community networks

Funding and eligibility for California broadband subsidies back on track in Sacramento

27 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Open for business again.

The authors of legislation to top up the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and make more broadband construction projects eligible for grants and loans have put money back in and removed unworkable restrictions pushed by industry lobbyists.

The primary proposal, senate bill 740, was originally written by senator Alex Padilla (D – Los Angeles) to add money to CASF, because current grant requests would, if approved, zero out the fund.… More

Gigabit Seattle raising FTTH attention but not cash


Adding lift to a trial balloon.

The Gigabit Seattle team is trying to tap into Google Fiber’s buzz by releasing a fiber-to-the-home pricing plan that sounds a lot like what’s on offer in Kansas City, albeit for a few dollars more and with a little less freebie time. Otherwise, there’s been precious little in the way of specific information about the project since it was announced six months ago.

What I wrote then is true today: Gigabit Seattle’s financial vehicle is still a concept car.… More

Eligibility for broadband subsidies harder to prove under Senate farm bill requirements

20 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Trail of tiers.

The version of the federal farm bill passed by the senate has problematic requirements for documenting eligibility for the broadband infrastructure grants and loans it authorises. It sets 4 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds as a minimum. If an area does not have at least one service provider offering that level of service or better, then it’s eligible for construction subsidies, assuming all the other requirements are met.

To prove an area is eligible, though, the lack of service has to be…

(I) certified by the affected community, city, county, or designee; or (II) demonstrated on (aa) the broadband map of the affected State if the map contains address-level data; or ‘‘(bb) the National Broadband Map if address-level data is unavailable.

… More

It sounds a little different when a city talks about acceptable Internet use

19 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Unacceptable use.

Opelika, Alabama wants to be the first in the state to add fiber to the home service to its municipal electric utility. It’s set $41 million aside to build an FTTH system and hopes to get to profitability within five years. But it’s also wrestling with a question that often comes up when building municipal broadband projects: to what degree can or should a city control what happens on its network?

The discussion in Opelika centers on an acceptable use policy.… More

Broadband competition beats stagnation and regulation

12 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Don’t fence me in.

There’s nothing new about local governments getting into the utilities business. Nearly all waste water utilities and many (most?) water utilities are publicly owned and managed, either by a primary agency (i.e. city or county) or a special district or equivalent. Plenty of publicly owned electric and solid waste utilities are around too.

So long as the go/no-go decision is made by the taxpayers involved – indirectly by representative government or directly by vote, as they prefer – it’s little different from a corporation and its shareholders deciding to commit capital.… More

Caveat vendor: the customer can say no

11 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Thank you for your input.

Organizational budgets and goals are set in the C-suite, defining the resources and limiting the options available to IT executives. Then it’s up to them to find solutions that maximize employees’ chances of meeting those goals while minimizing the pain and staying within the budget.

IT executives have to balance the arts of managing up and implementing down. The best outcome occurs when everyone’s needs, wants and dreams are fulfilled. It’s a tough job that requires a diverse set of skills.… More

California legislature votes more perks for cable and telephone companies

30 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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It’s on the house. Both houses, actually.

The California Assembly approved using broadband construction subsidy funds to pay for marketing programs and infrastructure in public housing yesterday. The votes was 58 yes and 17 no for assembly bill 1299, which means it heads over to the Senate for further consideration later this summer.

AB1299 earmarks $20 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for building out broadband infrastructure in public housing projects and another $5 million for programs designed to encourage residents to buy service.… More

Sharp limits on broadband subsidies approved by California Senate

29 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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I think I’ll send you over the Assembly for a little trim.

No more money for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and tight restrictions on how any remaining funds can be spent. That was the decision yesterday of a large, bipartisan majority of California state senators, as they approved a broadband infrastructure bill largely written by cable and telco lobbyists.

In a 36 to 1 vote, they sent senate bill 740 to the assembly for consideration later this summer.… More

Votes on California broadband subsidy changes set for Tuesday

27 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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Providing meaningful input to the process.

Two proposals to change the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) are on the table in Sacramento, and both are scheduled for major votes on Tuesday. Assembly bill 1299 and senate bill 740 will be put before the full California Assembly and Senate, respectively, after legislative leaders – primarily super-majority Democrats – released both for a vote. The alternative would have been to kill them outright, which was the fate of many other bills in progress.… More

No Google deed goes unpunished

26 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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When you’re hot, you’re hot.

Google is under pressure to upgrade the free WiFi system it installed in its hometown of Mountain View, California in 2006. Complaints in online forums have been accumulating, and The Mountain View Voice reports improvements are in the pipeline.

At least part of the problem is online video streaming. The Tropos mesh WiFi network equipment was state-of-the-art seven years ago, but bandwidth needs were quite a bit lower then. There’s a certain amount of irony in the fact that one of the Internet’s biggest bandwidth hogs is Google’s YouTube service, but it’s not like anyone is being ripped off.… More