Community Broadband Resources Assists Clearwater MN

Clearwater is located between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud on I-94. Many people recognize Clearwater as the shortcut over to Highway 10 on our way “up north.” The Clearwater Economic Development Authority applied for and received a technical assistance grant through Blandin Foundation’s Community Broadband Resources Program. They requested assistance in assessing their community’s telecommunications environment as they are unsure if their current services are meeting the current and future needs of their community.

Our first meeting was used to draw up a short term effort to do some basic groundwork. We needed an understanding of the supply and demand for broadband services. First, surveys should be sent to the three known providers – Frontier Communications, US Cable and CitEscape Wireless to better understand their current infrastructure and service offerings. We also wanted to know their future plans. I took the lead on this task.

We also developed a plan to survey the businesses belonging to the commercial club to understand their current broadband usage and satisfaction with their telecommunications service offerings. The Clearwater EDA and staff took responsibility for this activity.

We just had our second meeting earlier this week. Representatives from Frontier and CitEscape joined us at the meeting for individual discussions and both community and provider representatives learned a lot. We found out that Frontier Communications has upgraded its backbone connection to Clearwater and that DSL customers will now be enjoying 6 Mb DSL speeds, up from 2 Mb which was great news to learn (our committee’s first win!). We also learned from Frontier that Clearwater is on a bit of a network dead end, which is not so great from an economic development standpoint. While committee members did not recall any outages, it is still not the best situation, especially for attracting tech-sensitive firms. Frontier was very interested in the community’s comprehensive plan and future business development plans and was anxious to coordinate infrastructure development. Finally, Frontier advised the group that Frontier’s new infrastructure development was primarily fiber to the home.

CitEscape talked about their ability to reach rural customers with broadband services from their towers in the area. Their ability to serve customers depends on line of sight technology, especially as the distance from the tower increases. Clearwater has two water towers and one of those has no current telecommunications facilities on it. It seemed like a great match. CitEscape will be providing the city with a map of the prospective service coverage if a radio was placed on the water tower. CitEscape’s services offer some advantages, like symmetric service and as an affordable redundant connection.

For a second meeting on the telecommunication’s topic, the day offered several opportunities for progress. Our next steps will be to meet with US Cable and to complete the survey of the business community.

If you are interested in bringing Community Broadband Resources to your community, go to www.blandinfoundation.org or send an email to bill@communitytechnologyadvisors.com

NY Gives Out Broadband Grants

Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me the article (Universal Broadband Grants for New York Announced) on the grant program in NY for public/private sector partnerships.

It’s a nice example of a state that is getting involved with broadband on a statewide level by supporting local governments to create solutions that work. (Sadly, I don’t think they’re accept an application from Minnesota – though maybe New York Mills could give it a shot.)

FiberNet Hits a Fiber Bump

Thanks to Christopher Mitchell (of ILSR) for passing on article on the latest on FiberNet from the Timberjay Newspaper (Range fibernet project at a crossroads).

The project is at a crossroads. According to Hoyt Lakes Mayor Marlene Pospeck, the Iron Range Network Joint Powers Board is still committed to a high speed network. But the method is in question.

For a long while, FiberNet was working with Dynamic Cities. Last Fall, Hiawatha Broadband got involved with a much lower bid than Dynamic Cities. (I don’t know that the price was the reason for the change.) Initially, Hiawatha was going to build and run the network – but earlier this year, they decided to leave the operation of the network to the cities.

Some people had an issue with the government operating the networks. It wasn’t something they wanted to do.

Well now they have called in Tim Nulty (who was instrumental in the network in Burlington Vermont and East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network) to offer a proposal to help the project. Tim’s plan would not require public funds, he has a program where cities would pay an annual lease fee that would be equivalent to a mortgage payment, and then the cities would cover the cost of the fee through the revenue the network would collect from the sale of services

Apparently there is a meeting on Thursday where decisions will (hopefully) be made about how to move forward.

Minneapolis Wireless Update

Thanks to Peter Fleck for sending me a heads up on the latest news on the Minneapolis Wireless Project.

According to TC Daily Planet, the City has covered about 95 percent of the outdoor space and hopes to be completely covered in March. Loring Park has been a challenging area since there are no great places to post signal broadcasters.

Right now 8,000 have signed up for service; they are expecting 10,000.

