[1st-mile-nm] Chattanooga Fiber - NY Times

[Christopher Mitchell]

Quoting:
The issue
> that had my attention, is the high pricing of greater bandwidth,

The high pricing of greater bandwidth?  Please tell me that someone is
complaining about $350/month for 1Gbps when I am paying $72/month for
16/2Mbps or something.

$350/month for a Gbps strikes me as ludicrously low anywhere in the US

Christopher Mitchell
Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
http://www.newrules.org/information/
http://www.muninetworks.org
612-379-3815 x209
@communitynets



On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 12:13 PM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.com> wrote:
> The following article in today?s NY Times, is of interest for a few reasons.
> It highlights the Chattanooga open fiber project, which has been getting
> attention since inception, a few years ago.   The fiber broadband services
> network is also part of the same network infrastructure that supports ?smart
> energy grid? capabilities.   In that way, it is similar to the recent RUS
> awarded Kit Carson Electric Coop?s network expansion, here in NM.   The issue
> that had my attention, is the high pricing of greater bandwidth, which will
> probably be reduced over time, as the numbers of subscribers increase and as
> more high-bandwidth content and applications become available.
>
> However, it seems clear and concerning to me that (for the next ten years) the
> pricing for increased (sometimes bundled) access to higher bandwidth networks,
> will likely result in a new economic ?digital divide?, among the already
> low-income, underserved populations of this state and of the country.   Lower
> cost wireless, mobile networks will fill much of that gap, but more than
> meeting the needs for greater access, our real challenge is to more equitably
> and sustainably address the affordability of new high-bandwidth networks and
> services.
>
> I hope that some discussion of this matter on this list is not a bother to some.
>  I simply urge that any follow-up discussion be productive and on-topic.
> RL
>
> ---------
>
> Fastest Net Service in U.S. Coming to Chattanooga
>
> www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/technology/13broadband.html?src=me&ref=technology
>
> In the global race to see who can offer the fastest Internet service, an
> unlikely challenger has emerged: Chattanooga, Tenn.
>
> The city-owned utility, EPB, plans to announce on Monday that by the end of this
> year it will offer ultra-high-speed Internet service of up to one gigabit a
> second. That is 200 times faster than the average broadband speed in America.
>
> Only Hong Kong and a few other cities in the world offer such lightning-fast
> service, and analysts say Chattanooga will be the first in the United States to
> do so. ?This makes Chattanooga ? a midsized city in the South ? one of the
> leading cities in the world in its digital capabilities,? said Ron
> Littlefield, the city?s mayor.
>
> There is one caveat: the highest-speed service will cost $350 a month, a price
> that may appeal to some businesses but few households, even though the service
> will be offered to all the 170,000 homes and businesses EPB serves.
>
> ?We don?t know how to price a gig,? said Harold DePriest, chief executive
> of EPB. ?We?re experimenting. We?ll learn.?
>
> Chattanooga?s effort is the byproduct of an aggressive high-tech economic
> development plan in recent years, helped along by funds from the federal
> economic stimulus program. But it comes at a time of increasing debate among
> communities, countries and corporations about how best to pursue the next
> generation of broadband, a technology seen as the gateway to a new wave of
> Internet-based products and services.
>
> The Obama administration presented its broadband strategy earlier this year and
> set the goal of bringing broadband to 100 million American homes at download
> speeds of at least 100 megabits a second ? a tenth of Chattanooga?s top
> speed ? by 2020. The United States, according to studies, is a laggard among
> developed nations in broadband adoption and service speeds.
>
> Eric E. Schmidt, Google?s chief executive, and other leaders in technology and
> government point to the trailing broadband performance as a danger to American
> competitiveness that threatens to saddle the nation with an ?innovation
> deficit? compared with other countries.
>
> To help close the gap, Google pledged this year to supply service at one gigabit
> a second to up to 500,000 people in the United States. The company says that
> 1,100 communities have applied, and Google will make its selection ? one
> community, or a few ? this year.
>
> In announcing the program, Google offered a glimpse of the benefits of
