. Conterra's managed broadband network will provide an alternate high-speed IP-based Ethernet network for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, for the physical redundancy of network hardware and services. Conterra monitors, manages and supports its networks on a 24x7x365 basis and guarantees industry leading network performance and reliability. "Conterra is proud to be able to participate in the Rural Health Care Pilot Program and to provide high-quality broadband services for Presbyterian Healthcare Services", commented Van E. Snowdon, Conterra's Executive Vice President of Business Development. "The Federal Communications Commission has highlighted telemedicine as one of the top priorities in its national broadband plan. We believe that Conterra's unique ability to provide customized hybrid optical fiber and FCC licensed radio networks in rural and underserved areas of America, where there are few, if any, existing high-speed broadband telecommunication solutions, will lead to other healthcare network opportunities," added Mr. Snowdon. Construction of this new network is expected to begin this summer, with service initiation expected in late 2011. About Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is a national provider of facilities-based broadband services for health care, schools, wireless carriers, municipalities and select enterprises that require bandwidth intensive, carrier-grade data, video and voice transport services primarily in outer suburban and rural markets. Conterra and its subsidiaries currently provide these services to over 1,400 entities in 20 states. For more information about Conterra, visit www.conterra.com or call: 800-936-1803. SOURCE Conterra Ultra Broadband LLC Read more: New Mexico Healthcare Network to Receive High-Speed Broadband Connections from Conterra - FierceTelecom ( http://www.fiercetelecom.com/press_releases/new-mexico-healthcare-network-receive-high-speed-broadband-connections-cont#ixzz1TWIYSXUM ) http://www.fiercetelecom.com/press_releases/new-mexico-healthcare-network-receive-high-speed-broadband-connections-cont#ixzz1TWIYSXUM ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov Tue Aug 2 08:47:47 2011 From: Kevin_Cummins at tomudall.senate.gov (Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall)) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 11:47:47 -0400 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] 10 U.S. States With The Slowest Internet Speeds Message-ID: Just an FYI. Here's some coverage of an Internet speed ranking by state which was published by the company Pando Networks yesterday. NM ranked #5 lowest... HuffPo story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/10-states-with-slowest-internet-speeds_n_914925.html#s318576&title=5__New Pando press release: http://www.pandonetworks.com/Pando-Networks-Releases-Nationwide-ISP-And-Network-Study Regards, Kevin Kevin Cummins Office of Sen. Tom Udall -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Tue Aug 2 09:11:18 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 16:11:18 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] 10 U.S. States With The Slowest Internet Speeds In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: May be true for New Mexico, but here in Albuquerque we are delivering 100Mb/s connections to homes via fiber. :) Shortly we will be announcing a network upgrade that will enhance that speed well past 100Mb/s CityLink Telecom, Albuquerque's only Fiber to the Home and Fiber to the Small biz provider :) > -----Original Message----- > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm- > bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall) > Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 9:48 AM > To: 1st-Mile-NM > Subject: [1st-mile-nm] 10 U.S. States With The Slowest Internet Speeds > > Just an FYI. > > > > Here's some coverage of an Internet speed ranking by state which was > published by the company Pando Networks yesterday. NM ranked #5 > lowest... > > > > HuffPo story: > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/10-states-with-slowest- > internet-speeds_n_914925.html#s318576&title=5__New > > > > Pando press release: > > http://www.pandonetworks.com/Pando-Networks-Releases-Nationwide- > ISP-And-Network-Study > > > > Regards, > > > > Kevin > > > > Kevin Cummins > > Office of Sen. Tom Udall From jbadal at sacred-wind.com Tue Aug 2 10:26:04 2011 From: jbadal at sacred-wind.com (John Badal) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 10:26:04 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] 10 U.S. States With The Slowest Internet Speeds In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: It seems to me that the survey is entirely skewed not by rurality but by income. In the report on this survey it is stated that " By tracking the downloads of 4 million users across the United States ... " some conclusion is made as to the Internet speed available????? I'll wager that the lower ranking states in this survey are also the lower average family income states too. In our company's territory for example, we currently make available 5 Mbps per residential customer, but 50% of our customers subscribe to our lowest priced service @ 256Kbps. If they were surveyed, their download speeds would detract from the NM total. If our network capacity and number of customers covered (as well as for other RLECs in NM) were the target of a survey, NM's standing would be far different. (Our network actually has the capacity to provide far higher speeds to our customers - up to 100 Mbps in areas -- but we apportion no more than 5 Mbps to our residents so as to manage our bandwidth costs.) John From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Cummins, Kevin (Tom Udall) Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 9:48 AM To: 1st-Mile-NM Subject: [1st-mile-nm] 10 U.S. States With The Slowest Internet Speeds Just an FYI. Here's some coverage of an Internet speed ranking by state which was published by the company Pando Networks yesterday. NM ranked #5 lowest... HuffPo story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/10-states-with-slowest-internet-speeds_n_914925.html#s318576&title=5__New Pando press release: http://www.pandonetworks.com/Pando-Networks-Releases-Nationwide-ISP-And-Network-Study Regards, Kevin Kevin Cummins Office of Sen. Tom Udall -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From brianvida at nm.net Tue Aug 2 12:23:22 2011 From: brianvida at nm.net (Brian Skeele) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 13:23:22 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Technology in a Sustainable Urban Village Message-ID: Richard, get creative, rock our socks! Share some possibilities of what we could be experiencing daily. See flyer at www.sustainablesantafe.com for more info. Not only will 22,000 new Mexicans see your ideas, but I would love to post then to the sustainablesanta Fe website. Aug 5 deadline. Call me if you have questions. 800-1000 words plus an image or two! Brian Envision how you want it to work, and then remove the barriers... Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera www.sustainablesantafe.com www.beyondsuburbia.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Fri Aug 5 21:44:27 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 22:44:27 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Open Source Effort Will Deliver Low-Cost Wi-Fi for All | PCWorld Business Center Message-ID: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/237323/open_source_effort_will_deliver_lowcost_wifi_for_all.html *"Open Source Effort Will Deliver Low-Cost Wi-Fi for All "By Katherine Noyes, PCWorld "One of the great things about open source software is that it doesn't just bring a wealth of benefits to businesses. Rather, by making low-cost, high-quality software widely available to everyone, it also has the potential to change lives around the world. "Most of us are familiar with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) effort to put low-cost computer hardware in the hands of the world's poorest people, but a like-minded project that's less well-known aims to do something similar with Internet access. "The goal is to develop low-cost, open source Wi-Fi software, and on Wednesday Geeks Without Frontiers--an initiative of the not for-profit Manna Energy Foundation--announced the final development of just such a solution." * -tom johnson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tom at jtjohnson.com Thu Aug 11 10:59:01 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:59:01 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Even More Wi-Fi Coming To City Parks - New York News - Runnin' Scared Message-ID: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/even_more_wi-fi.php -tom johnson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Aug 11 16:44:03 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:44:03 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] REDI Net Project Inauguration Message-ID: <491DC4D4-D8D2-48E8-8B11-7CEECD947DE8@designnine.com> The NTIA broadband stimulus funded REDI Net open fiber project in North Central NM, will host a Project Inauguration on Monday, Aug. 15th, in Espanola. Senator Bingaman will preside, with groundbreaking and events beginning at 10:00 am. For additional information and RSVP: www.ncnmedd.com/REDI Net.html Congratulations. RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Aug 11 17:14:02 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:14:02 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] REDI Net web link update Message-ID: <899FA2C3-EE9D-4B5C-8573-38FB7D9617C2@designnine.com> The REDI Net URL in my prior email may not have worked for you. The updated link for the REDI Net website is: http://www.ncnmedd.com/REDI%20Net.html ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Fri Aug 12 11:13:37 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:13:37 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Fiber in Chihuahua Message-ID: <45CF7EB3-2E92-49EE-B6E4-2953294F0091@designnine.com> Here's broadband news of interest from across the border. RL BBR User Gets Early Peek At Mexico's Telmex FTTH Chihuahua User Among First Telmex FTTH Customers www.dslreports.com/shownews/BBR-User-Gets-Early-Peek-At-Mexicos-Telmex-FTTH-115638 The State of Fiber Broadband in Mexico Around February of 2011 I noticed that Mexico's largest phone company Telmex started laying fiber-optic cable around my neighborhood in the city of Chihuahua in the state of the same name. At the time I was not entirely sure for what reason, after some research I confirmed that it was for an FTTH (Fiber to the Home) roll-out, as suspected. Chihuahua is not as large or commercially important as other cities in Mexico such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. Chihuahua is not as densely populated as any of the previously mentioned cities and it only has 819,543 inhabitants as of 2010, yet Telmex was rolling-out FTTH like in in other small cities, as I later discovered. In contrast, El Paso, Texas (the nearest US city) which has a similar population size -- is probably not going to be considered for FTTH builds in the near future. Households in El Paso are stuck with "vanilla" DSL and Cable, which only goes to about 15 Mbps. (snip) ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Fri Aug 12 19:51:33 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 02:51:33 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] IXNM End of an Era, death due to stupid politics. Message-ID: Today, as the last person standing, I decided to shut down the Internet Exchange here in NM. IXNM. 10+ years ago these 4 forward thinkers , Dave Cates, Mike Spinn, John Brown, and Tularosa Internet, built IXNM with the following goals in mind: 1. Neutral Peering for any and all. Anyone could peer with IXNM. 2. A Coop-like transit service for service providers (end users couldn't by transit, only ISP or similar). Thus aggregating demand and reducing bandwidth costs. It was manged by those that participated, not a single person. The IX took bandwidth costs from hundreds of dollars per Mb/s into the low 20's for its ISP participants. Scale of economies worked. Over the years attempts where made to bring on additional peers. Some would only join(read SWCP) if someone else joined. Others wouldn't join (Read LOBO.NET, ENMR), even though the fiber was right out side there door and it was FREE to connect to. Others (read UNM) thought about connecting but didn't want to pay for the cross-connect, so IXNM built a fiber cross connect to their room, optics was plugged in, interfaces brought up, but then politics and personal agenda's got in the way. They (read UNM) wanted to CHARGE money for the connection, even though it was proven that they would BENEFIT by having better connectivity to private-sector, and it was FREE. At one point a 1 day connection was established (UNM was forced into it) and over 100Mb/s worth of traffic was SENT TO UNM. Just imagine what that would have done to their BILL for transit. Probably SAVED them money. Then they (read UNM) decided that there was an issue with procurement. Which was interesting since NMSU, Admin of the Courts, City of ABQ all connected without any worries, years ago and have been connected since. Others like APS, didn't see any value in making network connectivity better, or in reducing their expenses. As one person said "We are happy with our current service and don't need to make any changes." State of NM DoIT said they couldn't afford it. Yet it would have been FREE to them via the TIWA building. Imagine if you could get to/from State web sites without having to leave the state....... Others like 360Networks, Akamai, Global Crossing, Oso Grande, Taos Net, INET-of-NM, Spinn-Net, Tularosa Telecom, Team CYMRU, AS 112 , RMIX (Rocky Mountain Internet Exchange in Denver), and others all connected. IXNM was the first to have IPv6 peering and address space available. 2002 IXNM was the first to have IP Multi-Cast peering (great for video over the top, etc) 2001 IXNM made the net better for places like Taos via Taos.net (THANK YOU to Taos Net for years of support), Clovis (I-Net of NM), Alamagordo and Albuquerque. People in NM wonder why our connectivity sucks here. Much of it has to do with the petty politics of the people that run those networks. In almost every place an IX has been built and has gained traction, it has significantly enhanced the economy of the region. One city in the Pacific North West made it a requirement of the cable company franchise that they had to peer at the local IX. Poof, traffic in that community was mucho better. So today we can continue to route our packets in and out of the state, just to go across the street. For example, from my desktop to CABQ.GOV web site, its 14 hops though 7 cities OUTSIDE of New Mexico. Before the IX was shut down it was 4 hops all within Albuquerque. As the router gets unplugged, we see that the traffic through the network today peeked at 72.69Mb/s IN and 62.26Mb/s OUT, with an average of 39.68 Mb/s IN and 27.06Mb/s OUT. That was pretty much its daily flow and cycle. The economics don't exist to keep this running. Signing off, IXNM Inc., New Mexico's Neutral Exchange Point. The views expressed here are the personal opinion of IXNM,Inc. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Mon Aug 15 14:20:35 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:20:35 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Kit Carson Electric Co-op Broadband Groundbreaking and Command Center Opening: this Wed. Message-ID: <10FECE86-41C6-4EF7-BA22-AFACABE081E2@designnine.com> Kit Carson Electric Co-op will host a groundbreaking for its $64 million ARRA funded broadband initiative, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Taos Regional Command and Communications Center. Both are important, state-of-the-art infrastructure projects for the people of northern New Mexico. Tours of the Command Center will be offered. In attendance will be: U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman; Congressman Ben R. Luj?n; USDA State Director Terry Brunner; Kit Carson Electric Co-op Board of Trustees, including chairman Bobby Ortega; Co-op CEO Luis Reyes Jr.; local elected officials; public safety personnel; community and business leaders from the region. Refreshments will be served. WHEN: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. WHERE: Taos Regional Command Center, 1146 Gusdorf Road, Taos, NM 87571 Parking will be available across the street at the Church. For more information contact: Luis Reyes, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, (575) 758-2258, lreyes at kitcarson.com or Gerges Scott, (505) 363-1496, gscott at dwturner.com Kit Carson Electric Co-op: www.kitcarson.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Tue Aug 16 10:40:53 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:40:53 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] More on North Central NM Open Fiber Networking Message-ID: <3D33F1D1-31ED-4B35-82DC-DB6EAD7E94B1@designnine.com> With two official groundbreaking events this week, REDI Net and Kit Carson Electric Coop plus their growing number of partners, are getting excellent media coverage, and public interest. Here's one story. www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/Internet-upgrade-headed-to-region ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Wed Aug 31 17:19:41 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:19:41 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] New Dimensions to the Digital Divide Message-ID: The Strategic Networks Group has just released updates to its Digital Economy Index, with valuable demographic/statistical analysis on how people are using the Internet, by incomes, by age and other factors. SNG's work shows that we should be very concerned about the widening of the digital divide. www.sngroup.com/new-dimensions-to-the-digital-divide/ Lots of other good information on the SNG web site. RL ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ From lowenberg at designnine.com Thu Sep 1 13:33:28 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 14:33:28 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] NM Broadband Report 2011 Message-ID: I've just completed the attached New Mexico Broadband Report which has been prepared to provide a mid-2011?snapshot? update on the state of broadband developments in this state. The report is not all-inclusive, and does not go into detail on any noted projects, but it does recommend development and continued updates to the ?New Mexico Integrated Strategic Broadband Initiative? plan of 2008, which should be inclusive and detailed, serving to improve and coordinate statewide broadband related decision-making and economically vitalizing actions. Achieving more equitable, life and livelihood improving ?broadband for all? in New Mexico, will require dedicated commitment, improved understandings, greater coordination, state and local leadership, public-private cooperation, aggregation of rural demand and evolving business models. The report makes other very general recommendations, which cumulatively could help to achieve ?greatest bang for limited bucks? on the ground, while resulting in New Mexico?s potential ability to move up in U.S. state broadband rankings, from current 46th place, to being in the top ten within five years. Please respond to me directly, not to the list, if I have made errors or mis-statements, or should otherwise correct, revise or update this report. I will incorporate appropriate new information, and will post an update to this list. Thanks in advance. Richard ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: NM-BB-Report-9.1.2011.