I read a survey not long ago (sorry, can't find it) that showed that, by
far, the most important factor in "broadband" access was always-on as
opposed to interrupting your phone service, waiting a minute before you
can browse, etc. This was a survey of folks who had broadband.
I manage my Medicare on line, obtain renewals for driver's license and
auto registrations, pay my property taxes, and save the government lots
and lots of money by doing those activities myself. There are many
reasons the government is actively promoting universal, convenient
Internet access.
I have both "speed boost" RoadRunner cable HSD service and 768K DSL as an
automatic (lower metric on my router) backup and can say that it's not a
disaster when RoadRunner goes down although it is certainly
noticeable...especially if I go to YouTube. It's not RoadRunner's fault
that we live in more rural settings with a really perpendicular vertical
utility pole very unusual...most are off up to 10 degrees and wiggle a
lot.
Back to broadband; A 1Mbps service that's always on would allow students
to do their school work, allow on-line government activities, let you
check the weather, etc., and, although not zippy, it is quite functional
and certainly would permit the do-it-yourself governmental activities
without the problems with dial-up.
However, the acceleration of the availability of facilities that only work
well at 10Mbps and above is happening very fast and I wouldn't be
surprised that students in K-12 as well as universities will soon be
required to watch video teaching aids that will demand that.
By the way, I have been getting 1Mbps tethered from my laptop through my
AT&T 3G phone service for several years, as well. It's $15 a month with
no consumption limit. The latency makes it a bit of a sporty course to
use, however.
Now, put all that together, all those speeds, all the vehicles (Cable,
WISP, DSL, and 3G), and comparisons with countries where people are
crammed together cheek to jowl instead of your neighbor being on the
opposite side of a mountain the size of Sweden and, furthermore, imagine
an FCC bureaucrat facing a technically-challenged congressman...
Well, the problem speaks for itself.
. . . j o n a t h a n
-----Original Message-----
From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On
Behalf Of Curtis Maurand
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 1:06 PM
To: WISPA General List
Subject: Re: [WISPA] FCC Says Fixed Wireless Only Delivers 1 Mbps
Jack Unger wrote:
Hi Victoria,
The FCC Workship "1 Mbps" statement is very, very generalized. It's
nothing to get upset about.
If we want the FCC to update their knowledge about WISPs then we need
to educate the FCC. We DO educate them with every FCC filing and
presentation that we make. In the last year, we've made about a dozen
written filings plus an in-person presentations to four of the five
previous FCC Commissioners and to the FCC OET staff. Keep in mind that
everything we write or present becomes a part of the public record.
WISPA's FCC Committee is working on writing and filing FCC Comments
right now, at this very moment. This filing is in response to an FCC
"Notice of Inquiry" (NOI) about "advanced telecommunications services"
and "broadband". The NOI asks whether broadband is being deployed to
all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. The NOI asks five
"core questions".
Ooh. Ooh. This is easy. :-)
(1) How should we define "advanced telecommunications capability" or
"broadband?" *(NOTE: The FCC is asking about "speed" here)*
A reasonable enduser experience with websites like YouTube, Hulu or BBC
without too much finger drumming.
(2) Is broadband available to all Americans?
No
(3) Is the current level of broadband deployment reasonable and timely?
No
(4) What actions, if any, should the Commission take to accelerate
broadband deployment?
This one is harder. If we want to perpetuate the duopoly system that
dominiates the urban/suburban landscape, then:
Mandate that 100% of America (and territories) be covered, with a
deadline for compliance and stiff fines for non-complience.
Otherwise, huge tax breaks for the little guy (read WISP) to get the job
done. If you're a company with over 50 employees, no tax break.
(5) What actions should the Commission take to improve its regular
broadband data collection efforts?
Help the little guy, because he's the one who'll serve where the duopoly
won't.
duopoly = CATV monopoly plus ILEC.
--C
We've got to be a little careful about how we ask the FCC to define
broadband because:
1. If we set the bar too high, for example by saying that "broadband"
is 5 Mbps or more then we risk excluding WISPs who do not provide at
least 5 Mbps. They may not be eligible for funding or may not even be
considered legitimate WISPs.
2. Some WISPs do not understand the difference between "raw" data rate
and actual throughput and we don't want one WISP's lack of
understanding to distort the FCC's definitions of "broadband".
3. Some WISPs do not understand that throughput is shared between all
of the active customers on an AP at any given moment. Even if an AP is
capable of delivering 10 Mbps of actual throughput, when 30 customers
are active then less than 333k (10 Meg divided by 30) is available to
each customer, sometimes far less. We don't want to let the fact that
available throughput per customer is usually less than the maximum
single-customer throughput to distort the FCC's definition of
"broadband".
In conclusion, I think it's better to let the FCC set the broadband
"bar" a little low so we have a chance to demonstrate that we can
sometimes exceed it rather than let some WISP who is bragging about
speeds that he may or may actually be able to deliver cause the FCC to
set the broadband "bar" too high so that the FCC writes unrealistic
regulations (or the NITA and RUS originate unrealistic grant programs)
that either ignore or exclude the needs of the majority of WISPs.
Jack Unger
Chair - WISPA FCC Committee
St. Louis Broadband wrote:
They are not getting it from my form 477.
The only 1 Mbps service we offer is upload and that is with a 5 Mbps
download.
Victoria
-----Original Message-----
From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On
Behalf Of Jason Hensley
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 10:01 AM
To: 'WISPA General List'
Subject: Re: [WISPA] FCC Says Fixed Wireless Only Delivers 1 Mbps
Hmm, so I guess my 10Mbps down and 8mbps up wireless links (yes, to
customers) don't count????
My guess, though, is that they're pulling this data from the 477 and
making
assumptions based on that. Most of our customers are 1.5Mbps or less
customers so looking at the "raw" 477 data then yes, it would appear
that we
may not be doing much more than the 1.5meg.
Interesting...
-----Original Message-----
From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On
Behalf Of Lists
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 7:54 AM
To: 'WISPA General List'
Subject: [WISPA] FCC Says Fixed Wireless Only Delivers 1 Mbps
This really ticks me off:
"Wireless broadband Internet access services offered over fixed
networks
allow consumers to access the Internet from a fixed point while
stationary
and often require a direct line-of-sight between the wireless
transmitter
and receiver. These services have been offered using both licensed
spectrum
and unlicensed devices. For example, thousands of small Wireless
Internet
Services Providers (WISPs) provide such wireless broadband at speeds of
around one Mbps using unlicensed devices, often in rural areas not
served by
cable or wireline broadband networks."
http://www.broadband.gov/broadband_types.html
I talked to them at the NTIA workshop in Memphis about this, but they
are
still defaming our industry.
I have emailed them at the broadband.gov site and think it is a good
idea
that they hear from more of us.
Thanks!
Victoria Proffer - President/CEO
StLouisBroadband.com <http://stlbroadband.com/>
<http://showmebroadband.com/> ShowMeBroadband.com
Rural Missouri Wireless Project.
314.974.5600 * Fax 573.747.4756
Follow us on Twitter.com @stlbroadband
SBA Certified WOSB
STLBBLogo
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--
Jack Unger - President, Ask-Wi.Com, Inc.
Author - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs"
Serving the Broadband Wireless Industry Since 1993
www.ask-wi.com 818-227-4220 jun...@ask-wi.com
Public Profile <http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackunger>
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