san francisco

Exclusive deals nixed as ISPs get access to San Francisco MDUs

23 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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It’s open season on apartment buildings and condominiums in San Francisco, at least where communications services are concerned. The San Francisco board of supervisors unanimously approved, and mayor Ed Lee signed, an ordinance that permits residents of multiple dwelling units (MDUs) to buy broadband (and telephone and video) service from any qualified provider. Landlords or homeowners associations have to allow competitive providers access to the property and to any wiring they own. ISPs have to pay “just and reasonable compensation” and give proper notice, as defined in the ordinance.… More

San Francisco FTTP analysis embraces economic reality

25 March 2016 by Steve Blum
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The fiber-to-the-premise analysis run by the City and County of San Francisco nailed it: providing gigabit capability to every home and business in the City means either treating it like a normal municipal utility and taxing everyone to pay for it – $43 a month, they figure – or taxing everyone less – $26 a month – and making up the rest with subscription fees from people that want to use it.

The everyone pays, everyone gets model means a big initial buildout for something close to a gigabuck, with the $43 monthly fees split between paying that off and running the system as a municipal utility.… More

Google Fiber radically changes its business model

26 February 2016 by Steve Blum
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Evolution happens faster than you expect.

Google Fiber is steering away from the massive capital investment required to build fiber to the home networks – even just in cherry picked fiberhoods – and going after targets of opportunity where someone else is paying for the glass. This week it’s signed a deal with Huntsville, Alabama to be the anchor service provider on a fiber to the premise system that the city will build and followed it up with an announcement that it’ll be using other people’s fiber to offer a very limited kind of service in San Francisco…

By using existing fiber to connect some apartments and condos, as we’ve done before, we can bring service to residents more quickly.

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San Francisco might install its own conduit anytime someone digs a hole

14 October 2014 by Steve Blum
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The City and County of San Francisco is on the verge of assuming that it will install conduit and, possibly, fiber optic cables whenever someone cuts into a street. A board of supervisors’ committee has endorsed a proposed ordinance that requires anyone – including utilities and the City itself – who applies for a permit to open a trench in the City’s right of way or otherwise digs a hole on City property to notify the department of technology (DT).… More

San Francisco tells AT&T where to put its equipment cabinets

9 May 2014 by Steve Blum
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Some people in San Francisco seem determined to fight a last ditch battle against broadband infrastructure upgrades proposed by AT&T. San Francisco supervisors are considering a new ordinance that would put a dump truck load of restrictions in front of any request to put broadband equipment cabinets in the public right of way. One sample…

The following locations are disfavored, and the Department shall not issue a Surface-Mounted Facility Site Permit in these disfavored locations unless the Applicant can show that no other option is available:…On Public Right-of-Ways that the San Francisco General Plan has designated as being most significant to City pattern, defining City form, having an important street view for orientation or as having views that are rated “excellent” or “good”.

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