> ultra-high-speed Internet service. ?Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic,
> streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the Web and discussing a unique
> condition with a specialist in New York,? its statement said. ?Or
> downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five
> minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world, while watching live
> 3-D video of a university lecture.?
>
> Such visions of new high-speed services in health care, entertainment, education
> and business are behind the ambitious national programs under way in countries
> like Australia and South Korea. Already a leader in high-speed broadband, Korea
> plans to offer one-gigabit-per-second service nationally by 2012.
>
> Higher-speed Internet service, experts agree, is an important national goal, but
> it is less clear whether moving quickly to very-high-speed service is worth the
> cost. Much of the economic gain can be achieved, and consumer demand met, by
> moving on a more measured path, they say.
>
> Verizon, for example, has invested billions of dollars to upgrade much of its
> network for fiber optic Internet service, at speeds of 15, 25 and 50 megabits
> per second. Those speeds are three to 10 times standard broadband service; the
> monthly charges are $50 for 15 megabits, $65 for 25 and $140 for 50. And the
> vast majority of Verizon?s fiber optic Internet customers, analysts say,
> choose the 15-megabit, $50-a-month service.
>
> The demand for one-gigabit-per-second service could be minuscule, experts say.
> ?I can?t imagine a for-profit company doing what they are doing in
> Chattanooga, because it?s so far ahead of where the market is,? said Robert
> D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation,
> a nonpartisan research group.
>
> Even Mr. DePriest of EPB does not expect brisk demand for the one-gigabit
> service anytime soon. So why offer it? ?The simple answer is because we
> can,? he said.
>
> And, Mr. DePriest said, it can be done at minimal additional expense, once fiber
> optic cable is strung to homes and businesses, and the electronics for
> ultra-high-speed Internet ? more than 100 megabits per second ? are in
> place.
>
>  ?The overriding consideration is that this is a real tool for economic
> development for our community,? Mr. DePriest said. ?It is the basis for
> creating the products and services of the Internet of the future. And it?s in
> Chattanooga today.?
>
> The utility started stringing fiber optics to homes about two years ago, and
> began offering high-speed broadband a year ago. It supplies
> 30-megabits-per-second service for $58 a month, 50 megabits for $71 a month,
> and 100 megabits for $140 a month (as of Monday, down from $175).
>
> That service is now offered to 100,000 of the utility?s 170,000 customers, and
> will be available to all of them by the end of the year. At present, 15,000
> customers subscribe to at least one fiber optic service ? television,
> Internet access or phone service. And 12,000 subscribe to the Internet service,
> a strong sign-up rate in the first year, Mr. DePriest says.
>
> The high-speed Internet service is piggybacked on top of the utility?s
> smart-grid network, which was the reason for stringing the fiber optic cable to
> homes in the first place. Smart grids are advanced electrical networks that can
> improve energy efficiency, enable variable pricing based on the time of day,
> and reduce disruptions. They require digital networks for two-way
> communications, and computerized meters in homes.
>
> EPB had already begun a smart-grid program before the Obama administration
> included billions for grants for smart-grid projects in the economic stimulus
> program in 2009. But the Chattanooga utility did win a $111 million grant from
> the Energy Department, accelerating its smart-grid plan. The federal funds did
> not go to subsidize the high-speed Internet service, Mr. DePriest said.
>
> The customers for the fastest offering may be few, but Dr. James Busch will most
> likely be one of them. He is one of 10 radiologists in a practice that reads and
> interprets medical images from 14 hospitals and clinics in Tennessee and
> Georgia. Those data-heavy medical images are shuttled over the Internet.
>
> ?The business model works because bandwidth is so available in Chattanooga,?
> Dr. Busch said.
>
> The bandwidth requirements for the practice will only grow, he said, and the
> faster service to homes will help. ?Our docs will be able to read images from
> home,? Dr. Busch said. ?That could change our practice.?
>
>
> --
> Richard Lowenberg
> 1st-Mile Institute
> P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
> 505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
> rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com
>
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