verizon – Page 10 – Steve Blum's Blog

California wake up call is Verizon's headache

15 June 2014 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, public policy, verizon

Verizon’s objections to proposed changes for broadband infrastructure subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) would be forgivable coming from an east coast venture capitalist who woke up on Redondo Beach with a raging hangover and a contract stapled to his naked chest awarding him ownership of the local telephone system. But not from an incumbent telco that claims to be perpetually upgrading its network in California.

In a ranting letter, submitted as comments on a draft of new CASF rules last week, a Verizon staff lobbyist wrote…

The draft would require existing providers to submit a letter by September 26, 2014 that declares its intent to upgrade any area in all of California that is not served.

… More

Old real estate business models slowing fiber upgrades

22 April 2014 by Steve Blum
broadband, ftth, google, mdu, verizon

If you live in an apartment or condominium complex or similar – multiple dwelling units or MDUs as they’re called – then there is an additional hurdle between you and faster Internet service: your landlord or home owners’ association. Generally speaking, ISPs have to get permission to upgrade or install broadband facilities on private property. Those who control access can, in many cases, demand some form of compensation for saying yes.

Google has run into this problem in Kansas City.… More

Verizon's move to fiber a blessing for some Californians, but maybe a curse for others

20 April 2014 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, dsl, ftth, public policy, regional consortia, verizon

Click for a bigger version, courtesy of the CPUC California broadband availability map.

Verizon says it’s invested more than $500 million in upgrading its broadband infrastructure in southern California and, in contrast to AT&T, it seems to be putting its money into wireline systems, particularly its FiOS fiber-to-the-home offerings. But the company is also making it clear that regulated copper plant belongs to past, and plans for replacing it with unregulated, fiber based Internet protocol service are moving ahead in California and elsewhere.… More

Eastern Sierra consortium presents plans for building broadband out from Digital 395

8 March 2014 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, digital 395, escrbc, ftth, mediacom, public policy, race telecommunications, regional consortia, schat, verizon

Click for the full presentation

With the Digital 395 fiber optic backbone complete – running more than 500 miles from from Reno down the eastern side of California to Barstow – the focus in the region is on hooking up last mile broadband projects and extending middle connectivity to areas it doesn’t reach.

Julie Langou, the project manager for the Eastern Sierra Connect Regional Broadband Consortium, presented a plan for building out from the Digital 395 fiber route at the annual meeting of regional broadband consortia in Sacramento earlier this week.… More

Golden Bear fiber plan not sturdy enough to survive incumbent challenges

5 March 2014 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, casf, comcast, cpuc, golden bear, public policy, sunesys, verizon

The two thousand mile, $120+ million Golden Bear middle mile fiber network is officially dead. Snaking through the canyons and river valleys of far northern California, the project was touted as a way of bringing fast, inexpensive backbone connectivity to areas far removed from bandwidth-rich regions to the south.

Effectively, backers were asking for 100% grant funding from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Nominally, the limit is somewhere between 60% and 70%, depending on the level of broadband service, if any, that is available.… More

CPUC affirms relevance of broadband pricing and caps, approves subsidies for five Californian projects

31 October 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, casf, cpuc, ftth, pinnacles telephone, ponderosa telephone, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon

The California Public Utilities Commission said yes this morning to spending $4.8 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) on five rural broadband projects.
Commissioners approved the subsidies unanimously and without discussion. The resolutions included language rejecting unsupported mobile broadband coverage claims made by Verizon and indicating that the commission considers broadband pricing and data caps to be relevant issues, if not formal criteria, when it decides whether to subsidise competitive broadband projects…

In addition, while the Commission in [its decision setting out rules for the CASF program] did not include broadband performance measure other than speed, the wireless broadband service offerings include data caps and pricing that are more restrictive than the proposed project’s service offerings which has lower prices and no explicit data caps.

… More

New mobile payment push by Verizon takes centerstage at MobileCon

16 October 2013 by Steve Blum
american express, isis, jamba juice, mobile, mobilecon, verizon

As easy as looking in your wallet to see how much cash you have.

Credit cards are simple to use, easy to carry and accepted everywhere. That’s a tough combination to beat, which explains why mobile payment platforms are stalled in the U.S.

“You’ve got to make it incredibly simple,” said Michael Abbott, the CEO of Isis, a mobile payment platform that’s pulled together support from Verizon, American Express and Chase. “The competition is plastic, we’ve got to make plastic obsolete.”… More

Verizon throws three more broadband subsidy tantrums

14 October 2013 by Steve Blum
boonville, boron, broadband, casf, community networks, cpuc, public policy, race telecommunications, verizon, westport

Can you hear me now?

To get a broadband construction subsidy from the California Advanced Services Fund (CPUC), you have to show that the area where you want to build is at least underserved, as defined by the California Public Utilities Commission speed standard of 6 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up. Incumbent carriers are then given a chance to prove you wrong.

In the current round of CASF grant and loan applications, submitted last February, some projects – particularly Golden Bear in north California and ViaSat all over the map – drew protests from a wide range of providers.… More

Marginal communities losing wireline connectivity

5 July 2013 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, public policy, verizon

It’s all fun and games until somebody cuts the cord.

“High potential” areas get fiber, low potential areas lose even copper connectivity. The latest evidence of that trend comes from Fire Island in New York. It’s a barrier island resort area just off the Long Island coast with about five hundred year-round residents and thousands of part-timers and visitors. It was whacked by hurricane Sandy last year, which, among things, swamped Verizon’s legacy wireline network.… More

Verizon FiOS doesn't have an edge over cable in Netflix rankings

25 May 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, ftth, google, netflix, verizon

Netflix accounts for a third of the Internet traffic in North America, so it’s not surprising it has something to say about how well Internet service providers perform. Whether or not the ISPs appreciate the input. Netflix just updated its speed index of U.S. wireline and fixed wireless companies and, not surprisingly, Google Fiber tops the chart. On the average, Netflix viewers connecting via Google Fiber do so at 3.4 Mbps.

Of course there wouldn’t be many of those, since Google Fiber’s reach is very limited.… More