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

Wed Jun 20 12:14:44 PDT 2012

Hi Owen,

Good questions. I've been looking into telecom-related matters on behalf of the city. US Ignite appears to be focused on gigabit applications rather than home connectivity. But the executive order affects infrastructure directly. This are my opinions:

- Will it have a positive effect on home broadband in Santa Fe?

Possibly. The executive order will affect the placement of facilities in federal lands. To the degree that Interstate 25, Santa Fe National Forest, Caja del Rio, or federal buildings can be exploited to extend last-mile connectivity, to-the-home delivery may improve.

- Will it allow local ISPs (cybermesa for example) to buy broadband for providing faster internet access for their customers?

No. Local ISPs and telephone companies (CLECs) already buy bandwidth from at least two of the three long-distance carriers with a presence in Santa Fe. The carriers' aggregate capacity is many orders of magnitude greater than current demand, and their wholesale rates as such do not singularly drive consumer speeds, availability or pricing. Additional carriers, routes or broadband capacity might increase the number of choices to an ISP. But only if the carriers are physically accessible to the ISPs and CLECs. I am developing a city infrastructure project focusing in part on this issue.

- 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)?

Likely via wireless rather than wireline. In particular in neighborhoods such as yours, in steeply contoured foothills adjacent to National Forest lands, potential antenna locations will effectively multiply. This will affect 3G/4G cellular and fixed wireless currently deployed in Santa Fe, and perhaps future fixed optical.

And from John Brown's comments:

- 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.

Incorrect. Fiber to the home is indeed expensive to install, but not because of the city's ordinance. The city charges $5,000 in initial fees for a franchise which would permit an unlimited number of homes to be connected, not just one. As a point of reference, the construction cost to install fiber to every home in Santa Fe is estimated between $2,000 and $4,000 per household. Yet the initial franchise charges would work out to just $0.17 per household.

-----Original Message-----
From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces+sxmoody=ci.santa-fe.nm.us at mailman.dcn.org on behalf of Owen Densmore
Sent: Wed 06/20/2012 10:45 AM
To: John Brown
Cc: Richard Lowenberg; 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org
Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] New NTIA BTOP Map Web Site

Holy cow, thanks!  I do remember it being mentioned that city regulators
can create serious barriers, often through simple ignorance but also via
self interest.

I realize (now, thanks RL!) this is list with members world wide, not just
NM, but I'm floored by this un-acceptable city government behavior.  I'm
also, like many others, desperate for a solution!  I hope that the rest of
us are better off!

Thanks again,

   -- Owen

On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 6:17 AM, John Brown <john at citylinkfiber.com> wrote:

> 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>
> Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:44:52 -0600
> To: Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.com>
> Cc: "1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org" <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>wrote:
>
>> http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/**library/index.php/2012/06/**
>> broadband-ntia-releases-a-new-**btop-resource/<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/<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<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 <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 / 505-603-5200
>> www.1st-mile.com   rl at 1st-mile.com
>> ------------------------------**--
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