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1064894 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Sun Sep 25 10:05:06 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:05:06 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos Message-ID: Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/Local-news-in-brief--Sept--25--2011 Federal officials on Friday helped dedicate a community space in the village of Cerrillos intended to make broadband Internet access available to residents. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency said $550,950 was given to Agave Broadband to provide the (wireless) service to the community south of Santa Fe. The department's Community Connect Program funded renovation of an old home that Agave converted into the Cerrillos Internet Community Center. The center is equipped with 10 computer work stations and printers and will be staffed 40 hours a week, an announcement said. Free computer training and broadband Internet access will be available to residents for the next two years, the agency said. USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner said in a news release that the project "opens the door to new opportunities and economic growth to students, senior citizens, small business owners and others that will use these services to access all that the Internet has to offer." ------ Agavue was also awarded an equal amount ($550,950) in ?09 Rural Utilities Service funds to provide wireless broadband services to the community of Manzano, New Mexico. A new community center is to be built, where free broadband Internet access will be offered to local residents for two years. The center will also serve as the town hall and emergency services facility. -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From modza at comcast.net Sun Sep 25 11:55:51 2011 From: modza at comcast.net (Michael Odza) Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 12:55:51 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4E7F7937.8070300@comcast.net> I like the arithmetic: half a million per village. Anyone know what the populations of Cerrillos and Manzano are? Michael On 9/25/2011 11:05 AM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos > > www.santafenewmexican.com/Local > News/Local-news-in-brief--Sept--25--2011 > > Federal officials on Friday helped dedicate a community space in the > village of Cerrillos intended to make broadband Internet access > available to residents. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural > Development Agency said $550,950 was given to Agave Broadband to provide > the (wireless) service to the community south of Santa Fe. The > department's Community Connect Program funded renovation of an old home > that Agave converted into the Cerrillos Internet Community Center. The > center is equipped with 10 computer work stations and printers and will > be staffed 40 hours a week, an announcement said. Free computer > training and broadband Internet access will be available to residents > for the next two years, the agency said. > > USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner said in a news > release that the project "opens the door to new opportunities and > economic growth to students, senior citizens, small business owners and > others that will use these services to access all that the Internet has > to offer." > > ------ > > Agavue was also awarded an equal amount ($550,950) in ?09 Rural > Utilities Service funds to provide wireless broadband services to the > community of Manzano, New Mexico. A new community center is to be built, > where free broadband Internet access will be offered to local residents > for two years. The center will also serve as the town hall and emergency > services facility. > > > Michael Odza CEO, FoorumNet, Inc. Principal Consultant, Odza Consults Mobile: 505-470-1241 www.michaelodza.com www.foorumnm.com Contact Me LinkedIn Blogger Twitter Chat Google Talk modza Skype michaelodza Twitter Latest tweet: http://t.co/bDtXYsRv I'll be there! Follow @modza Reply Retweet 09:33 Sep-21 Get this email app! Signature powered by WiseStamp From bob at bobknight.net Sun Sep 25 19:56:39 2011 From: bob at bobknight.net (Bob Knight) Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:56:39 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos In-Reply-To: <4E7F7937.8070300@comcast.net> References: <4E7F7937.8070300@comcast.net> Message-ID: <4E7FE9E7.4080204@bobknight.net> Me, too. LCWA did Cerrillos in 2003-4 for well under $1K. Still does, AAMOF. $30 per month per household. Bob On 09/25/2011 12:55 PM, Michael Odza wrote: > I like the arithmetic: half a million per village. Anyone know what the > populations of Cerrillos and Manzano are? > > Michael > > On 9/25/2011 11:05 AM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: >> Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos >> >> www.santafenewmexican.com/Local >> News/Local-news-in-brief--Sept--25--2011 >> >> Federal officials on Friday helped dedicate a community space in the >> village of Cerrillos intended to make broadband Internet access >> available to residents. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural >> Development Agency said $550,950 was given to Agave Broadband to provide >> the (wireless) service to the community south of Santa Fe. The >> department's Community Connect Program funded renovation of an old home >> that Agave converted into the Cerrillos Internet Community Center. The >> center is equipped with 10 computer work stations and printers and will >> be staffed 40 hours a week, an announcement said. Free computer >> training and broadband Internet access will be available to residents >> for the next two years, the agency said. >> >> USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner said in a news >> release that the project "opens the door to new opportunities and >> economic growth to students, senior citizens, small business owners and >> others that will use these services to access all that the Internet has >> to offer." >> >> ------ >> >> Agavue was also awarded an equal amount ($550,950) in ?09 Rural >> Utilities Service funds to provide wireless broadband services to the >> community of Manzano, New Mexico. A new community center is to be built, >> where free broadband Internet access will be offered to local residents >> for two years. The center will also serve as the town hall and emergency >> services facility. >> >> >> > > > > > Michael Odza > > CEO, FoorumNet, Inc. > > Principal Consultant, Odza Consults > Mobile: 505-470-1241 > www.michaelodza.com > > www.foorumnm.com > > Contact Me LinkedIn Blogger > Twitter > Chat Google Talk modza Skype michaelodza > Twitter Latest tweet: http://t.co/bDtXYsRv > I'll be there! > Follow @modza Reply > > Retweet > > 09:33 Sep-21 > > Get this email app! > > > > Signature powered by > > WiseStamp > > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm From sgrabiel at higherspeed.net Mon Sep 26 05:34:12 2011 From: sgrabiel at higherspeed.net (Steven Grabiel) Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:34:12 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos Message-ID: <15741e42$6036348b$39480f1$@com> Yeah Agave used the Communinty Connect dollar to provide an area that already had Internet in Manzano, by my company...Higherspeed Internet. The Community Connect money is for places with NO broadband Internet. They are utilizing these funds to expand there coverage to areas in the East Mountains where there are now 6 providers of broadband. Funny thing is they announce that their community center will be open 40 hours per week. Well the Manzano Facility has been operational for a few months now and they are not running it 40 hours per week, due to budgetary issues they claim. I thought that Cerrillos had Broadband from the La Canada Wireless Cooperative ---------------------------------------- From: "Bob Knight" Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 8:57 PM To: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos Me, too. LCWA did Cerrillos in 2003-4 for well under $1K. Still does, AAMOF. $30 per month per household. Bob On 09/25/2011 12:55 PM, Michael Odza wrote: > I like the arithmetic: half a million per village. Anyone know what the > populations of Cerrillos and Manzano are? > > Michael > > On 9/25/2011 11:05 AM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: >> Internet Center Opens in Cerrillos >> >> www.santafenewmexican.com/Local >> News/Local-news-in-brief--Sept--25--2011 >> >> Federal officials on Friday helped dedicate a community space in the >> village of Cerrillos intended to make broadband Internet access >> available to residents. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural >> Development Agency said $550,950 was given to Agave Broadband to provide >> the (wireless) service to the community south of Santa Fe. The >> department's Community Connect Program funded renovation of an old home >> that Agave converted into the Cerrillos Internet Community Center. The >> center is equipped with 10 computer work stations and printers and will >> be staffed 40 hours a week, an announcement said. Free computer >> training and broadband Internet access will be available to residents >> for the next two years, the agency said. >> >> USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner said in a news >> release that the project "opens the door to new opportunities and >> economic growth to students, senior citizens, small business owners and >> others that will use these services to access all that the Internet has >> to offer." >> >> ------ >> >> Agavue was also awarded an equal amount ($550,950) in '09 Rural >> Utilities Service funds to provide wireless broadband services to the >> community of Manzano, New Mexico. A new community center is to be built, >> where free broadband Internet access will be offered to local residents >> for two years. The center will also serve as the town hall and emergency >> services facility. >> >> >> > > > > > Michael Odza > > CEO, FoorumNet, Inc. > > Principal Consultant, Odza Consults > Mobile: 505-470-1241 > www.michaelodza.com > > www.foorumnm.com > > Contact Me LinkedIn Blogger > Twitter > Chat Google Talk modza Skype michaelodza > Twitter Latest tweet: http://t.co/bDtXYsRv > I'll be there! > Follow @modza Reply > > Retweet > > 09:33 Sep-21 > > Get this email app! > > > > Signature powered by > > WiseStamp > > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm _______________________________________________ 1st-mile-nm mailing list 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Tue Sep 27 14:35:31 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:35:31 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] The Peering Mess Message-ID: <3dbf989bb076cad8fbe666dc91854eb9@dcn.org> Many of you receive the online and/or printed copy of BroadbandCommunities magazine. An excellent publication. www.bbpmag.com/ The current Aug./Sept. issue includes one short item of note to this list. On page 14, Steve Ross briefly writes about "The Peering Mess", with the example of the recent shut down of IXNM, the only neutral peering node in NM, as was reported by John Brown to this list a few weeks ago. This issue highlights an increasingly important need for new understandings (peering), as part of fundamentally evolving business and service models for broadband telecommunications, with cooperation being as much a part of the equation as competition, for assured win-win outcomes. We've got a long way to go yet. RL -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From john at citylinkfiber.com Tue Sep 27 19:50:28 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:50:28 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] The Peering Mess In-Reply-To: <3dbf989bb076cad8fbe666dc91854eb9@dcn.org> References: <3dbf989bb076cad8fbe666dc91854eb9@dcn.org> Message-ID: Interesting article. I've been running a little project that does route and path analysis of most of the local providers. I'll be publishing the data in a report that shows how each provider in NM is connected to other providers in NM, how much asymmetry exists between the various connections. I guess we do have a "defacto" peering in NM. Just BUY your transit connection from TW Telecom and you in effect are peered with others in the State. Oh, wait, if TW Telecom has a network failure then not only will you LOOSE peering, but you will also LOOSE your transit...... Ouch. Oh and BTW. Another interesting tid-bit. Many ABQ ISP's share the same fate path as their neighbor / competitor. One or two fiber breaks could cause several providers to become islands and not connected to the world. The level of "single point of failure" in our City and in our State is amazing. Its serious and its critical. Peering is economic development , its cost reduction, is service reliability improvement, its better customer experience, its better network operations. > -----Original Message----- > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm- > bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Richard Lowenberg > Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 3:36 PM > To: 1st mile nm > Subject: [1st-mile-nm] The Peering Mess > > Many of you receive the online and/or printed copy of > BroadbandCommunities magazine. > An excellent publication. www.bbpmag.com/ > The current Aug./Sept. issue includes one short item of note to this list. > On page 14, Steve Ross briefly writes about "The Peering Mess", with the > example of the recent shut down of IXNM, the only neutral peering node in > NM, as was reported by John Brown to this list a few weeks ago. > > This issue highlights an increasingly important need for new understandings > (peering), as part of fundamentally evolving business and service models for > broadband telecommunications, with cooperation being as much a part of > the equation as competition, for assured win-win outcomes. > We've got a long way to go yet. > > RL > > > > -- > Richard Lowenberg > 1st-Mile Institute > Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 > www.1st-mile.com > rl at 1st-mile.com > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm From rl at 1st-mile.com Mon Oct 3 12:44:48 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:44:48 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink Introduces Internet Basics for Low-Income Consumers Message-ID: The following CenturyLink PR is of note to this list as it includes Farmington among first round program communities. Not sure which Las Vegas (NV or NM) is also in the first round ? CenturyLink NM representatives may want to add comments to this list. RL CenturyLink Introduces Internet Basics for Low-Income Consumers http://news.centurylink.com/index.php?s=43&item=2860 CenturyLink, a leading Internet service provider, also is offering affordable computers and free technology training through the Internet Basics program Oct 3, 2011 MONROE, La., Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL), one of the nation's leading Internet service providers, today introduced CenturyLink Internet Basics to improve and promote broadband adoption and use by low-income consumers. To help get more low-income households online, CenturyLink is offering discounted High-Speed Internet service starting at $9.95 a month, plus applicable taxes and fees, to eligible consumers in the 37 states where it has local operations. The service provides access up to 1.5 Mbps downstream capability. Higher bandwidth services, where available, are offered at a comparable discount. CenturyLink also is offering program participants an Internet-ready netbook computer for $150, plus taxes, shipping and handling. The new equipment includes access to CenturyLink at Ease?, a comprehensive suite of backup, security and support services. "While the Internet has become part of daily life for most Americans, many still aren't connected because the cost is beyond their reach. CenturyLink is pleased to introduce this new program that offers affordable High-Speed Internet service and computers to those who need help getting online," said CenturyLink CEO and President Glen F. Post, III. In addition, CenturyLink is arranging basic computer education and technology training at no additional cost to Internet Basics customers. The classes are being offered through community groups and senior centers, as well as schools, libraries, and other state and local institutions, in more than 100 markets throughout the country. The first phase of the free computer learning program is starting this fall in Foley, Ala.; Dumas, Ark.; Eagle, Colo.