[1st-mile-nm] New NTIA BTOP Map Web Site

Wed Jun 20 05:17:54 PDT 2012

Hi Owen,

For there to be a positive affect on getting fiber to your home in Santa Fe, your elected officials will need to remove the current regulatory barriers and costs they recently imposed on companies that wish to deploy such services in your City.

2 years ago YOUR City Government passed a new franchise ordinance that creates costs of  $5000++ PER HOME to connect fiber to your home.
Much of that $5000 goes directly to the City in the form of FEE'S.

Based on current market prices, it would take a over 10 years to recover the investment to connect the home. That doesn't compute financially

Companies that normally compete with Qwest (DSL) stood side by side in agreement with Qwest, the NM PRC, the AG's office and others urging the City to NOT pass the new rules as then written.

Late that night The City Council still passed the rules.

The only company NOT listed was Comcast.  They are NOT impacted by the rules.

So Your City created an unfair competitive environment in which Qwest, AND ANYONE ELSE, that wishes to deploy such technologies has a HIGHER COST to do so, EXCEPT Comcast.  So COMCAST has a lower deployment cost compared to anyone else.

Your City Council was advised that should it pass the new rules it would likely be litigated.

Over the past two years, YOUR CITY has spent tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars defending the new rules in Federal Court.
WASTING YOUR TAX DOLLARS ON LITIGATION, when all it really needed to do is make a few changes to the rules to reduce the money grab they appear to be attempting to do.

Yes, we can all sit here and bash Qwest as being "evil".   In this case they are NOT.

Actually the US is 38th world wide, according to Speedtest.net

Here is what a RESIDENTIAL user gets in downtown ALBUQUERQUE. It costs them $70 a month

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1939951262.png

Santa Fe, City Different, City Slow (TM)

From: Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net<mailto:owen at backspaces.net>>
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:44:52 -0600
To: Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.com<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.com>>
Cc: "1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org<mailto:1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org>" <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org<mailto:1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org>>
Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] New NTIA BTOP Map Web Site

I'm not too swift at understanding gvt program announcements .. so a few questions:
- Will this have a positive effect on home broadband in Santa Fe?
- Will it allow local ISPs (cybermesa for example) to buy broadband for providing faster internet access for their customers?
- As I understand it, home broadband in Santa Fe is mainly DSL (phone lines) and cable (TV), with satellite down, dialup up as an alternative for very isolated sites.  Will this present new home alternatives like fiber (FiOS say)?

I ask because home broadband in the US is now around 20th world-wide and wondered if this would improve my horrid situation (DSL 1.5 down, .7 up).  Often these improvements are for institutions (universities, research, businesses ...) and not for local ISPs for providing broadband to their customers.

Cybermesa, btw, is exploring fast, modern (much better antenna design) wifi broadband service.  I believe it is currently point-to-point rather than mesh but is an interesting alternative to cable/DSL and might benefit from this broadband initiative if it would provide them good land-line access for their wireless network.

   -- Owen

On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 4:25 PM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.com<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.com>> wrote:
http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/library/index.php/2012/06/broadband-ntia-releases-a-new-btop-resource/

Broadband – NTIA Releases A New BTOP Resource

June 13th, 2012 by Jeff Martin Posted in For Libraries, For the Public, Technology and Resources, Updates | No Comments »

A new BTOP resource has been released. BTOP’s Connecting America’s Communities Map located at http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/BTOPmap/  is now available as a beta application. This resource provides a map which gives a visual depiction of BTOP grant recipient activities within each state. View the national map, select a state from the drop-down list, or enter a zip code and select search. Filter information by connection speed, by the type of institution to be served, or by the type of award. Overlay congressional district boundaries or add a population density gradient overlay to the map. Or toggle all filters on and off using the “Select All Filters” bar.

When first entering the site and viewing the information at a national level note the arrow tabs on either side of the map. Toggle between speed, institution type and award type using the arrows. Or let the maps advance from one to the next based on timing provided by the site.

This beta application also includes a State Dashboard for viewing planned activities and for noting the progress made within a state based on the last submitted annual report. Users can view award information for a selected state and also download summary information on the BTOP awards. When viewing awards for a selected state such as Washington State, the user is taken to another BroadbandUSA page, in this case http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/washington.

>From the website, “The content presented in BTOP’s Connecting America’s Communities Map includes data provided by grant recipients, which was submitted during the annual and quarterly report process and is available on the BTOP website. The Map is updated annually and therefore, does not reflect current project status. The Map also contains certain information about planned project progress, and such information is subject to change. It does not include data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service’s (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), although a list of BIP-funded projects is available on the State Dashboard.” Even though the data is quickly dated once current report information has been posted, the site provides an interesting overview of planned work associated with all of the NTIA awards for a state.

A two page fact sheet on BTOP’s Connecting America’s Comunities Map is available at http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/BTOPmap/data/btop-map-fact-sheet.pdf .

--------------------------------
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110<tel:505-989-9110> / 505-603-5200<tel:505-603-5200>
www.1st-mile.com<http://www.1st-mile.com>   rl at 1st-mile.com<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.com>
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