Peter also tracks a nice article on the benefits of the community-owned network. Any community that is looking into or pursuing a public network should check it out.

Engineering Contract Awarded for FiberNet Monticello

 Thanks to Lynne Dahl-Fleming for passing on the latest press release from Monticello…

 PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE USE – FEBRUARY 11, 2008

At the February 11 City Council meeting the City Council approved an engineering contract for the design of the city-owned fiber optics system. The contract was awarded to Spectrum Engineering Corporation of Auburn, Indiana. The firm was chosen using a Request for Proposal (RFP) and the City received bids from eight different firms.

Spectrum Engineering is in its 28th year of providing professional engineering services for municipal electric companies, universities, large industrials and Telcos. They are an engineering firm that has historically worked primarily with municipalities and has been very successful. The Spectrum staff includes a number of professional engineers with specific experience in municipal network design of optical fiber infrastructure.

The contract specifically covers the design of the city-owned fiber-to-the-premise project which will run up every street and past every home and business in the City limits of Monticello. The contract also provides for Spectrum to assist the City in choosing a construction company and then for Spectrum to inspect the fiber network as it is built.

This is an important step forward for the city-wide fiber project. This network will be operated as a separate business entity under the name of FiberNet Monticello and will be bringing high speed Internet access along with cable TV including HDTV and telephone services to the City.

This city-owned fiber project was approved by referendum last fall and continues to move forward. In mid-November, the City Council authorized a contract with Michels Communications for the installation of a fiber connection between Monticello City Hall and the outside world. Next steps include securing revenue bonds and awarding construction contracts for the project. It is estimated the fiber network will take approximately 18 months to complete. First customers could take service in spring or early summer 2009.

For more information visit the website: www.MonticelloFiber.com

City of Monticello moves forward with city-wide fiber optics

I am gathering local Minnesota broadband stories for the upcoming eNews, Lynne Dahl-Fleming was kind enough to send me the following update from Monticello.

Monticello, MN is moving forward with a city-wide fiber optic network. The fiber network will be financed with revenue bonds, not a tax levy. The cost for the entire project is estimated between $20 to $25 million and completion of the fiber network will take approximately 18 months.

A referendum passed by 74% in September showing that the residents of Monticello were in favor of having telephone, Internet and cable TV services offered by the City over the fiber optic network. The name of the business entity will be FiberNet Monticello.

In mid-November, the city council authorized a contract with Michels Communications for the installation of the co-locate fiber system and conduit, which includes a connection to the co-locate equipment at city hall. City officials and interested residents showed up for a groundbreaking ceremony on November 27 to kick of the project. Currently, the City is securing revenue bonds and is in the process of selecting an engineering firm for the design/build portion of the project.

“It’s a great opportunity for current and future Monticello business and industries to utilize this fiber technology. It will also create some very good jobs in our city,” Mayor Herbst said.

The first customers of the fiber optic network could receive service by spring and early summer of 2009.

For more information visit the website: www.MonticelloFiber.com

Brownsville is Going WiMAX

Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me the fun article on Brownsville Texas and their plans to go with WiMAX (BrownsvilleTexas, Gets the WiMAX).

Brownsville lans to unveil their WiMAX system this fall. The reasons they chose WiMax were security and stability. As the article points out, “Because WiMAX uses signals at licensed frequencies not open to the public, the city can count on its data moving quickly and privately without interference.”

The network is for municipal traffic, not the general public. It was (or is being) built by IBM. The article (in Government Technology magazine) does a nice job of talking about the specifics of the network, the funding, and the reasoning behind the decision. I think it’s interesting reading to anyone who might also be in a position to be investigating network options for their community.

You can learn even more about the project in Brownsville in the following articles:

IBM Gets $4 Million Wireless Contract From Brownsville Texas (Mar 2007) – from the IBM perspective and explains the choice of WiMAX

Gulf Coast town disaster proofs with backup data center (Mar 2007) – an interesting perspective on how the new network got started.

Brownsville Turns to IBM to Build Wireless Internet Service Provider Network Using WiMAX Technology (Mar 2007) – more from the city’s perspective and what they plan to do on the network

Wireless in St Louis Park is Not So Hopeful

The Pioneer Press reported on Friday that the wireless deployment in St Louis Park, Minnesota is not going well (Wi-Fi firm faces legal action over delays in St. Louis Park). St Louis Park had hoped to be nation’s first citywide wireless Internet service powered by the sun but the project is months behind schedule.