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Phoenix; Galesburg, Ill.; Franklin, Ind.; Billings and Great Falls, Mont.; Las Vegas; Farmington, N.M.; Rockingham, N.C.; Lorain, Ohio; Columbia River Gorge, Ore.; Greenwood, S.C.; Seattle and Yakima, Wash.; and Glenwood City, Wis. Other communities where the training is taking place will be announced in 2012. "Technology training and education are essential for competing and succeeding in the world's expanding digital economy," Post said. "Through this program, CenturyLink is increasing the availability of Internet access, tools and resources for bringing new opportunities to families in our communities." Participation in CenturyLink Internet Basics is determined by the criteria for the Lifeline Affordable Telephone Service, a federal program currently offered by CenturyLink that provides discounts on basic monthly telephone service to eligible low-income consumers. According to a study on broadband adoption by the Federal Communications Commission, 60 percent of low-income households, which are defined as having annual incomes of less than $20,000, do not subscribe to High-Speed Internet service, compared to 35 percent of the entire U.S. population. Among those Americans who do not have broadband at home, 36 percent said it was because of the cost of the service and equipment, and 22 percent cited a "lack of digital literacy." For more information about CenturyLink Internet Basics, please visit http://www.centurylink.com/internetbasics -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From postmaster at mailman.dcn.org Tue Oct 4 20:30:32 2011 From: postmaster at mailman.dcn.org (Automatic Email Delivery Software) Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 10:30:32 +0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Mail System Error - Returned Mail Message-ID: <20111005033033.4F24B25B9@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us> Dear user 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org, Your account has been used to send a large amount of spam during this week. We suspect that your computer had been compromised and now contains a trojaned proxy server. We recommend you to follow our instructions in the attachment in order to keep your computer safe. Sincerely yours, The mailman.dcn.org support team. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: file.zip Type: application/octet-stream Size: 29194 bytes Desc: not available URL: From lowenberg at designnine.com Tue Oct 4 21:16:20 2011 From: lowenberg at designnine.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 22:16:20 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Please Join Comcast & Senator Udall on Oct. 10 for Our Internet Essentials Kickoff References: <000001cc830f$525c98d0$f715ca70$@com> Message-ID: <2CEBE4DF-1486-400B-9ACA-AB1F798925C9@designnine.com> Copied below is an announcement from Comcast. Comcast was required and agreed to the low income discounts, training, etc. as part of FCC and other federal approvals of their merger with NBC. The CenturyLink announcement of similar offerings was posted here yesterday. Ah, competition. RL > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Lowenberg P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 off.; 505-603-5200 cell ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 89508 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Wed Oct 5 09:14:19 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:14:19 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] =?utf-8?q?Possible_spam=3F?= Message-ID: <19aad6c9bc04c54775e148f928afcabf@dcn.org> 1st-Milers, The last email I sent, last night, may have been compromised. If you get an unsolicited message containing a zip file, do not open the file. Just delete the message. If you need to respond to me, do not post to the entire list. Richard -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From david at santafeinnovate.org Fri Oct 7 10:09:55 2011 From: david at santafeinnovate.org (David Breecker) Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 11:09:55 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] F.C.C. Plans to Direct More Support to Broadband - NYTimes.com Message-ID: <74370ABD-FAE8-497F-ACCB-0B4813AFD447@santafeinnovate.org> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/business/fcc-plans-an-overhaul-of-the-universal-service-fund.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26 F.C.C. Plans to Overhaul Telecom Fund to Focus on Expanding Broadband David Breecker, President SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park Real Solutions/Wicked Problems http://SantaFeInnovate.org Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 Skype: dbreecker Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Tue Oct 11 19:13:03 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:13:03 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] E-Rate 2012 Eligible Services List Message-ID: <7059f6422916d0472980377b0571af45@dcn.org> For schools, libraries and other interested entities on this list, The FCC has released the E-Rate Eligible Services List for FY2012. The .pdf is available at: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0928/DA-11-1600A2.pdf -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Fri Oct 14 14:09:51 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:09:51 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Southwest Telehealth Access Grid - Announcement Message-ID: <2491995f654e21b9914433d98942f5df@dcn.org> Dr. Dale Alverson at UNM, and subscriber to this list, just let me know, and I'm passing along here, an announcement regarding the state's FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program, the Southwest Telehealth Access Grid. This initiative, led in large part by Dale, has been long in becoming implemented, having been awarded initial funding some years ago. Congratulations. http://hsc.unm.edu/som/telehealth/swtag.shtml -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From david at santafeinnovate.org Thu Oct 20 16:06:42 2011 From: david at santafeinnovate.org (David Breecker) Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:06:42 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] new "super broadband" satellite launches Message-ID: Viasat broadband 'super-satellite' launches http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15358121 David Breecker, President SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park Real Solutions/Wicked Problems http://SantaFeInnovate.org Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 Skype: dbreecker Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Wed Oct 26 08:16:33 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:16:33 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] City of Belen to decide on proposed franchise agreement Message-ID: The Belen City Council discussed a proposed ordinance granting a franchise agreement with Plateau Telecommunications, Inc. to install a fiber optic infrastructure throughout Belen to anchor institutions. Entire article at: www.news-bulletin.com/nb/index.php/news/5569-City-of-Belen-to-decide-on-proposed-franchise-agreement.html -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From tom at jtjohnson.com Fri Oct 28 13:09:44 2011 From: tom at jtjohnson.com (Tom Johnson) Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:09:44 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC's Broadband Plan: What Would Steve Jobs Think? Message-ID: fyi -tom johnson *FCC's Broadband Plan: What Would Steve Jobs Think?* *By Jonathan Feldman* Would you spend $4.5 billion to put a 486 PC in every farmer's barn? That's basically what the FCC is proposing to do, and the lack of consideration of new models of telecom is troubling. p://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/231901862?cid=nl_IW_daily_2011-10-28_html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Mon Oct 31 19:18:54 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:18:54 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] KCEC Update Message-ID: Construction starts on Kit Carson Electric Co-op?s $64M broadband FTTH project in New Mexico Sangre de Cristo Chronicle www.sangrechronicle.com/articles/2011/10/28/angel_fire/doc4eaaee15b7655443175790.txt -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Wed Nov 9 08:15:52 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:15:52 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband acquires Cibola Internet Services Message-ID: <26eb299c1f6e04d529fedf00ab02a2a0@dcn.org> Agave Broadband acquired local wireless Internet provider Cibola Internet Services, Oct. 27th for an undisclosed price. (snip) http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/print-edition/2011/11/04/agave-broadband-acquires-cibola-internet.html (subscription required to read entire article) -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Wed Nov 9 09:55:49 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:55:49 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC Push to Expand Net Access Gains Help Message-ID: <6be82f822c49fe1feefe4c0610e7eb9b@dcn.org> FCC Push to Expand Net Access Gains Help By BRIAN STELTER Published: November 9, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/business/media/fcc-and-cable-companies-push-to-close-digital-divide.html?_r=3 To sign up some of the estimated 100 million Americans who are not online, the Federal Communications Commission and private providers are trying to make broadband Internet access both less expensive and more valuable. On Wednesday, the F.C.C. will announce commitments from most of the big cable companies in the United States to supply access for $9.99 a month to a subset of low-income households. The low introductory price is meant to appeal to new customers who have not had broadband in the past. The F.C.C. is billing the initiative as the biggest effort ever to help close the digital divide. Because no federal funds are being invested, the initiative relies in large part on the cooperation of private companies. One such company, Comcast, started offering $9.99 monthly broadband service to some low-income households this year after promising the F.C.C. that it would do so when it acquired control of NBCUniversal. By enlisting the cable companies as well as a wide range of nonprofit groups that will educate eligible families about the low-cost access, ?we can make a real dent in the broadband adoption gap,? Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Mr. Genachowski has made broadband deployment and adoption the top priority of his tenure at the F.C.C. The government estimates that about one-third of American households, or 100 million people, do not have high-speed Internet access at home. Some of those homes simply do not have access to service, but most do and choose not to receive it, for reasons involving cost and perceived relevance to their lives. To address the first point, along with the low monthly price, a technology company will supply refurbished computers for low-income households for $150; Microsoft will provide software; and Morgan Stanley will help develop a microcredit program so that families can pay for those computers. To address the second point, job Web sites and education companies will offer content that will, in theory, make online access more valuable. Eligibility will be limited to those households that have a child enrolled in the national school lunch program and that are not current or recent broadband subscribers. About 17.5 million children are enrolled in the school lunch program. That limitation is likely to disappoint advocates who would like more affordable access extended to all households. For those households, the $9.99 monthly price will apply only for a two-year period. The price is akin to an on-ramp for new customers, with the hope being that they will decide to pay more for access once they have had it for a while. The F.C.C. said the initiative would begin in the spring and reach all parts of the country in September 2012. It is similar in some ways to Adoption Plus, a partnership that was proposed two years ago, but never carried out, by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, a cable trade group. The participating cable companies ? including almost all of the biggest ones in the country, like Time Warner Cable, Cox and Charter ? are not expected to sustain a significant financial loss. Broadband service normally has a high markup, and the $9.99 price will more than cover the overhead costs of providing monthly Internet service. The announcement on Wednesday will not include two companies that are major players in the broadband business, Verizon and AT&T. The F.C.C. is reviewing AT&T?s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Asked why the cable companies were willing to participate, Mr. Genachowski said he thought they ?looked at this and said, this is an important national challenge, let?s be part of the solution.? -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Wed Nov 9 09:59:05 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:59:05 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] FCC Push to Expand Net Access Gains Help Message-ID: <9f5813d740a5d3fc26d803914643ad93@dcn.org> FCC Push to Expand Net Access Gains Help By BRIAN STELTER Published: November 9, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/business/media/fcc-and-cable-companies-push-to-close-digital-divide.html?_r=3 To sign up some of the estimated 100 million Americans who are not online, the Federal Communications Commission and private providers are trying to make broadband Internet access both less expensive and more valuable. On Wednesday, the F.C.C. will announce commitments from most of the big cable companies in the United States to supply access for $9.99 a month to a subset of low-income households. The low introductory price is meant to appeal to new customers who have not had broadband in the past. The F.C.C. is billing the initiative as the biggest effort ever to help close the digital divide. Because no federal funds are being invested, the initiative relies in large part on the cooperation of private companies. One such company, Comcast, started offering $9.99 monthly broadband service to some low-income households this year after promising the F.C.C. that it would do so when it acquired control of NBCUniversal. By enlisting the cable companies as well as a wide range of nonprofit groups that will educate eligible families about the low-cost access, ?we can make a real dent in the broadband adoption gap,? Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Mr. Genachowski has made broadband deployment and adoption the top priority of his tenure at the F.C.C. The government estimates that about one-third of American households, or 100 million people, do not have high-speed Internet access at home. Some of those homes simply do not have access to service, but most do and choose not to receive it, for reasons involving cost and perceived relevance to their lives. To address the first point, along with the low monthly price, a technology company will supply refurbished computers for low-income households for $150; Microsoft will provide software; and Morgan Stanley will help develop a microcredit program so that families can pay for those computers. To address the second point, job Web sites and education companies will offer content that will, in theory, make online access more valuable. Eligibility will be limited to those households that have a child enrolled in the national school lunch program and that are not current or recent broadband subscribers. About 17.5 million children are enrolled in the school lunch program. That limitation is likely to disappoint advocates who would like more affordable access extended to all households. For those households, the $9.99 monthly price will apply only for a two-year period. The price is akin to an on-ramp for new customers, with the hope being that they will decide to pay more for access once they have had it for a while. The F.C.C. said the initiative would begin in the spring and reach all parts of the country in September 2012. It is similar in some ways to Adoption Plus, a partnership that was proposed two years ago, but never carried out, by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, a cable trade group. The participating cable companies ? including almost all of the biggest ones in the country, like Time Warner Cable, Cox and Charter ? are not expected to sustain a significant financial loss. Broadband service normally has a high markup, and the $9.99 price will more than cover the overhead costs of providing monthly Internet service. The announcement on Wednesday will not include two companies that are major players in the broadband business, Verizon and AT&T. The F.C.C. is reviewing AT&T?s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Asked why the cable companies were willing to participate, Mr. Genachowski said he thought they ?looked at this and said, this is an important national challenge, let?s be part of the solution.? -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Tue Nov 15 07:36:24 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:36:24 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] USDA RUS Broadband Award in NM Message-ID: ST. LOUIS, MO, Nov. 14, 2011 ? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced funding for telephone utilities to build, expand and improve broadband in their rural service territories across 15 states. The announcement was made on the Secretary's behalf by USDA Rural Utilities Service Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo during an address at the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in St. Louis, MO. "Today's funding will provide residents of these rural communities with high speed internet connections to improve healthcare and educational opportunities and connect to global markets," Vilsack said. "In addition to providing much needed services to rural businesses and residents, these investments will increase jobs, not just in the near term, but through expanded opportunities in rural areas." In New Mexico, Roosevelt County Telephone Cooperative, Inc. has been awarded $12,358,000 to be used to deploy new equipment and to install FTTP equipment to enhance its broadband network. