[1st-mile-nm] Is Omaha a Turning Point for CenturyLink? No.

[Owen Densmore]

Interesting observation.  Isn't Century Link's strategy to build out enough
fiber to somehow also make DSL better via neighborhood hubs?

I heard something like that and know a problem they face is simply getting
into the household: no one wants more holed in the wall etc.  A wireless
1st mile for example would make sense too.

I guess the question is what is the end point in this game.  Certainly a
fiber world with several services other than just TCP/IP would be
interesting.  But the cellular folks are now getting huge data rates and I
suspect their target is the home as well as the phone.

An image I enjoy when trying to explain the "house interface" to the
community is picturing a giant pulling up my house into the air, and
looking at all that stuff that dangles back to the ground: water, sewer,
phone, and generally cable.  Hopefully cable will be replaced with a more
general wire sometime, but not for a while.  The giant is also careful to
surround the house looking for RF in/out and thereby also finds satellite,
TV/radio, cellular, and possibly wireless internet.

   -- Owen

   -- Owen


On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 12:38 PM, Christopher Mitchell <
christopher at newrules.org> wrote:

> Given how little CenturyLink actually has to invest, I wanted to set the
> record straight with what communities can expect from the third largest
> telephone company in America.
>
>
> http://muninetworks.org/content/even-after-omaha-communities-cannot-count-centurylink-connectivity
>
> In short, Omaha is a fluke not a new strategy.
> ----------------
>
> CenturyLink is a massive telephone company struggling to remain relevant
> as we transition to mobile phones and require connections much faster than
> DSL <http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term9>delivers. Though the Omaha
> gigabit announcement may seem to be a monumental shift for this company, it
> actually is not. It is a blip on the radar - an important blip but a blip
> nonetheless.
>
> The Omaha pilot does not represent a sudden change of CenturyLink strategy
> or capacity. Part of West Omaha has a unique history that prompted this
> investment. The vast majority of communities in CenturyLink territory still
> have no hope for upgrades beyond the basic DSL they offer today. Sadly,
> this already-outdated technology will only fall further behind in coming
> years.
>
> First, if you missed it, CenturyLink has announced a 1 Gbps pilot project
> in Omaha, Nebraska <http://www.omaha.com/article/20130501/MONEY/705019865>.
> This is considerably more newsworthy that AT&T's toothless
> fiber-to-the-press-release response to Austin's Google Fiber<http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Why-ATTs-Promise-To-Bring-1-Gbps-to-Austin-is-Mostly-Empty-123807>
> .
>
> CenturyLink is a massive corporation in a tough spot. It operates in 38
> states and in each one, subscribers are fleeing slow DSL for faster
> networks and moving from landlines to wireless devices. CenturyLink does
> not have enough revenue for the upgrades most communities need.
>
> CenturyLink deserves some praise for this gigabit trial because it
> recognizes the need to upgrade old networks to offer faster, more reliable
> connections. And it is symmetrical<http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term24>,
> offering the sameupload <http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term28> speeds
> as downstream <http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term8> whereas the
> Verizon FiOS <http://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term11> network tends to
> prioritize downstream at the expense of up.
>
> For years, CenturyLink has told communities that basic DSL is just fine.
> We'll probably still hear that talking point in many communities from
> CenturyLink's government affairs staff. But this project is an admission
> that America needs better networks.
>
> *Why Omaha*?
>
> Read the rest here:
>
>
> http://muninetworks.org/content/even-after-omaha-communities-cannot-count-centurylink-connectivity
>
>
> Christopher Mitchell
> Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative
> Institute for Local Self-Reliance
>
> http://www.muninetworks.org
> @communitynets
> 612-276-3456 x209
>
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>
>
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