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

[Christopher Mitchell]

CenturyLink is indeed doing fiber to the node and then some will see faster
DSL as a result. I would put the one-more-hole-in-the-wall obstacle up
there with "one" of the reasons I don't own a Porsche -- I would have to
clean out part of my garage to have a place to put it.

There are other reasons of course, and just about all of them are more
important. For both myself and CenturyLink, the real problem is
insufficient revenue to make things go faster =)

Cellular is not getting huge data rates - real world tests of 4G show that
it is inferior to cable, which is hardly super fast. And congestion is a
far larger problem with wireless than many ackowledge, particuarly as we
don't want towers blighting the landscape everywhere and the big companies
don't want to pay to make them blend in.

--christopher

Christopher Mitchell
Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative
Institute for Local Self-Reliance

http://www.muninetworks.org
@communitynets
612-276-3456 x209


On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 11:29 AM, Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net> wrote:

> 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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