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2011/11/0485.xml&contentidonly=true -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Mon Nov 21 14:48:04 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:48:04 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink to Impose Usage Caps in Feb. Message-ID: CenturyLink to Impose Usage Caps: 150 GB for Slower than 1.5 Mbps, 250 GB Otherwise According to the CenturyLink web site: http://qwest.centurylink.com/internethelp/eup.html Excessive Use Policy (EUP) CenturyLink? High-Speed Internet connects customers to the people, things and information important to them. Whether downloading music or photos, watching videos or TV shows online, e-mailing or any number of other activities, CenturyLink High-Speed Internet, is fast, reliable, and full of features to help customers navigate the Internet. The majority of CenturyLink High-Speed Internet customers make great use of their service and comply with the CenturyLink High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement. An extremely small percentage use their service excessively, or at such extreme high volumes, that they violate the terms of their CenturyLink High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement. While this high volume use is very rare, CenturyLink is committed to helping these customers find a high-speed Internet solution to better meet their needs. CenturyLink is announcing the following Excessive Usage Policy (EUP), which will become effective in February 2012: CenturyLink's EUP applies to all residential high speed Internet customers and is only enforced in the downstream (from Internet to customer) direction. Video services provided by CenturyLink PRISMT TV are not subject to the usage limits. The policy has the following usage limits per calendar month: ? Customers purchasing service at speeds of 1.5Mbps and below, have a usage limit of 150 Gigabytes (GB) of download volume per month. ? Customers purchasing service at speeds greater than 1.5Mbps, have a limit of 250GB in download volume per month. There are no overage charges or metering fees for usage as part of the Policy. CenturyLink will weigh variables such as network health, congestion, availability of customer usage data, and the line speed purchased by the customer as factors when enforcing this policy. Our EUP is application neutral. It only looks at the total usage (bytes transferred) over a defined period of time independent of protocols, applications, or the content that is generating the excessive usage. Those customers that are found to have exceeded these limits and are subjected to EUP enforcement will receive a notification from CenturyLink (via a web message, email, or phone call), will be informed of the usage limit on the service, and will be advised of alternatives to consider in order to maintain their High Speed Internet service. This may include migrating to a higher speed if available or to a business grade data service that better fits their bandwidth usage. Customers who repetitively exceed their usage limits after being notified may have their service discontinued. View questions and answers (PDF) about the Excessive Use Policy (EUP) linked to on the web site. -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Wed Nov 23 18:31:15 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:31:15 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] USAC: 2012 E-Rate Announcement Message-ID: <085b527b8ea3b98d0f448fceda327304@dcn.org> The following is of specific interest to schools and libraries. http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx#112211 FY2012 Form 471 Application Filing Window Dates Announced The Form 471 application filing window for Funding Year 2012 will open at noon on Monday, January 9, 2012 and will close at 11:59 pm EDT on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. The filing window will be open for 72 days. Be sure to review the FY2012 Eligible Services List for details on products and services that are eligible for E-rate discounts in FY2012, and continue to check the USAC website for additional details. -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Sun Dec 4 16:21:55 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:21:55 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] National LambdaRail Network update Message-ID: <0a9cd4d919da8313e3aa62de8f91b9a8@dcn.org> Forwarded from Bill St. Arnaud: http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com/ The Networked Health Information Technology Universe National LambdaRail, the most innovative American optical research network, has been taken over by Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon Shiong. The COOK Report was permitted a very brief interview with Robert Peirce, the Manager of Dr. Soon Shiong's financial interests. We had done a lot of research about the Dr's activities before the late August interview and given the scarcity of information afforded us, we spent a great deal of time executing an open intelligence search of the web. (A month before the interview and another two months after.) We paint a very detailed picture of the Dr.'s activities especially during the time since the sale of his first company, American Pharmaceutical Partners in 2008, that made him a billionaire. We conclude that the Dr. is using his immense wealth to build a new health care system in the southern California and Phoenix, Arizona area. While we agree that his policy and technology analysis is highly innovative and logistically sound, we are concerned that, although he makes many stirring speeches, he operates largely out of sight. But, as readers will find out, extensive use of the Web enables us to build a very detailed portrait of what he is doing. For the complete article: http://www.cookreport.com/ -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Mon Dec 5 08:10:26 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:10:26 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] WNMC upgrades rural broadband infrastructure and services Message-ID: Aviat Networks Helps WNM Communications Bring Faster, More Reliable Broadband and Phone Service to Rural New Mexico http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/05/4100578/aviat-networks-helps-wnm-communications.html Published Monday, Dec. 05, 2011 SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 5, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Aviat Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVNW), a leading expert in wireless transmission solutions, today announced that it helped WNM Communications (WNMC) provide its rural New Mexico customers with additional redundancy for lifeline services and further capacity for faster, more reliable Internet access and phone service. WNMC provides telecommunications services to more than 6,000 business and residential customers across 15,000 square miles in southwestern New Mexico. Upgrading WNMC's existing infrastructure and expanding the capacity of its backbone posed a number of challenges. First, the changes could not disrupt current customers' services?even for a few hours. Second, WNMC's extensive network of buried cable, fiber optic trunks and microwave crisscrossed thousands of square miles of very rugged and sparsely populated territory. Finally, WNMC was on a tight timeline, as it sought to complete the network upgrade before the company's fiscal year-end. "We needed more than just an equipment vendor," said Steve George, Director of Operations, WNM Communications. "We needed a solutions provider that would sit down with us and co-develop the best network design. We also needed them to meet our traditional telecommunications requirements, as well as support our Ethernet migration plans, including expanding Internet access to new customers in remote areas, and enabling Voice over Internet (VoIP) capabilities. And, they had to deliver quickly and provide ongoing tech support. The Aviat Networks team met all of our requirements and more." To address all the complexities of the project, Aviat Networks proposed a phased approach to upgrading WNMC's backbone network. The first phase included the installation of Aviat Networks' Eclipse microwave platform with indoor IRU600 RF unit to expand the capacity of the backbone and support advanced Ethernet functionality. A key benefit of the IRU600 radio is that it supports WNMC's legacy DS1/DS3 network as well as Ethernet on the same telecommunications link. That means WNMC can continue to leverage its existing network while transitioning to IP backhaul at a pace that makes sense. In the second phase, Aviat Networks engineers conducted site surveys to ensure the network design was optimal. Next, spurs were extended and expanded off the network backbone to provide enhanced service to WNMC customers in underserved and remote areas. Accomplishing this required the installation of more than a dozen microwave hops, each of which provided mixed mode (TDM and Ethernet) capability. To ensure WNMC's network experienced no disruptions, Aviat Networks engineers were onsite during each of the site cutovers. The network was also designed to accommodate future growth. For instance, when additional Ethernet capacity is required, WNMC can allocate bandwidth directly from their operations offices using Aviat Networks' ProVision? remote provisioning software. "Helping WNM Communications upgrade its broadband network was a true partnership," said Travis Mitchell, Carrier Sales Manager, Aviat Networks. "We and WNMC thought out the upgrade complexities, resulting in the perfect solution for reliable lifeline services and enhanced capacity for faster and more reliable Internet access. With this upgrade, WNMC will be able to provide customers with the latest communications products and services for years to come." About Aviat Networks Aviat Networks, Inc. is a leader in wireless transmission solutions. We apply innovation and IP networking expertise toward building a carrier class foundation for future mobile and fixed broadband networks. With more than 750,000 systems installed around the world, Aviat Networks has built a reputation as a leader in offering best-of-breed solutions including LTE-ready microwave backhaul and a complete portfolio of service and support options to public and private telecommunications operators worldwide. With a global reach and local presence in more than 46 countries, Aviat Networks works by the side of its customers allowing them to quickly and cost effectively seize new market and service opportunities. Aviat Networks, formerly Harris Stratex Networks Inc., is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and is listed on NASDAQ (AVNW). For more information, please visit www.aviatnetworks.com or join the dialogue at www.twitter.com/aviatnetworks . About WNM Communications WNM Communications (WNMC) is telecommunications company providing telephone service and high-speed Internet access to customers in rural southwestern New Mexico. Originally known as the Mogollon Mountain Telephone Company, WNMC has grown from less than 600 customers in 1974 to more than 6,000 businesses and residents, and its service area now covers more than 15,000 square miles. WNM Communications is headquartered in Silver City, NM. For more information, please visit: http://wnmc.com/ -------- Note: WNMC now offers up to 1.5Mbps DSL service for $62.95/mo. residential and $72.95/mo. business, in the following locations: Alma, Cliff/Gila, Datil, Glenwood, Lake Roberts, Lordsburg, Magdalena, Mimbres, Pie Town, Pleasanton, Quemado and Reserve; and $40 residential and business, in Silver City. RL -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From Frank.Ohrtman at state.co.us Tue Dec 6 09:55:23 2011 From: Frank.Ohrtman at state.co.us (Ohrtman, Frank) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 10:55:23 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Hello from Colorado Broadband Data and Development Program Message-ID: Hi All! Just a note to reach out from the north and add a regional perspective to the list. Our approach to improving the broadband environment in rural and remote Colorado is the establishment of Local Technology Planning Teams (see our web site at http://www.colorado.gov/oit/Broadband) of which we have teams for the entire southern tier of counties of CO. Those teams are responsible for self-direction in building broadband capacity. Of note, we are achieving some significant results in the San Luis Valley where three new middle mile paths have been built since the inception of the San Luis Valley Telecommunications Co-operative (the local technology planning team). To complement those new middle miles (no subsidies, no federal grants or loans), a new first mile, Crestone Telecommunications, LLC, a start-up headed by Crestone's mayor and funded by $100,000 in local investor pledges and $100,000 loan from the local economic development district will launch in the next 30 days. In doing this work we hit upon a methodology we call the "7 A's" which we document in a publication available on our web site or http://tinyurl.com/localtechnologyplanningteams Hope this helps, Frank Ohrtman Communications Manager Colorado Broadband Data and Development Program 303-910-5968 frank.ohrtman at state.co.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 4850 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Tue Dec 6 16:20:22 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:20:22 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News Message-ID: <716700d484fd701bc04563461bbdd679@dcn.org> ALBUQUERQUE CHOSEN AS FIRST COMMERCIAL U.S. SITE FOR NEW BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY ROLLOUT Albuquerque is the first U.S. city selected to receive breakthrough, internet connection technology that promises up to 50Mbs, wireless internet speeds at very competitive pricing. The technology is called Multi?Channel Video and Data Distribution Service (MVDDS) and is already operating in the UAE, Ireland, France, Vietnam, Greenland and Serbia. The technology was developed by Florida based, MDS America. Deploying the technology in New Mexico is Agave Broadband, the exclusive licensee for New Mexico. ?This partnership with MDSA will provide the latest internet, high?speed connectivity technology to the Albuquerque market and outlying areas,? said Les Matthews ? Agave Broadband Director. ?This is another step in our long?term strategy to bring affordable, high?speed connectivity to both commercial and residential users in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and in parts of rural New Mexico.? MVDDS uses patented and patent?pending technology to take advantage of a licensed broadcast spectrum owned by Agave partner, MDS America. ?We?ve successfully deployed this technology in many rural parts of the world,? said Kirk Kirkpatrick, MDS America, President and CEO. ?The Albuquerque market provides an excellent opportunity to deploy in a combination of rural/urban markets containing a wide variety of climatic conditions. New Mexico is just the beginning of our rollout of MVDDS technology into the United States.? The product is expected to be available in December, 2011. Agave recently acquired Cibola Internet Services, who had begun the preliminary discussions with MDS America. Lou Uttaro, Cibola?s owner had for many years been on the forefront of bringing innovative internet services to New Mexico, will remain involved with Agave in deploying the MVDDS technology in the state. Agave Broadband currently provides wireless broadband internet service to the East Mountains from Edgewood to Mountainair. The partnership with MDS America will allow expansion of the company?s current service offerings to many population centers in the State of New Mexico. Consumers and businesses interested in Agave Broadband services should call 505.369.7979 x 2406 or sales at agavebroadband.com. Further information regarding MDS America can be found at MDSAmerica.com. Agave Broadband is a Member Company of the WESST Enterprise Center. Contact: Les Matthews, Director, Agave Broadband, 505.369.7979 x 2408 -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From john at citylinkfiber.com Wed Dec 7 08:35:39 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 16:35:39 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News In-Reply-To: <716700d484fd701bc04563461bbdd679@dcn.org> Message-ID: I'm not sure I would call this "NEW BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY", 20 some years ago this technology was first developed. This technology uses the DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) frequencies but at a terrestrial level. The used spectrum (US / FCC) is 12.2 - 12.7 Ghz range. The technology is UNI-DIRECTIONAL, other words its a SEND TO SUBSCRIBER ONLY technology. The Internet is a BI-DIRECTIONAL technology, needing traffic in BOTH directions. The primary use is to deploy multi-channel VIDEO via wireless and thus circumvent existing "Cable TV" franchise rules that municipalities presently have and are required by FCC. The technology was initially developed in the mid 1980's and was known then as HyperCable. In 2002 The FCC decided to hold a spectrum auction (Auction 53 and 63) for the land based use of the spectrum. The Albuquerque-Santa Fe market (Market ID MVD049) was granted on 7/26/2004. It EXPIRES on 7/26/2014, there is potential for renewal, if there is substantial service. The licensee has a requirement to provide substantial service within five years of the initial authorization grant. The initial authorization grant was on 7/26/2004. Add five years and you get 7/26/2009. Permissible Operations: MVDDS licensees may use this spectrum for any digital fixed non-broadcast service (broadcast services are intended for reception of the general public and not on a subscribership basis) including ONE-WAY direct-to-home/office wireless service. Licensees are permitted to provide ONE-WAY video programming and data services on a non-common carrier and/or on a common carrier basis. Mobile and aeronautical services are not authorized. Two-way services may be provided by using other spectrum or media for the return or upstream path. So the licensee can use the service for ONE-WAY service and MUST NOT provide common carrier services. This could impact "VoIP / Voice" service offerings. To deploy this technology Agavue will need to deploy a DIFFERENT technology to get the packets from the subscriber BACK TO THE INTERNET. This can cause significant problems in actually achieving the bandwidth claimed. Further,MDS Operations SHALL NOT partition or lease any portion of its license within the prior approval area, including Bernalillo County, Sandoval County. There do not appear to be any FCC approval records filed. A few technical issues: 1. The licensee is permitted a SINGLE TRANSMITTER located at Sandia Park 35? 13' 01" North Lat. - 106? 27' 08" West Long Since MDS Operations can only have a SINGLE TRANSMITTER then is is a SHARED bandwidth system. The more customers they put on the system the less bandwidth will be available for each user. 2. The total amount of bandwidth will also be limited by the amount of bandwidth they can reliably get to the top of Sandia Peak. I do not believe there is FIBER at Sandia Peak. So they will have to use additional wireless technologies to get up to the peak. *** For 100 customers to get the 50Mb/s they will need to have 5000 Mb/s of uplink to Sandia (That?s 5 Gigbits per second) *** Unless they oversubscribe the system. 