According to a June press release from ARINC, the vendor selected to deploy wireless, “St. Louis Park conducted a successful Wi-Fi pilot project during 2006, and after receiving feedback from the community, the city gave the project a go-ahead. Following a phased installation across the city, the entire ParkWiFi network is expected to be up and running by October.” 

This fall, that schedule was updated to November 30 – but even that date has obviously come and gone. Now the city is considering legal action.

According to the ParkWiFi web site:

The City Council met in closed session Monday, December 3, 2007 to discuss potential litigation against ARINC, the city’s contractor for the citywide wireless network, after the company failed to meet a key November 30 deadline to turn over substantial portions of the network to the City.

The council closed the session to discuss legal strategy and options. Council is not able to discuss the potential effects of possible litigation on the project due to open meeting laws. It is expected that the council will reconvene to consider its options related to ParkWiFi, the city’s solar-powered wireless network, in the near future.

ARINC suggested solar power as a money-saving strategy. It sounds as if most of the current problems are not related to the solar power aspect – although there were some issues with it a few months ago.

Here are some pictures of the solar-powered Wi-Fi poles in St Louis Park. I thought that was interesting. Apparently one of the early holdups centered around the aesthetics of the poles. Look like wacky birdfeeders to me.

You can also read about this in the Star Tribune - I jsut happened upon the Pioneer Press article first.

MN Municipal Fiber Network Updates

Christopher Mitchell (from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance) just had a nice article in the Pioneer Press. (Thanks Christopher for sending it to me.)

Christopher is an advocate of municipally fiber networks. He does a good job of pointing out the need for fiber for broadband and the market reasons that municipal networks make sense. “Cities must treat fiber networks - the roads of the digital age - as essential infrastructure. Publicly owned common-carrier networks create a competitive environment the cable and phone companies fear.”

As her points out the current providers are not jumping to the occasion to provide fiber – partially I assume because it’s a huge infrastructure investment and the return on investment is too slow for more stockholders patience.

Christopher does a nice job of bringing the point home by mentioning some local publicly-focused broadband project:

Minneapolis Wireless – increases competition, but the speeds are no faster than existing options
Monticello – is working on a fiber network (I blogged about the overwhelming support for fiber in the last election)
Cedar Falls, Iowa – invested in fast network and businesses has been locking to them
St Paul – is working ona plan where the city would serve government and schools but provide access to homes through an open access network model (allow other providers to use the fiber the city owns)

Municipal Networks Update

Thanks to Jamie for sending me an article on municipal networks (City Fiber Networks) a week ago. I finally had a few minute to check it out. It’s a great short list of what’s going on with various municipal networks. There’s a nice run-down of who’s making money and who isn’t, what services are offered where and at what cost. Also there are some great charts and graphs such as the graph detailing FTTH (fiber to the home) and FTTN (fiber to the node).

In details various municipal networks (current, planned and defunct) there was some interesting news from MN:

Miles of empty cable conduits now crisscross the Twin Cities, a consequence of Minnesota officials pulling the plug on a $200 million plan to wire the state. The “Connecting Minnesota” project granted exclusive rights-of-way for network infrastructure to a single contractor in return for a 20-percent cut of broadband capacity. But uneconomic requirements demanded by the state scared away investors. And unable to attract financing, the project folded.

Hmmm. I didn’t remember much about Connecting Minnesota. So I did a little research. I’ll post what I learned below and invite those who remember it to please chime in too.

A quick description from the National Council on Private-Public Partnerships:

Connecting Minnesota has set national precedence for procurement of telecommunications resources and capacity at no cost through leverage of access to public right-of-way assets. Not only are state and local units of government needs being met, but in doing so, 80 percent of Minnesota’s population will be within 10 miles of the fiber-optic backbone. A potential eight out of ten citizens (3.6 million) could realize better telecommunications services at lower costs.

An update (dated update) from the MN Legislature (back in 2003):

Through the Connecting Minnesota Project, high-speed telecommunication access is provided to Minnesota residents via a two-step process: first fiber-optic cable is installed between communities, and then local access providers take the connection further into homes and businesses. This measurement tracks the first step in this process, where fiber is made available to communities.

Construction contracting problems stalled the Connecting Minnesota Project during 2001.