casf

Surprise, Trona and Searles Valley! You've been chopped

18 January 2016 by Steve Blum
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“Do the folks in Trona and Searles Valley that initially expressed strong support for this project, are they aware of this change?” asked commissioner Mike Florio as the California Public Utilities Commission considered a greatly trimmed fiber to the home project proposed for several high desert communities.

“No they are not, mostly likely they are not, unless they were attending today’s meeting and received the [revised] version”, replied Rob Wullenjohn, the CPUC staff manager who oversees the California Advanced Services Fund CASF).… More

Last minute WISP challenge kills FTTH for two California towns

14 January 2016 by Steve Blum
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No gigabit for you.

It’s still called the Five Mining Communities broadband project, but only three will be getting fiber to the home service, assuming the California Public Utilities Commission approves a $2 million California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant as currently drafted at its meeting tomorrow.

Race Telecommunications will get the money to build out in Randsburg, Johannesburg, and Red Mountain, near the junction of Inyo, San Bernardino and Kern counties. But neighboring Trona and Searles Valley are off the list, because of a last minute challenge from a wireless Internet service provider, SBC Wireless, who just popped up in town…

[CPUC] staff followed up with SBC-Wireless and was told that SBC-Wireless began operations in the area in late October 2015, has eight employees, and as of November 20, 2015 has 142 residential customers signed up for service.

… More

Cable and telco lobbyists block broadband infrastructure subsidies in California

7 January 2016 by Steve Blum
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Money walks when bullshit talks.

A plan to add more money to the main fund used to subsidise broadband infrastructure in California – the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) – is stalled, likely fatally. Assembly bill 238 would also have raised the minimum speed for acceptable service to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up, once areas with service that doesn’t even meet the current 6 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps up have a shot at upgrading and service at that level is available to 98% of Californian homes.… More

Higher speeds and more money for Californian broadband infrastructure subsidies proposed

6 January 2016 by Steve Blum
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Adding money to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for broadband infrastructure projects and raising the minimum acceptable speed for Californians to 25 Mbps down/3Mbps up is back on the table in Sacramento.

Assembly bill 238, authored by assemblyman Mark Stone (D – Santa Cruz), would do that. It was introduced last year, but put on hold, largely because of opposition from rural interests. The fear was that raising the minimum speed would take money from rural areas – many of which don’t have broadband service available at the current minimum 6 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps – and give it to urban and suburban communities where available service is merely below average, as opposed to being completely substandard.… More

Race targets Sonoma County for FTTH project

2 January 2016 by Steve Blum
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If you head west from Santa Rosa on State Route 12, and take the fork at Occidental Road, about halfway to the Pacific Ocean you’ll come to the town of Occidental. Residents there get broadband service from AT&T and Comcast, but if you go a little further west, the lines end. Race Telecommunications wants to build out a fiber to the home system there, and is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for a $9.1 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund to do it.… More

FTTH project pitched for CASF subsidy in south Santa Clara County

28 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for more.

When you travel south of the Silicon Valley, Internet access begins to degrade. The southern stretch of Santa Clara County – the Coyote Valley – relies on a uneven mix of service from Verizon (soon to be Frontier), AT&T and Charter Communications, plus a handful of independents. LCB Communications and co-owned South Valley Internet, a wireless ISP and DSL reseller in the area, want to get into the fiber to the home business, and is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for a $2.8 million subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF).… More

California broadband grant proposed for FTTH in Nicasio

24 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Click for a bigger picture.

The western Marin County town of Nicasio is in the hunt for for a $1.7 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build a fiber to the home broadband system. The application was submitted by Inyo Networks, which is involved in several pending CASF project proposals as well as the already operating Digital 395 system. According to the publicly posted summary…

The area is fully “wireline unserved” by the [incumbent telephone company] and is not served by a cable television service provider alternative either.

… More

Anza FTTH project approved for funding by CPUC

21 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Desert communities get competing broadband subsidies from California, feds.

The Anza Electric Cooperative will get $2.7 million from the California Advanced Services Fund to build a fiber to the home system throughout its service area in western Riverside County. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the grant at its meeting on thursday. According to the resolution…

This project is economical and provides a wide benefit. The CASF per-household subsidy is $710 per household (based on 3,751 households that will have access).

… More

New California mobile broadband metrics closer to reality

15 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Then and now. Half the time, mobile broadband in Alameda and Contra Costa counties is pretty good. But all the time? Not so much.

Mobile broadband service in California is reasonably good overall. In some places, it’s excellent. In others, non-existent. And there’s a lot of gradations in-between. But you wouldn’t know that by relying on the marketing claims made by the four big mobile carriers, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. According to them, they deliver super service everywhere, except where it’s super duper.… More

CPUC approves Nevada County FTTH project

3 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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A $16 million fiber to the home grant from the California Advanced Services Fund was approved this morning by the California Public Utilities Commission. It was a 4 to 1 vote with CPUC president Michael Picker voting no. The Bright Fiber Nevada County Connected project still needs to pass environmental reviews. About $11 million in private financing also needs to be secured. Full disclosure: I worked on the Bright Fiber grant application.