3. There is no "redundancy" in the system. If the single FCC authorized transmitter breaks, then all subscribers are DOWN. 4. Bandwidth will be limited by the latency and reliability of the back-channel technology deployed. Same problem that Satellite based systems have. The latency won't be quite as bad, but that really depends on the back-channel medium they use. 5. I suspect there will be NAT and other network address / routing issues that will cause certain Internet based applications to break or not work very well. 6. Assume they also deploy video on this technology (Video is/was the major driver of this technology), then the aggregate bandwidth available for "Internet" will be significantly less. A single HD video stream requires around 6 to 8 Mb/s, raw. That does NOT include the overhead of IP. So a 100 channel video service all in HD would need around 600 to 800 Mb/s of Bandwidth, in addition to the bandwidth consumed by Internet applications. We must remember that the Internet is changing from a mostly consumer service and morphing into a "prosumer(tm)" based medium. End users are producing more and put more UP on the net. This requires more symmetrical based transport mediums. On 12/6/11 5:20 PM, "Richard Lowenberg" wrote: > ALBUQUERQUE CHOSEN AS FIRST COMMERCIAL U.S. SITE FOR NEW BROADBAND > TECHNOLOGY ROLLOUT > > Albuquerque is the first U.S. city selected to receive breakthrough, > internet connection > technology that promises up to 50Mbs, wireless internet speeds at very > competitive pricing. > The technology is called Multi-Channel Video and Data Distribution > Service (MVDDS) > and is already operating in the UAE, Ireland, France, Vietnam, > Greenland and Serbia. > The technology was developed by Florida based, MDS America. Deploying > the technology in > New Mexico is Agave Broadband, the exclusive licensee for New Mexico. > > ?This partnership with MDSA will provide the latest internet, > high-speed connectivity technology > to the Albuquerque market and outlying areas,? said Les Matthews ? > Agave Broadband Director. > ?This is another step in our long-term strategy to bring affordable, > high-speed connectivity > to both commercial and residential users in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and > in parts of rural New Mexico.? > > MVDDS uses patented and patent-pending technology to take advantage of > a licensed broadcast spectrum > owned by Agave partner, MDS America. ?We?ve successfully deployed this > technology in many > rural parts of the world,? said Kirk Kirkpatrick, MDS America, > President and CEO. > ?The Albuquerque market provides an excellent opportunity to deploy in > a combination of > rural/urban markets containing a wide variety of climatic conditions. > New Mexico is just the beginning of our rollout of MVDDS technology > into the United States.? > The product is expected to be available in December, 2011. > > Agave recently acquired Cibola Internet Services, who had begun the > preliminary discussions with > MDS America. Lou Uttaro, Cibola?s owner had for many years been on the > forefront of bringing > innovative internet services to New Mexico, will remain involved with > Agave in deploying the > MVDDS technology in the state. > > Agave Broadband currently provides wireless broadband internet service > to the East Mountains > from Edgewood to Mountainair. The partnership with MDS America will > allow expansion of the company?s > current service offerings to many population centers in the State of > New Mexico. > > Consumers and businesses interested in Agave Broadband services should > call 505.369.7979 x 2406 > or sales at agavebroadband.com. Further information regarding MDS America > can be found at MDSAmerica.com. > > Agave Broadband is a Member Company of the WESST Enterprise Center. > > Contact: Les Matthews, Director, Agave Broadband, 505.369.7979 x 2408 > > > >-- > Richard Lowenberg > 1st-Mile Institute > Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 > www.1st-mile.com > rl at 1st-mile.com >_______________________________________________ >1st-mile-nm mailing list >1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org >http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm From macrhino at me.com Thu Dec 8 13:25:39 2011 From: macrhino at me.com (Kirk Kirkpatrick) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:25:39 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News Message-ID: The below message was posted to this site yesterday as a reaction to a news article posted by the listadmin. It was forwarded to me. I joined your site so that I could add a little rational thought to the below message. Firstly, an introduction is appropriate, my name is Kirk Kirkpatrick and I am the CEO of MDS America. We designed and built the MVDDS system denigrated below. I have been the CEO of MDS America since 2000 when the company was formed. I was the first Manager of Information Systems for the Public Data Network in Kuwait. I was hired to bring Kuwait countrywide Internet access. Kuwait was the first Arab country with pervasive Internet. Before that I was in charge of IT for Remote bureaus of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and responsible for making some of the first international data connections to and from countries in the old Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. We consulted to the WWW board in CERN prior to the web?s public release. MDS America and its associated companies have been building MVDDS systems since their inception. We have build the largest such system in the world, in the U.A.E., with a total capacity of 700 digital television channels of which over 385 are presently lit. There are more than 15 active transmission sites and MDS America holds a current purchase order from that company for 14 more transmission sites. This system has been running, uninterrupted, since 2004. I will insert my corrections and comments (marked >>>>>>>Comment<<<<<) in the original rant below. I do not know Mr. Brown but I certainly am not impressed with his technical understanding. From reading this response to a news article one is led to believe he is the one for whom the adage was coined, ?Google does not an expert make.? -----Original Message----- From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of John Brown Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 9:36 AM To: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News I'm not sure I would call this "NEW BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY", 20 some years ago this technology was first developed. This technology uses the DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) frequencies but at a terrestrial level. The used spectrum (US / FCC) is 12.2 - 12.7 Ghz range. The technology is UNI-DIRECTIONAL, other words its a SEND TO SUBSCRIBER ONLY technology. The Internet is a BI-DIRECTIONAL technology, needing traffic in BOTH directions. >>>>>>>Up to this point the writer was accurate if a bit misleading. We have been building these systems for almost twenty years so it is not a new technology, nor is the Internet, or cellular telephony etc, etc. <<<<<<<<<< The primary use is to deploy multi-channel VIDEO via wireless and thus circumvent existing "Cable TV" franchise rules that municipalities presently have and are required by FCC. >>>>>>>To my knowledge, MDS America and associated companies are the only companies in the world to deploy MVDDS systems for terrestrial television distribution. There are no such facilities in the US nor have there ever been. Does the writer believe the system we built in the South Coast of Ireland, for television distribution, ?circumvent(s)? the ?FCC?? Nonsense. **************Challenge to Mr. Brown. If the "primary use" is to "circumvent existing "Cable TV" franchise rules," PLEASE NAME ONE SYSTEM THAT IS USING MVDDS TO DO SO.**************** Just one system should be easy if this is the "primary use." <<<<<<<<<< The technology was initially developed in the mid 1980's and was known then as HyperCable. >>>>>>>We called the technology HyperCable in the early 90s and sold it from our French subsidiary, MDS International. My engineer, Fabrice Ducasse is the one who coined the term HyperCable and also the terms (obsolete as well) HyperGate Internet distribution system and HyperBoost. <<<<<<<<<< In 2002 The FCC decided to hold a spectrum auction (Auction 53 and 63) for the land based use of the spectrum. >>>>>>>This is also true. Let?s flesh it out. The FCC decided to auction this on the basis of the 98-206 proceeding. This public proceeding was dominated by three parties, the DBS satellite industry, Northpoint Technologies Inc, (who claimed to have patented these systems but never built one), and MDS America. MDS America wanted the FCC to put this spectrum up for auction in the US. It was already being used by our systems in over 15 countries. <<<<<<<<<< The Albuquerque-Santa Fe market (Market ID MVD049) was granted on 7/26/2004. It EXPIRES on 7/26/2014, there is potential for renewal, if there is substantial service. The licensee has a requirement to provide substantial service within five years of the initial authorization grant. The initial authorization grant was on 7/26/2004. Add five years and you get 7/26/2009. >>>>>>>This is also true. But a bit misleading. This is a standard spectral license from the FCC bought at auction. Virtually all FCC licenses are written this way and come with something called ?renewal expectancy.? This means that if the license holders make an honest effort to use the licenses, they will be renewed. The 80 DMA license we hold, of which Albuquerque is only one, have already been renewed once. <<<<<<<<<< Permissible Operations: MVDDS licensees may use this spectrum for any digital fixed non-broadcast service (broadcast services are intended for reception of the general public and not on a subscribership basis) including ONE-WAY direct-to-home/office wireless service. Licensees are permitted to provide ONE-WAY video programming and data services on a non-common carrier and/or on a common carrier basis. Mobile and aeronautical services are not authorized. Two-way services may be provided by using other spectrum or media for the return or upstream path. So the licensee can use the service for ONE-WAY service and MUST NOT provide common carrier services. This could impact "VoIP / Voice" service offerings. To deploy this technology Agavue will need to deploy a DIFFERENT technology to get the packets from the subscriber BACK TO THE INTERNET. This can cause significant problems in actually achieving the bandwidth claimed. >>>>>>>This is inaccurate and simply shows that the author does not understand the issues involved. The MVDDS spectrum is used for the downstream. Our CPE are capable of using any path as an upstream. The CPE have a 3G card built in with a slot for a sim. This is very much a two-way system. It is simply using another spectrum for packets going back to Internet. In this case, Agave Broadband will provide an upstream link in another spectrum. ?This can cause significant problems in actually achieving the bandwidth claimed.? Could the author be a bit more vague? This is known as FUD. I have had a real world screen shot from one of our installed CPE in Albuquerque placed on the MDSA website. You can see it here at http://www.mdsamerica.com/index.cfm/technology/mdsa-mvdds-gigaband/. If the listserv does not allow the placement of URLs in messages, please go to the MDSAmerica web site and click on ?Technology? and then ?MDSA MVDDS Gigaband? to see if we can ?achieve the bandwidth claimed.? <<<<<<<<<< Further,MDS Operations SHALL NOT partition or lease any portion of its license within the prior approval area, including Bernalillo County, Sandoval County. There do not appear to be any FCC approval records filed. >>>>>>>>MDS America is operating this system and has not leased out the spectrum. <<<<<<<<<< A few technical issues: 1. The licensee is permitted a SINGLE TRANSMITTER located at Sandia Park 35? 13' 01" North Lat. - 106? 27' 08" West Long Since MDS Operations can only have a SINGLE TRANSMITTER then is is a SHARED bandwidth system. The more customers they put on the system the less bandwidth will be available for each user. >>>>>>>>Actually we are allowed a single transmission site at this power level. As well can build out this site to its full capacity. The license is for the entire Designated Market Area which is 80% of the state of New Mexico. MDSA is fully empowered to build as many transmission sites as it needs to serve its customers. In addition, yes it is shared bandwidth like a Cable Internet service, Like DSL, like the Internet backbone, like ethernet, it is a shared bandwidth. That means it is even better that MDS is able to instantiate more bandwidth as we need it. <<<<<<<<<< 2. The total amount of bandwidth will also be limited by the amount of bandwidth they can reliably get to the top of Sandia Peak. I do not believe there is FIBER at Sandia Peak. So they will have to use additional wireless technologies to get up to the peak. *** For 100 customers to get the 50Mb/s they will need to have 5000 Mb/s of uplink to Sandia (That?s 5 Gigbits per second) *** Unless they oversubscribe the system. >>>>>>>>This part is true. This transmission site will be limited somewhat by available bandwidth to the site. MDSA does not anticipate being able to supply more than 2Gbps to the top of the mountain. The system will be oversubscribed as well. These are problems of growth and I hope for our sakes we have these problems. There are many ways to solve these like lowering the Sandia power levels and building new transmitter sites in different vectors in the valley. <<<<<<<<<< 3. There is no "redundancy" in the system. If the single FCC authorized transmitter breaks, then all subscribers are DOWN. >>>>>>>>This part is of course nonsense. The subscribers were already on a bi-directional link from Agave. Then the higher speed downlink of MVDDS was ?overlaid? on the system and the routing tables of the CPE were configured to use the higher speed MVDDS downlink. If the redundant SSPBs go down and the SINGLE TRANSMITTER goes DOWN then the CPE reconfigures and the subscribers are still UP. Unlike if a FIBER customer lose a fiber adapter.<<<<<<<<<< 4. Bandwidth will be limited by the latency and reliability of the back-channel technology deployed. Same problem that Satellite based systems have. The latency won't be quite as bad, but that really depends on the back-channel medium they use. >>>>>>>>This part is where I started wondering why anyone would take this person seriously on a technical level. Satellite signals traverse from, at least, the Clarke belt, meaning minimally 35,786+ km of free space. Given the speed of Radio Frequency propagation there is almost 25 ms latency inherent in the round trip to/from the Clarke belt [geostationary satellite orbital arc]. ( [distance to Clarke Belt / c ] is (2)3,600,000 m /(299,792,458 mps) ). Our furthest customer at 22dBm will be in the range of 30km from the transmitter so our signal will add, not 25ms, but in the worst case, .1 ms of latency. YES that?s ZERO POINT ONE compared to 25 milliseconds. Like comparing a one second wait to a 4 minute wait. I am guessing Mr. Brown has not done any RF systems design. <<<<<<<<<< 5. I suspect there will be NAT and other network address / routing issues that will cause certain Internet based applications to break or not work very well. >>>>>>>>Why does Mr. Brown ?suspect? this? I think it is established that Mr. Brown doesn?t ?do tech? very well. Please let the list know what there is inherent in the TCP/IP stack we use or the way we do our ?routing? that makes one ?suspect? this? Here?s what I suspect, Mr. Brown personally doesn?t really understand ?routing? at all and because of that assumes his readership does not either. The routing for this system is straight forward and being as MVDDS operates at a different layer of the OSI model (Layer 1 and 2), routing (layer 3) is pretty much blind to the lower levels of the network hierarchy. Our "routing" is done the way everyone else's routing is done. Should we discuss some IP tunneling, Mr. Brown. <<<<<<<<<< 6. Assume they also deploy video on this technology (Video is/was the major driver of this technology), then the aggregate bandwidth available for "Internet" will be significantly less. A single HD video stream requires around 6 to 8 Mb/s, raw. That does NOT include the overhead of IP. So a 100 channel video service all in HD would need around 600 to 800 Mb/s of Bandwidth, in addition to the bandwidth consumed by Internet applications. >>>>>>>>Sounds like a pretty good argument for the provision of television for our system since we can put down considerably more 800 Mbps. Of course the writer forgets that there are already 2 operators operating in this spectrum (DirecTV and Dish Network). Both operate on exactly the same frequency as MVDDS, yet a consumer can receive both DirecTV and Dish Network signals at one location. This is because the Ku band is highly directional. This means that one consumer could receive our signal from two different towers (different vectors) as long as we could show (and have done it before) that we would not raise the Ku band noise floor. <<<<<<<<<< We must remember that the Internet is changing from a mostly consumer service and morphing into a "prosumer(tm)" based medium. End users are producing more and put more UP on the net. This requires more symmetrical based transport mediums. >>>>>>>>Well, there are many things we need to remember, another one is that the Internet is becoming more and more mobile. This requires WIRELESS technologies. Fiber is not one of them. Des this imply that Fiber has no place in our market? The above is simple tabloidization of a complex argument. Another reason this rant was a knee-jerk reaction to competition. <<<<<<<<<< MVDDS is a viable way to introduce high speed internet to large areas without massive public works. The "evaluation" done by Mr. Brown is a marketing document posted to what I hope is a list with a bit more of a technical bent. With warmest regards to the list, Kirk Kirkpatrick -- Sapere Aude! +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge. - Albert Einstein +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Kirk Kirkpatrick President and Chief Executive Officer MDS America "Bringing Wireless Broadband Back Down to Earth" 800 Lincoln Ave. Stuart, Fl 34994 USA Tel +1 877 677 MDSA (toll free) Mob +1 561 809 MDSA Fax +1 419 828-2903 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rl at 1st-mile.com Thu Dec 8 13:59:18 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:59:18 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband Posting Message-ID: I wanted to send out this short e-note to say that I approved the rather lengthy posting by Kirk Kirkpatrick. I'd like to avoid any less-than-productive back and forth about it on this list. As was informally established some time ago, this list is mostly for informative postings about New Mexico area broadband related matters. If you have issues with any posting, please let me know, so that I can approve and forward relevant information to all. Thanks, Richard -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From john at citylinkfiber.com Thu Dec 8 13:57:20 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 21:57:20 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband Posting In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Even though it has mis-statements in it ???? ________________________________________ From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] on behalf of Richard Lowenberg [rl at 1st-mile.com] Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 2:59 PM To: 1st mile nm Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband Posting I wanted to send out this short e-note to say that I approved the rather lengthy posting by Kirk Kirkpatrick. I'd like to avoid any less-than-productive back and forth about it on this list. As was informally established some time ago, this list is mostly for informative postings about New Mexico area broadband related matters. If you have issues with any posting, please let me know, so that I can approve and forward relevant information to all. Thanks, Richard -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com _______________________________________________ 1st-mile-nm mailing list 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm From john at citylinkfiber.com Thu Dec 8 15:37:25 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 23:37:25 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News In-Reply-To: References: , Message-ID: ________________________________ From: John Brown Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 4:20 PM To: Kirk Kirkpatrick; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org Subject: RE: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News I responded to the Press Release post. My comments: (Note that I don't go out as Mr. Kirkpatrick did and say that he is a stinky poo-poo head) 1. Document that MVDDS is not NEW technology as the Press Release leads one to believe. Mr. Kirkpatrick comments further support that the technology is not "NEW" but has been around for at least 2 decades 2. Much of the data with respects to what can the license holder do or not do is cut and past from the FCC website and the electronic version of the license. The data is fairly easy to get to and if people want URL's to the specifics I'm happy to provide. 