broadband

California discounts mobile broadband performance

22 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Cellular data services are sometimes fast but always inconsistent. Occasional bursts of good performance skew averages based on measurements taken over periods of time, building false expectations of the speed and performance consumers will actually get. That’s one of the conclusions reached in an analysis done for the California Public Utilities Commission, based on millions of field tests conducted at thousands of locations throughout the state (H/T to Jim Warner for the pointer).

Nearly everyone in California – 98% of the population – would have access to the CPUC’s minimum standard of service (6 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps up), if carrier claims and sporadic speed spikes are taken at face value.… More

Governor's pen will write the story for community broadband development in California

18 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Three bills with big implications for community broadband in California are still sitting on Governor Brown’s desk, waiting for his approval or veto:

Assembly bill 2272 would blow a huge hole in the California Advanced Services Fund and roll back much of the progress made last year when the legislature – and Brown – added $90 million to the kitty and made independent ISPs eligible for broadband construction subsidies. By requiring every CASF-funded project – past, present and future – to follow the state’s so-called prevailing wage rules, the effective subsidy would drop from 60% (for underserved areas) to less than 30% and the cost to the state would nearly double.… More

FCC's net neutrality rules stack the deck in favor of the big boys

17 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

What would Billy Bob do?

Even without the back and forth voting over whether or not to treat broadband providers as common carriers Thursday’s California Public Utilities Commission meeting offered an excellent discussion of net neutrality and the regulatory questions that surround it (assuming you’re into that sort of thing, of course).

Helen Mickiewicz, the CPUC’s assistant general counsel, walked commissioners through the main issues. You can see the video here:

CPUC Commission Voting Meeting – September 11, 2014

The net neutrality discussion begins at about 1:17:00 and runs for about an hour and 20 minutes.… More

FCC rural broadband experiments become 10% more cost effective in California

12 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Any Californian ISP that gets funding from the FCC to build out and operate an experimental rural broadband system can also get money from the California Advanced Services Fund. The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday approved a blanket 10% match of any federal funds an ISP might win via the FCC’s program.

The hope is that the extra CASF subsidy will buy down the cost of pursuing those rural broadband experiments in California, making them more cost effective in the eyes of the FCC and giving them a competitive edge against proposals from other states.… More

CPUC approves then pulls back endorsement of common carrier regulation for broadband

11 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

I come down strongly behind Title II, it’s the only thing that makes sense here.

It was high drama at today’s California Public Utilities Commission meeting in San Francisco, at least by the CPUC’s normally placid standards. Commissioners first voted 3 to 2 to tell the FCC that broadband infrastructure should be regulated under common carrier rules. About an hour later, after commissioners returned from a nominal five minute break that lasted somewhat longer, commissioner Carla Peterman asked to change her yes vote to abstain.… More

Comcast applauds FCC chair's talk of broadband competition but pimps for less

6 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler laid out his vision for the future of broadband. We applaud his focus on the importance of broadband competition to benefit all Americans.

So says Comcast’s chief lobbyist David Cohen in a blog post yesterday. He goes on at length about how Comcast is a living example of everything Wheeler said about the wonders of a competitive broadband market in a speech the day before.

And Cohen is right. Wheeler’s vision is also Comcast’s vision: a broadband market managed in Washington by people like Wheeler and Cohen who rotate jobs between government posts and giant incumbent companies, pretending to be acting for the greater good of all.… More

FCC chair talks broadband hardball but keeps tossing slowpitch

5 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC, gave a ringing speech yesterday at a Washington incubator, calling for more broadband competition, decrying the poor choice and service across huge swaths of the U.S., plugging municipal broadband and admitting that mobile service is no substitute for wireline networks, particularly fiber.

All good things. All wonderful words. The question, though, is whether he’ll follow through or if he’ll use pro-competition rhetoric to lay down a smoke screen for incumbent-friendly policies.… More

CPUC to FCC: Comcast's proposed mega-merger poses particular problems for California

4 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

California knows fit characters.

The California Public Utilities Commission is urging the FCC to consider Comcast’s “character and fitness to hold FCC licenses or authorizations”, particularly in light of an ongoing enquiry into its admitted publication of confidential subscriber information. That’s one of the highlights of comments the CPUC filed with the FCC regarding its review of the proposed merger of Comcast and Time-Warner. (H/T to UCSC’s Jim Warner for the heads up – I was slacking off in the Sierra when this went down.… More

Broadband missing on California's new enhanced infrastructure list

3 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

A deal to give local governments more infrastructure financing options finally came together in the closing hours of the California legislature’s 2014 session. Assuming Governor Brown signs senate bill 628 – likely, considering that his staff was deep in the negotiations that led to it – it’s good news overall for local governments. The measure gives local agencies the ability to create enhanced infrastructure financing districts that can issue bonds to build public facilities and earmark the future tax revenue the project is expected to generate to pay the money back.… More

Future of broadband subsidies in hands of California's governor

2 September 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

It’s up to California governor Jerry Brown, to decide whether or not to double labor costs and effectively cut broadband construction subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund in half by requiring all projects it funds to follow union work rules and pay scales.

In lopsided votes that included both democrat and republican support, the California senate and assembly approved assembly bill 2272 last week. According to its author, assemblyman Adam Gray (D – Merced)…

AB 2272 codifies a decision already handed down by the department of industrial relations [DIR] to pay prevailing wage on projects funded by the California Advanced Services Fund.

… More