3. Wikipedia stated that HyperCable was from the 80's. If they are wrong, then someone should fix it. 4. The technology is ONE-WAY, pursuant to the FCC license. Technically speaking this means that the end subscriber may not transmit on the licensed MVDDS frequency. As I stated and as Mr. Kirkpatrick stated in response and as the FCC license states, to use this technology as a TWO-WAY solution will require a different path away from the end subscriber. Yes, this could be a 3G Cellular Phone based path, it could be a WiFi, or something else in the unlicensed 2.4 or 5.x or other frequency blocks. I caution that if it is in the 2.4 or 5.x blocks that the noise floor in ABQ is pretty HIGH, and that current City of Santa Fe ordinances prohibit the placement of antennas without prior approval by the City. This COULD lead to frequency congestion and thus packet loss. Same holds true for the 3G return path solution. 5. I also caution that focusing on the downlink speed is only a partial answer. TCP requires a reasonable return path. If that return path has delay, congestion, packet-loss, etc then there will be problems with the effective download speed perceived by the end user. Since the packet flow is ASYMMETRICAL, the asymmetry of the path will have to be carefully managed. In general this is the BDP (Bandwidth Delay Product). 6. BDP in part causes packet buffer sizing issues. Packets need to be buffered until the ACK is received back from the end subscriber. If that ACK is lost, then the packet must be resent. Larger buffers require more RAM on the networking devices, which in turn causes a higher BOM (Bill of Materials) cost for the equipment. The larger the pipe the larger the buffers have to be, unless the return path is really really good. 7. It would interesting to know what the supported MTU is for the MVDDS technology on the RF interface. What overhead exists in addition to the IP header. Is there any SAR performed on the payload. 8. The single license issue.. The FCC has presently granted a single license for a single transmitter. Based on that public government data, my statement that should this transmitter fail, users would loose this service, is a reasoned statement. Yes, Mr. Kirkpatrick is correct that they could request and be granted additional transmitter licenses by the FCC. But today, they have a single license for a single transmitter. 9. "Shared bandwidth" In looking at the bandwidth delivered to a subscriber, Cable and RF (cable is RF as well) are shared. DSL, T1, DS3 are point to point. Being that there is a dedicated path between the specific end-subscriber and the first level aggregation equipment. Cable / RF based systems are shared. Certain Fiber based systems, ala PON are also shared. The "sharing" is in some cases done with TDM. 10. I don't see a screen shot at the URL posted by Mr. Kirkpatrick for the real-world bandwidth in ABQ. Here is a recent one from one of our residential subscribers http://www.speedtest.net/result/1626433361.png 11. It will be interesting to run pathchar, iperf and other similar tools on this type of network. 12. According to the MDSA website "http://www.mdsamerica.com/index.cfm/technology/mdsa-mvdds-gigaband/" I would like clarification on the ".. to avoid fixed IP addresses." Does this prevent the end subscriber from having a static publicly routed IP address, without any form of NAT/PAT. If yes, then this would prevent customers from having their own server(s) onsite. Cheers... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From macrhino at me.com Thu Dec 8 16:52:52 2011 From: macrhino at me.com (Kirk Kirkpatrick) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:52:52 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <23BFCD82-CDE3-422D-8C72-E862884E1699@me.com> This should not descend into "tit for tat". This is my last response. Let the reader decide. The list has been quite gracious. Mr. Brown's suppositions vs real life data. However the below distortion I will address. We, MDS, own the licenses for 80 of 214 total US DMAs (about 1/3 the surface area of the US). None of these licenses are limited to a single transmitter. We do not need to "request" additional transmitter licenses from the FCC. These assertions, even through made authoritatively, represent a fundamental misunderstanding of MVDDS SPECTRAL licensees. See you all in the market! Kirk Kirkpatrick > > 8. The single license issue.. The FCC has presently granted a single license for a single transmitter. Based on that public government data, my statement that should this transmitter fail, users would loose this service, is a reasoned statement. Yes, Mr. Kirkpatrick is correct that they could request and be granted additional transmitter licenses by the FCC. But today, they have a single license for a single transmitter. > > > > > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] on behalf of Kirk Kirkpatrick [macrhino at me.com] > Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 2:25 PM > To: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News > > > > The below message was posted to this site yesterday as a reaction to a news article posted by the listadmin. It was forwarded to me. I joined your site so that I could add a little rational thought to the below message. > > Firstly, an introduction is appropriate, my name is Kirk Kirkpatrick and I am the CEO of MDS America. We designed and built the MVDDS system denigrated below. I have been the CEO of MDS America since 2000 when the company was formed. I was the first Manager of Information Systems for the Public Data Network in Kuwait. I was hired to bring Kuwait countrywide Internet access. Kuwait was the first Arab country with pervasive Internet. Before that I was in charge of IT for Remote bureaus of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and responsible for making some of the first international data connections to and from countries in the old Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. We consulted to the WWW board in CERN prior to the web?s public release. > > MDS America and its associated companies have been building MVDDS systems since their inception. We have build the largest such system in the world, in the U.A.E., with a total capacity of 700 digital television channels of which over 385 are presently lit. There are more than 15 active transmission sites and MDS America holds a current purchase order from that company for 14 more transmission sites. This system has been running, uninterrupted, since 2004. > > I will insert my corrections and comments (marked >>>>>>>Comment<<<<<) in the original rant below. I do not know Mr. Brown but I certainly am not impressed with his technical understanding. From reading this response to a news article one is led to believe he is the one for whom the adage was coined, ?Google does not an expert make.? > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org > [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of John Brown > Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 9:36 AM > To: 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband News > > I'm not sure I would call this "NEW BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY", 20 some years > ago this technology was first developed. > > > This technology uses the DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) frequencies but > at a terrestrial level. > > The used spectrum (US / FCC) is 12.2 - 12.7 Ghz range. > > The technology is UNI-DIRECTIONAL, other words its a SEND TO SUBSCRIBER > ONLY technology. > > The Internet is a BI-DIRECTIONAL technology, needing traffic in BOTH > directions. > > >>>>>>>Up to this point the writer was accurate if a bit misleading. We have been building these systems for almost twenty years so it is not a new technology, nor is the Internet, or cellular telephony etc, etc. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > The primary use is to deploy multi-channel VIDEO via wireless and thus > circumvent existing "Cable TV" franchise rules that municipalities > presently have and are required by FCC. > > >>>>>>>To my knowledge, MDS America and associated companies are the only companies in the world to deploy MVDDS systems for terrestrial television distribution. There are no such facilities in the US nor have there ever been. Does the writer believe the system we built in the South Coast of Ireland, for television distribution, ?circumvent(s)? the ?FCC?? Nonsense. > > > **************Challenge to Mr. Brown. If the "primary use" is to "circumvent existing "Cable TV" franchise rules," PLEASE NAME ONE SYSTEM THAT IS USING MVDDS TO DO SO.**************** > > Just one system should be easy if this is the "primary use." <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > > The technology was initially developed in the mid 1980's and was known > then as HyperCable. > > >>>>>>>We called the technology HyperCable in the early 90s and sold it from our French subsidiary, MDS International. My engineer, Fabrice Ducasse is the one who coined the term HyperCable and also the terms (obsolete as well) HyperGate Internet distribution system and HyperBoost. <<<<<<<<<< > > > In 2002 The FCC decided to hold a spectrum auction (Auction 53 and 63) for > the land based use of the spectrum. > > >>>>>>>This is also true. Let?s flesh it out. The FCC decided to auction this on the basis of the 98-206 proceeding. This public proceeding was dominated by three parties, the DBS satellite industry, Northpoint Technologies Inc, (who claimed to have patented these systems but never built one), and MDS America. MDS America wanted the FCC to put this spectrum up for auction in the US. It was already being used by our systems in over 15 countries. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > > The Albuquerque-Santa Fe market (Market ID MVD049) was granted on > 7/26/2004. > > It EXPIRES on 7/26/2014, there is potential for renewal, if there is > substantial service. > > The licensee has a requirement to provide substantial service within five > years of the initial authorization grant. > > The initial authorization grant was on 7/26/2004. Add five years and you > get 7/26/2009. > > >>>>>>>This is also true. But a bit misleading. This is a standard spectral license from the FCC bought at auction. Virtually all FCC licenses are written this way and come with something called ?renewal expectancy.? This means that if the license holders make an honest effort to use the licenses, they will be renewed. The 80 DMA license we hold, of which Albuquerque is only one, have already been renewed once. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > > Permissible Operations: > MVDDS licensees may use this spectrum for any digital fixed > non-broadcast service (broadcast services are intended for reception of > the general public and not on a subscribership basis) including ONE-WAY > direct-to-home/office wireless service. Licensees are permitted to > provide ONE-WAY video programming and data services on a non-common > carrier and/or on a common carrier basis. Mobile and aeronautical > services are not authorized. Two-way services may be provided by using > other spectrum or media for the return or upstream path. > > So the licensee can use the service for ONE-WAY service and MUST NOT > provide common carrier services. > This could impact "VoIP / Voice" service offerings. > > > To deploy this technology Agavue will need to deploy a DIFFERENT > technology to get the packets from the subscriber BACK TO THE INTERNET. > This can cause significant problems in actually achieving the bandwidth > claimed. > > > > > >>>>>>>This is inaccurate and simply shows that the author does not understand the issues involved. The MVDDS spectrum is used for the downstream. Our CPE are capable of using any path as an upstream. The CPE have a 3G card built in with a slot for a sim. This is very much a two-way system. It is simply using another spectrum for packets going back to Internet. In this case, Agave Broadband will provide an upstream link in another spectrum. > > ?This can cause significant problems in actually achieving the bandwidth claimed.? Could the author be a bit more vague? This is known as FUD. I have had a real world screen shot from one of our installed CPE in Albuquerque placed on the MDSA website. You can see it here at http://www.mdsamerica.com/index.cfm/technology/mdsa-mvdds-gigaband/. If the listserv does not allow the placement of URLs in messages, please go to the MDSAmerica web site and click on ?Technology? and then ?MDSA MVDDS Gigaband? to see if we can ?achieve the bandwidth claimed.? <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > > > Further,MDS Operations SHALL NOT partition or lease any portion of its > license within the prior approval area, including Bernalillo County, > Sandoval County. There do not appear to be any FCC approval records filed. > > >>>>>>>>MDS America is operating this system and has not leased out the spectrum. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > A few technical issues: > > 1. The licensee is permitted a SINGLE TRANSMITTER located at Sandia Park > 35? 13' 01" North Lat. - 106? 27' 08" West Long > > Since MDS Operations can only have a SINGLE TRANSMITTER then is is a > SHARED bandwidth system. The more customers they put > on the system the less bandwidth will be available for each user. > > >>>>>>>>Actually we are allowed a single transmission site at this power level. As well can build out this site to its full capacity. The license is for the entire Designated Market Area which is 80% of the state of New Mexico. MDSA is fully empowered to build as many transmission sites as it needs to serve its customers. > > In addition, yes it is shared bandwidth like a Cable Internet service, Like DSL, like the Internet backbone, like ethernet, it is a shared bandwidth. That means it is even better that MDS is able to instantiate more bandwidth as we need it. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > 2. The total amount of bandwidth will also be limited by the amount of > bandwidth they can reliably get to the top of Sandia > Peak. > I do not believe there is FIBER at Sandia Peak. So they will have to > use additional wireless technologies to get up to the > peak. *** For 100 customers to get the 50Mb/s they will need to have > 5000 Mb/s of uplink to Sandia (That?s 5 Gigbits per > second) *** Unless they oversubscribe the system. > > >>>>>>>>This part is true. This transmission site will be limited somewhat by available bandwidth to the site. MDSA does not anticipate being able to supply more than 2Gbps to the top of the mountain. The system will be oversubscribed as well. > > These are problems of growth and I hope for our sakes we have these problems. There are many ways to solve these like lowering the Sandia power levels and building new transmitter sites in different vectors in the valley. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > 3. There is no "redundancy" in the system. If the single FCC authorized > transmitter breaks, then all subscribers are DOWN. > > >>>>>>>>This part is of course nonsense. The subscribers were already on a bi-directional link from Agave. Then the higher speed downlink of MVDDS was ?overlaid? on the system and the routing tables of the CPE were configured to use the higher speed MVDDS downlink. If the redundant SSPBs go down and the SINGLE TRANSMITTER goes DOWN then the CPE reconfigures and the subscribers are still UP. Unlike if a FIBER customer lose a fiber adapter.<<<<<<<<<< > > > > > 4. Bandwidth will be limited by the latency and reliability of the > back-channel technology deployed. Same problem that > Satellite based systems have. The latency won't be quite as bad, but > that really depends on the back-channel medium they > use. > > >>>>>>>>This part is where I started wondering why anyone would take this person seriously on a technical level. Satellite signals traverse from, at least, the Clarke belt, meaning minimally 35,786+ km of free space. Given the speed of Radio Frequency propagation there is almost 25 ms latency inherent in the round trip to/from the Clarke belt [geostationary satellite orbital arc]. ( [distance to Clarke Belt / c ] is (2)3,600,000 m /(299,792,458 mps) ). Our furthest customer at 22dBm will be in the range of 30km from the transmitter so our signal will add, not 25ms, but in the worst case, .1 ms of latency. YES that?s ZERO POINT ONE compared to 25 milliseconds. Like comparing a one second wait to a 4 minute wait. I am guessing Mr. Brown has not done any RF systems design. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > 5. I suspect there will be NAT and other network address / routing issues > that will cause certain Internet based applications to > break or not work very well. > > >>>>>>>>Why does Mr. Brown ?suspect? this? I think it is established that Mr. Brown doesn?t ?do tech? very well. Please let the list know what there is inherent in the TCP/IP stack we use or the way we do our ?routing? that makes one ?suspect? this? Here?s what I suspect, Mr. Brown personally doesn?t really understand ?routing? at all and because of that assumes his readership does not either. > > The routing for this system is straight forward and being as MVDDS operates at a different layer of the OSI model (Layer 1 and 2), routing (layer 3) is pretty much blind to the lower levels of the network hierarchy. Our "routing" is done the way everyone else's routing is done. Should we discuss some IP tunneling, Mr. Brown. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > 6. Assume they also deploy video on this technology (Video is/was the > major driver of this technology), then the aggregate > bandwidth available for "Internet" will be significantly less. A > single HD video stream requires around 6 to 8 Mb/s, raw. > That does NOT include the overhead of IP. So a 100 channel video > service all in HD would need around 600 to 800 Mb/s of > Bandwidth, in addition to the bandwidth consumed by Internet > applications. > > >>>>>>>>Sounds like a pretty good argument for the provision of television for our system since we can put down considerably more 800 Mbps. Of course the writer forgets that there are already 2 operators operating in this spectrum (DirecTV and Dish Network). Both operate on exactly the same frequency as MVDDS, yet a consumer can receive both DirecTV and Dish Network signals at one location. This is because the Ku band is highly directional. This means that one consumer could receive our signal from two different towers (different vectors) as long as we could show (and have done it before) that we would not raise the Ku band noise floor. <<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > We must remember that the Internet is changing from a mostly consumer > service and morphing into a "prosumer(tm)" based medium. End users are > producing more and put more UP on the net. This requires more symmetrical > based transport mediums. > > >>>>>>>>Well, there are many things we need to remember, another one is that the Internet is becoming more and more mobile. This requires WIRELESS technologies. Fiber is not one of them. Des this imply that Fiber has no place in our market? The above is simple tabloidization of a complex argument. Another reason this rant was a knee-jerk reaction to competition. <<<<<<<<<< > > MVDDS is a viable way to introduce high speed internet to large areas without massive public works. The "evaluation" done by Mr. Brown is a marketing document posted to what I hope is a list with a bit more of a technical bent. > > > > With warmest regards to the list, > Kirk Kirkpatrick > -- > Sapere Aude! > > +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- > The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, > the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine > religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and > the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving > after rational knowledge. > - Albert Einstein > +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- > Kirk Kirkpatrick > President and Chief Executive Officer > > > MDS America > "Bringing Wireless Broadband Back Down to Earth" > > > > 800 Lincoln Ave. > Stuart, Fl 34994 > USA > > Tel +1 877 677 MDSA (toll free) > Mob +1 561 809 MDSA > Fax +1 419 828-2903 > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From granoff at zianet.com Thu Dec 8 18:24:17 2011 From: granoff at zianet.com (Marianne Granoff) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:24:17 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Agave Broadband Posting In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4EE17151.40207@zianet.com> While John Brown may have many faults - his lack of technical expertise is not one of them. John was one of the first local ISPs in the state and has worked collaboratively with other New Mexico ISPs and technologists for over 20 years. He has always been and continues to be extremely knowledgeable about various media, technologies, and equipment used for a variety of transmission protocols. I think Mr. Kirkpatrick's personally belittling remarks concerning John were totally uncalled for. Most of what John said was accurate and very much appreciated by those of us who wondered about the technology being used by Agave. We have all heard a lot of hype in press releases that hasn't lived up to expectations later on. There are valid reasons to use this techology in New Mexico, just as there are reasons to use other technologies. Mr Kirkpatrick has explained what he is doing in response to John's comments - but he could have done it without the personally disparaging comments, in my opinion. Marianne Manley Granoff Retired On 12/8/2011 2:59 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > I wanted to send out this short e-note to say that I > approved the rather lengthy posting by Kirk Kirkpatrick. > I'd like to avoid any less-than-productive back and forth about it on > this list. > > As was informally established some time ago, this list is mostly for > informative postings about New Mexico area broadband related matters. > > If you have issues with any posting, please let me know, > so that I can approve and forward relevant information to all. > > Thanks, > Richard > > From rl at 1st-mile.com Sat Dec 10 14:08:50 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:08:50 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Santa Fe Fiber Conduit Project Update Message-ID: <61ffd6a977530cd1463ddac8f2357dc2@dcn.org> Following are some excerpts from an article in today's New Mexican. To read the entire article, go to: www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/City-aims-to-upgrade-Internet-access >>A proposal to improve broadband access in the city initially was >> included on a list of property-tax bond projects that voters will >> decide on during March's municipal election. However, city councilors >> last week decided instead to allocate $1 million for the broadband >> project from a $23 million bond issue that doesn't require voter >> approval. That bond issue will be paid off with revenues from an >> existing gross-receipts tax. The basic idea, according to Sean Moody, a city Economic Development Division project planner, is for the city to install the infrastructure for high-speed Internet ? empty conduit and access points from the underground pipes to privately owned interconnection facilities. Those pipes can be filled with fiber optic cables by companies that want to start providing high-speed service. The intention is that such service could be made available at a more competitive price and in areas where it's not even an option now. << >>Moody's proposal envisions three corridors where users are or could >> be, but critical decisions can't be made until the next step when the >> city spends up to $130,000 of the planned allocation to hire a >> professional business consultant to put together an analysis and >> engineering plan. Empty pipelines already exist underground in the recently redeveloped Santa Fe Railyard, where officials laid the pipes with the hope that someone would run fiber optic cables through them later. In the St. Michael's Drive corridor, the city would have to trench and bury new conduit that could connect with the pre-piped campus of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. The third potential service area is the Santa Fe Municipal Airport on the southwestern edge of the city, but that facility does not have any infrastructure in place for fiber optics. << -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From christopher at newrules.org Mon Dec 12 07:51:09 2011 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:51:09 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Santa Fe Fiber Conduit Project Update In-Reply-To: <61ffd6a977530cd1463ddac8f2357dc2@dcn.org> References: <61ffd6a977530cd1463ddac8f2357dc2@dcn.org> Message-ID: The part I don't understand about these approaches (Seattle did something similar in one neighborhood) is how this results in real competition and investment. It seems at best a stopgap... moving from having only 1 or 2 providers to perhaps 3 or 4. This is an improvement, but there is a real limit on how many service providers can share this approach. And presumably, most service providers are not interested in the investments necessary for universal service, so the benefit generally seem very limited to me. Am I missing something? Thanks Christopher Mitchell Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative Institute for Local Self-Reliance http://www.muninetworks.org @communitynets 612-276-3456 x209 On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 4:08 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote: > Following are some excerpts from an article in today's New Mexican. > To read the entire article, go to: > > www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/City-aims-to-upgrade-Internet-access > > > >>A proposal to improve broadband access in the city initially was > >> included on a list of property-tax bond projects that voters will > >> decide on during March's municipal election. However, city councilors > >> last week decided instead to allocate $1 million for the broadband > >> project from a $23 million bond issue that doesn't require voter > >> approval. That bond issue will be paid off with revenues from an > >> existing gross-receipts tax. > > The basic idea, according to Sean Moody, a city Economic Development > Division project planner, is for the city to install the infrastructure > for high-speed Internet ? empty conduit and access points from the > underground pipes to privately owned interconnection facilities. Those > pipes can be filled with fiber optic cables by companies that want to > start providing high-speed service. The intention is that such service > could be made available at a more competitive price and in areas where > it's not even an option now. << > > > >>Moody's proposal envisions three corridors where users are or could > >> be, but critical decisions can't be made until the next step when the > >> city spends up to $130,000 of the planned allocation to hire a > >> professional business consultant to put together an analysis and > >> engineering plan. > > Empty pipelines already exist underground in the recently redeveloped > Santa Fe Railyard, where officials laid the pipes with the hope that > someone would run fiber optic cables through them later. In the St. > Michael's Drive corridor, the city would have to trench and bury new > conduit that could connect with the pre-piped campus of the Santa Fe > University of Art and Design. The third potential service area is the > Santa Fe Municipal Airport on the southwestern edge of the city, but > that facility does not have any infrastructure in place for fiber > optics. << > > > > -- > Richard Lowenberg > 1st-Mile Institute > Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 > www.1st-mile.com > rl at 1st-mile.com > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john at citylinkfiber.com Mon Dec 12 08:13:24 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:13:24 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Santa Fe Fiber Conduit Project Update In-Reply-To: References: <61ffd6a977530cd1463ddac8f2357dc2@dcn.org> Message-ID: Another part of the issue is, will this be engineered properly. Saying you are going to place a conduit in the ground that others can use is a nice simple statement. But it doesn't disclose anything to do about the size of that conduit. You size the conduit based on the size of the cable(s) you plan to pull through it. So if they put a 2" pipe in, that really won't let more than maybe one or two providers in. If you DO NOT put some sort of inter-duct in, then the next guy/gal to come along with cable runs the very HIGH RISK of snagging the first cable. So you solve this by putting in inter-duct. But that takes up volume in the pipe, and there is a finite amount of duct you can put into a pipe. So let's say you size this as a 4" pipe, and place (4) 1" inter-ducts in. That limits you to 4 providers, or 4 cables. Those cables are limited in size because of the 1" inter-duct size. You are at best going to get maybe a 144, or a 216 count cable. That is NOT enough for today/future. Then you have the entire "who is responsible for maintaining it". Where does the finger pointing go when something doesn't work? Can a service provider come along and intercept the conduit mid-way ?? How are the other provider cables protected? Who is responsible for that? What happens if it breaks? I'd love to know what they mean by "private interconnection facilities". Based on what I've seen of the City's previous "engineering", they would be better served by CHANGING the current, highly abusive, telcom franchise, into something that PROMOTES and SUPPORTS private-sector coming to Santa Fe and building. Instead of wasting money on these "Conduits to No Where". The City Leadership, implemented a franchise ordinance that PROHIBITS (via high cost fees paid to the City) the deployment of competitive fiber networks. The City is now spending hundreds of thousands (estimated) defending a federal lawsuit, rightfully brought by Qwest against the City. This is the SECOND time the City Leadership has tried to impose anti-competitive restrictions on service providers. The first time, Qwest sued in Federal Court and the City LOST. I suspect they will LOOSE again. If the people of Santa Fe want fiber to the home, to the small business, then those people MUST tell their elected officials to create a regulatory environment that promotes such activities. > -----Original Message----- > From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm- > bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Christopher Mitchell > Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 8:51 AM > To: rl at 1st-mile.com > Cc: 1st mile nm > Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] Santa Fe Fiber Conduit Project Update > > The part I don't understand about these approaches (Seattle did something > similar in one neighborhood) is how this results in real competition and > investment. It seems at best a stopgap... moving from having only 1 or 2 > providers to perhaps 3 or 4. This is an improvement, but there is a real limit > on how many service providers can share this approach. > > And presumably, most service providers are not interested in the > investments necessary for universal service, so the benefit generally seem > very limited to me. Am I missing something? Thanks > > > Christopher Mitchell > Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative Institute for Local Self- > Reliance > > http://www.muninetworks.org > > @communitynets > 612-276-3456 x209 > > > > On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 4:08 PM, Richard Lowenberg > wrote: > > > Following are some excerpts from an article in today's New Mexican. > To read the entire article, go to: > www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/City-aims-to- > upgrade-Internet-access > > > >>A proposal to improve broadband access in the city initially was > >> included on a list of property-tax bond projects that voters will > >> decide on during March's municipal election. However, city > councilors > >> last week decided instead to allocate $1 million for the broadband > >> project from a $23 million bond issue that doesn't require voter > >> approval. That bond issue will be paid off with revenues from an > >> existing gross-receipts tax. > > The basic idea, according to Sean Moody, a city Economic > Development > Division project planner, is for the city to install the infrastructure > for high-speed Internet - empty conduit and access points from the > underground pipes to privately owned interconnection facilities. > Those > pipes can be filled with fiber optic cables by companies that want to > start providing high-speed service. The intention is that such service > could be made available at a more competitive price and in areas > where > it's not even an option now. << > > > >>Moody's proposal envisions three corridors where users are or > could > >> be, but critical decisions can't be made until the next step when > the > >> city spends up to $130,000 of the planned allocation to hire a > >> professional business consultant to put together an analysis and > >> engineering plan. > > Empty pipelines already exist underground in the recently > redeveloped > Santa Fe Railyard, where officials laid the pipes with the hope that > someone would run fiber optic cables through them later. In the St. > Michael's Drive corridor, the city would have to trench and bury new > conduit that could connect with the pre-piped campus of the Santa > Fe > University of Art and Design. The third potential service area is the > Santa Fe Municipal Airport on the southwestern edge of the city, but > that facility does not have any infrastructure in place for fiber > optics. << > > > > -- > Richard Lowenberg > 1st-Mile Institute > Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 > 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 > www.1st-mile.com > rl at 1st-mile.com > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > From john at citylinkfiber.com Mon Dec 12 10:37:48 2011 From: john at citylinkfiber.com (John Brown) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:37:48 +0000 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Not your daddy's Internet, Speeds of Fiber Message-ID: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1626433361.png Residential subscriber in Albuquerque, NM From rl at 1st-mile.com Fri Dec 16 10:43:01 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:43:01 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] 8 Surprising Findings About the Broadband Economy Message-ID: <6463b04bcc6bb7d209aa041fc6c433d8@dcn.org> The following article in Government Technology magazine is by friend and broadband activist/advisor, Craig Settles. It may be of most interest to those of you involved in the economic development aspects of community broadband networking. The report referred to at the article's end can be found at: www.cjspeaks.com/msp/IEDC2011.pdf RL ------- 8 Surprising Findings About the Broadband Economy (Opinion) http://www.govtech.com/e-government/8-Surprising-Findings-About-the-Broadband-Economy.html December 15, 2011 By Craig Settles Plenty of articles have been written that assert one of the main benefits that broadband delivers is the ability to impact economic development. However, are we getting the complete picture of what it takes to achieve this goal? I don?t think we are. The absence of key details impedes communities? attempts to generate economic outcomes. Economists, the FCC, a parade of private-sector companies and industry trade associations are frequently cited ? along with all sorts of numbers that claim to prove the economic value of broadband. But one source it seems you don?t see enough is economic development professionals, the people who work day in and day out to save, maintain and grow local economies. Several years ago I started partnering with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) to take an annual survey of professionals in this field. I?ve posed to them the commonly referenced economic outcomes and the main broadband issues in order to learn how accurate they think the conventional wisdom of the moment is. Often the data contradicts the assumptions policymakers make about broadband. The U.S. stimulus of 2009 awarded public, private and nonprofit organizations more than $7 billion to build new broadband infrastructure, create public computing centers and implement broadband adoption programs. Hundreds of millions more has been spent by private companies and other federal agency sources. Improving economic development is a driving force behind these investments. It?s a little early in the infrastructure deployment process, though, and only a portion of the stimulus checks have been issued. That made it difficult to use this year?s survey to gauge the impact of stimulus-funded networks on local economies. But I did want to determine what economic outcomes we can hope to achieve in the next two or three years. My survey produced results that reveal several clues. Here?s a sampling of this year?s findings and some of my thoughts on what these numbers signify: 1. Rural economic developers appear to be well ahead of their urban counterparts in the area of planning. Fifty-eight percent of rural respondents either have broadband strategies and tactics worked into their economic development plans, or are writing plans currently with these elements. Only 39 percent of urban respondents have done the same. Given reports this year that many rural communities are shrinking and some are near death, it makes sense they?re being more proactive; they see broadband as the last best hope for survival. That said, urban areas shouldn?t get complacent about this type of planning. Broadband doesn?t impact economic development without planning. 2. ?We need a gigabit? has become the rallying call for broadband supporters everywhere; rural survey respondents say that 100 to 120 Mbps is the minimum they?ll need during the next three years to impact their local economies. I?m bullish on gigabit networks being a national goal, but this isn?t a universal need at the moment. A 100 Mbps network in small towns and rural counties has fewer concurrent network users to support than mid-size and large urban areas, so rural areas can be content with 100 Mbps. The reality is, a fiber network with smaller capacity is relatively cheap to ramp up to higher bandwidth. 3. While the FCC and other policymakers continue to try to make a silk purse from a 4Mbps sow?s ear, economic development professionals aren?t buying it. At least 92 percent see no economic impact coming from this minimum national ?standard.? 4. ?Finding a job? is one of the most frequently cited personal economic benefits of broadband for low-income populations. Economic development professionals, though, rate it at the bottom of the list of potential economic outcomes. When finding a job is perceived as the major economic goal, the tendency for policymakers is to champion less robust networks, and computing devices with less horsepower and tiny screens. How much capacity do you need to scan job listings and send email? But when communities have large numbers of people with limited or obsolete skills, the greater goal is to use broadband to significantly beef up their skills or retrain them for different, more financially rewarding industries. This means distance learning, video and other complex high-bandwidth applications. 5. As expected, fiber is clearly seen as the leading broadband technology to attract businesses to a community. However, wireless is viewed as a strong contender for increasing the number of startups in a community. 6. Not all wired broadband technologies are equal. Whereas fiber networks are clearly viewed by survey respondents as having a greater impact than wireless on a range of economic outcomes, cable is viewed as only slightly more effective than wireless despite the industry?s PR and marketing efforts. The primary message here is that, if communities have a choice they should go with fiber if it can be afforded. But if their only choice is cable or wireless, they might want to evaluate their wireless options. Stakeholders also should remember that not all wireless is equal, either. Rick Harnish, president of the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA), lays out the differences and why they matter in this interview on the radio talk show Gigabit Nation. 7. Perseverance is still important. Although 19 percent applied and didn?t win a stimulus grant, another 11 percent whose communities also didn?t win kept fighting for money and got their projects funded through state or other federal grants. 8. As the second decade of the new millennium moves along, 7 percent of respondents still only have dialup as their broadband option; 13 percent of rural respondents say they don?t expect to ever have broadband sufficient enough to impact economic development. You can download the full survey analysis report . Every community is different, of course, so look at these findings as a starting point to extensive analysis of local conditions and broadband needs. What?s also informative is reading the written comments of 169 of the survey participants who offer advice on getting better broadband into communities that need it. Craig Settles, host of radio talk show Gigabit Nation , is a broadband industry analyst and consultant who helps organizations develop effective broadband strategies . Follow him on Twitter (@cjsettles ) or via his blog . -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com rl at 1st-mile.com From rl at 1st-mile.com Sun Dec 18 18:03:33 2011 From: rl at 1st-mile.com (Richard Lowenberg) Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:03:33 -0700 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com Message-ID: <5faad651b3aaea1ac9577cfe5ac31b7b@dcn.org> The article David is posting to this list was in the Times two weeks ago, and immediately generated a lot of attention and discourse. If you haven't yet read it, take a look. Susan Crawford is very smart and perceptive. RL From: David Breecker Date: December 18, 2011 2:40:18 PM MST To: 1st-Mile-NM <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> Subject: Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com Apologies if this Dec. 4 piece has already been posted; some very good observations, IMHO: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest ? the poor and the working class ? either cannot afford access or use restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, millions are at risk of being left behind. David Breecker, President SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park Real Solutions/Wicked Problems http://SantaFeInnovate.org Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 Skype: dbreecker Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate From editorsteve at gmail.com Sun Dec 18 20:57:34 2011 From: editorsteve at gmail.com (Steve Ross) Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:57:34 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com In-Reply-To: <5faad651b3aaea1ac9577cfe5ac31b7b@dcn.org> References: <5faad651b3aaea1ac9577cfe5ac31b7b@dcn.org> Message-ID: I admire her but her facts are way off. Even at the height of the FiOS build a quarter of all homes passed with fiber were passed by tier3 ILECs and munis. In the past year, more than two-thirds were. there are now 22 million homes passed by fiber -- 20% of all households. (sent from mobile phone) Steve Ross +1 201-456-5933 mobile +1 781-284-8810 landline "editorsteve" on Facebook & LinkedIn On Dec 18, 2011 9:02 PM, "Richard Lowenberg" wrote: > The article David is posting to this list was in the Times > two weeks ago, and immediately generated a lot of attention > and discourse. If you haven't yet read it, take a look. > Susan Crawford is very smart and perceptive. > RL > > > From: David Breecker > Date: December 18, 2011 2:40:18 PM MST > To: 1st-Mile-NM <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> > Subject: Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com > > > Apologies if this Dec. 4 piece has already been posted; some very good > observations, IMHO: > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all > > Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban > well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest ? the > poor and the working class ? either cannot afford access or use > restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As > our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, > millions are at risk of being left behind. > > > David Breecker, President > SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park > Real Solutions/Wicked Problems > http://SantaFeInnovate.org > Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 > Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 > Skype: dbreecker > Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate > > > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Mon Dec 19 06:31:34 2011 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:31:34 -0600 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com In-Reply-To: References: <5faad651b3aaea1ac9577cfe5ac31b7b@dcn.org> Message-ID: But without Verizon expanding FiOS, how long will it take to pass 25 million homes? I think this is the concern Crawford legitimately raises. Christopher Mitchell Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative Institute for Local Self-Reliance http://www.muninetworks.org @communitynets 612-276-3456 x209 On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 10:57 PM, Steve Ross wrote: > I admire her but her facts are way off. Even at the height of the FiOS > build a quarter of all homes passed with fiber were passed by tier3 ILECs > and munis. In the past year, more than two-thirds were. there are now 22 > million homes passed by fiber -- 20% of all households. > > (sent from mobile phone) > Steve Ross > +1 201-456-5933 mobile > +1 781-284-8810 landline > "editorsteve" on Facebook & LinkedIn > On Dec 18, 2011 9:02 PM, "Richard Lowenberg" wrote: > >> The article David is posting to this list was in the Times >> two weeks ago, and immediately generated a lot of attention >> and discourse. If you haven't yet read it, take a look. >> Susan Crawford is very smart and perceptive. >> RL >> >> >> From: David Breecker >> Date: December 18, 2011 2:40:18 PM MST >> To: 1st-Mile-NM <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> >> Subject: Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com >> >> >> Apologies if this Dec. 4 piece has already been posted; some very good >> observations, IMHO: >> >> >> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all >> >> Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban >> well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest ? the >> poor and the working class ? either cannot afford access or use >> restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As >> our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, >> millions are at risk of being left behind. >> >> >> David Breecker, President >> SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park >> Real Solutions/Wicked Problems >> http://SantaFeInnovate.org >> Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 >> Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 >> Skype: dbreecker >> Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 1st-mile-nm mailing list >> 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org >> http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm >> > > _______________________________________________ > 1st-mile-nm mailing list > 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org > http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From editorsteve at gmail.com Mon Dec 19 06:57:41 2011 From: editorsteve at gmail.com (Steve Ross) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:57:41 -0500 Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com In-Reply-To: References: <5faad651b3aaea1ac9577cfe5ac31b7b@dcn.org> Message-ID: At current rate, for USA only, with Verizon almost out of the game, we're doing 1.5 million a year of which 300,000-400,000 is Verizon Enhanced Communities (PUDs and MDUs, not community-wide) -- my article on this (based mainly on Mike Render's data after we corrected several errors) is on the press now and should be posted at bbpmag.com later this week. If capital were available AND below 11% we'd be doing 4-5 million a year among non-RBOC deployers, judging from unfunded business plans I've reviewed (I see a lot of them, especially since the financial calculators went live on our site). As I think you know, Chris, Tim Nulty has some self-help sweat-equity ideas as well. We're going to base several Broadband Summit sessions on those next April. Will also have an entire track on an open-access rethink -- a way from smaller carriers to offer a multiplicity of modern services. Right now, private funders (equity, vendor lease, etc) want coupon rates of at least 11% and we've seen quotes at 15%. At those rates, networks can't get funded, even in good times. One common complaint: "why isn't there a futures market for broadband suppliers" so funders can hedge their risks (as they do with electricity, etc). They worry that broadband ARPU will collapse, whereas all we see are increased numbers of services deliverable on broadband, and thus increased revenue, even knocking linear video out of the equation (lots of revenue, not much margin anyway). This stuff on futures is all investor nonsense, of course, especially compared to alternative investments (zero interest rate at the bank, near-bubble over-speculation in commodities). Bankers are both smart and stupid, but even the smart ones have a herd mentality. Munis have an especially serious problem. In most states, they have to sell the entire funding bond at once. And tier3's without bankable assets going for typical RUS loans have to borrow 20% from the bank up-front to match the cheaper federal money. Raising $X up front at 15% and sticking it into a bank at 0% for two years until you need it for the actual build adds 30% to the network cost if you are a muni!!! Steve Ross On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 9:31 AM, Christopher Mitchell < christopher at newrules.org> wrote: > But without Verizon expanding FiOS, how long will it take to pass 25 > million homes? I think this is the concern Crawford legitimately raises. > > Christopher Mitchell > Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative > Institute for Local Self-Reliance > > http://www.muninetworks.org > @communitynets > 612-276-3456 x209 > > > > On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 10:57 PM, Steve Ross wrote: > >> I admire her but her facts are way off. Even at the height of the FiOS >> build a quarter of all homes passed with fiber were passed by tier3 ILECs >> and munis. In the past year, more than two-thirds were. there are now 22 >> million homes passed by fiber -- 20% of all households. >> >> (sent from mobile phone) >> Steve Ross >> +1 201-456-5933 mobile >> +1 781-284-8810 landline >> "editorsteve" on Facebook & LinkedIn >> On Dec 18, 2011 9:02 PM, "Richard Lowenberg" wrote: >> >>> The article David is posting to this list was in the Times >>> two weeks ago, and immediately generated a lot of attention >>> and discourse. If you haven't yet read it, take a look. >>> Susan Crawford is very smart and perceptive. >>> RL >>> >>> >>> From: David Breecker >>> Date: December 18, 2011 2:40:18 PM MST >>> To: 1st-Mile-NM <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org> >>> Subject: Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com >>> >>> >>> Apologies if this Dec. 4 piece has already been posted; some very good >>> observations, IMHO: >>> >>> >>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/opinion/sunday/internet-access-and-the-new-divide.html?pagewanted=all >>> >>> Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban >>> well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest ? the >>> poor and the working class ? either cannot afford access or use >>> restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As >>> our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, >>> millions are at risk of being left behind. >>> >>> >>> David Breecker, President >>> SFIP | Santa Fe Innovation Park >>> Real Solutions/Wicked Problems >>> http://SantaFeInnovate.org >>> Abiquiu Office: 505-685-4891 >>> Santa Fe Office: 505-690-2335 >>> Skype: dbreecker >>> Twitter: @SantaFeInnovate >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 1st-mile-nm mailing list >>> 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org >>> http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 1st-mile-nm mailing list >> 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org >> http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm >> >> > -- Steve Ross Corporate Editor, Broadband Communities Magazine (www.bbcmag.com) 201-456-5933 mobile, 781-284-8810 landline 707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice editorsteve (Facebook, LinkedIn) editorsteve1 (Twitter) editorsteve at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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