NTCA's The New Edge » Data

ViaSat’s Exede: This is Not What They Promised

Steve Fravel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:53:34 +0000

Existing users of ViaSat were pleased to learn that the new Exede service would be faster with more bandwidth. Exede has reportedly launched and, from early reports, those who have been waiting for the upgrade aren’t getting the new service yet. Instead, new subscribers are at the head of the line.

Additionally, the higher priced Exede comes with a few restrictions that have customers less-than-thrilled with the service. While the bandwidth is larger than before, the daily usage is capped. Called the “fair access policy or FAP,” the bandwidth cap is set to a lower total bandwidth than existing customer’s WildBlue service.

Considering the high cost for satellite service and a need to add new customers quickly, it is likely that any additional increase in speed or relaxation of the FAP restrictions will take time. Any improvement is good except when it comes with a crippling restriction.

Report Details Needs of Machine-to-Machine Growth

Steve Fravel — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:17:10 +0000

This past week, Mobile Future released a report addressing the needs of federal officials to allocate more spectrum in support of wireless services. The report specifically singled out the expected explosive growth of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.

The report, written by Jim Kohlenberger, president of JK Strategies and former chief of staff in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for President Obama, highlights five core steps to insure that our collective communications future is carefully and pragmatically engineered.

The report goes on to illustrate how these five steps and additional key targets should be utilized to further achieve broader national goals. These goals include “smarter ways to grow the economy, protect our environment, improve public safety, [and] raise standards of living.” In addition required initiatives like enabling the smart grid, advancing smart cities, accelerating smart transportation, building smart infrastructure, delivering smart health care, constructing better buildings and infusing connected intelligence into the manufacturing process for a brighter connected future.”

According to Mobile Future Chair Jonathan Spalter, “Machine-to-machine technologies hold the promise of transforming how our economy and communities will connect and interact.” He added, “But policy makers must act now to make more spectrum available to ensure that Americans fully benefit from tomorrow’s tremendous mobile possibilities.”

Read the report.

New Hanover County Uses TV White Space

Steve Fravel — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:04:30 +0000

New Hanover County, N.C., was recognized last week as the first FCC approved Smart County in the United States. In achieving this goal, New Hanover also attained another first by using the first commercially available TV white spaces.

Spectrum Bridge supports this cloud-based technology with its FCC certified spectrum management technology. Those residents of New Hanover County in range of the deployment area will have access to several useful implementations including telemetry, remote security and remote utility monitoring in addition to other applications.

“We are extremely pleased with the installations of the white spaces systems at our parks and gardens,” said Chairman of New Hanover County Ted Davis. “This technology has proven to be an unobtrusive, environmentally friendly way to offer services to our citizens and the visitors at our parks and to give our staff more efficient ways to manage these locations.”

Boxee Adds a Second Target Buyer

Steve Fravel — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:42:23 +0000

Though Boxee has been targeting residential customers who are “cutting the cord” to conventional cable services and satellite subscriptions, it announced last week that it would add cable operators who may be considering eliminating program costs and shifting their focus to selling just high-speed Internet access.

According to Boxee representatives, the Boxee box will drive customers toward increasing the amount of bandwidth that they buy. Boxee claims that selling a larger “pipe” benefits the operator with a larger margin because the service does not include the program costs and line-up management.

Boxee has been selling a set-top-box (STB) that retails for approximately $180. According to Boxee, its STB creates a more manageable user interface and assists in organizing the over-the-top (OTT) content available via the Internet. This function opens the door to increased numbers of program sources beyond the typical connections to Netflix, Vudu, Hulu and so forth, allowing the customer a resource that eliminates having to find additional Internet-delivered content on his own.

The primary draw back for television customers is the lack of access to local broadcast channels. Adapting to that challenge, Boxee offers a live TV adapter for an additional $49. The adapter connects an antenna, either the small antenna Boxee provides, rabbit ears or a roof-top version, to the Boxee box.

While this may be a workable and economical solution for some distributors, poor quality antenna reception in some areas and a lack of access to some live event programming available by a conventional cable or satellite subscription may be more limiting to some subscribers.

ATIS PSTN Transition Team in Place and More

Steve Fravel — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:32:25 +0000

ATIS last week announced the launch of its Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Transition Landscape Team. According to ATIS, this unit will be making high-level assessments of issues associated with the transition from the PSTN to IP-based networks.

In addition to extensive evaluation of replacement network architecture and engineering, the group said the transition team will provide documentation detailing requirements for telecommunications services and new networks along with answering the question of whether new standards should be developed to accommodate IP telephony as the successor to PSTN. The team will look at regulatory implications concerning the proliferation of voice-over-IP (VoIP) and over-the-top (OTT) content provision along with security and implications and goals for the public.

According to the announcement, the transition team will work closely with the Technological Advisory Council Task Force and Critical Legacy Transition Working Group at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

ATIS also announced the release of a new specification that will provide identification and authentication to computers, television sets and mobile devices that connect to the Internet. ATIS advises that the new specification provides the format and syntax to create both a unique device identifier and user authentication to allow for and create secure connections to IPTV networks. According to ATIS, the new specification architecture creates a bond between the subscriber and device under unique and strong cryptography. The specification was developed by the IPTV Interoperability Forum at ATIS and uses the Extensive Authentication Protocol (EAP).

For additional information on PSTN transition team and the new specification, see the ATIS press room.

Google’s Next-Gen Network is Delayed by Pole Attachments

Jesse Ward — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:09:49 +0000

Last March, when Google announced it planned to build a 1 Gpbs FTTH network in Kansas City, I was left with the distinct impression that the Internet giant thought it would be a relatively easy undertaking. After all, Google is not traditionally in the business of network build out, yet the ambitious project was conceived with the intent to showcase next-generation deployment techniques, apps and network characteristics such as open-access and consumer choice.

Nearly 10 months later, the company has been plagued by right-of-way issues that have slowed down the network build out and service launch. It’s difficult to determine just how much of a delay has occurred since Google won’t publicly admit that its network build out is behind schedule. According to the Kansas City Star, a local paper, the company had planned to enroll customers in late 2011, and launch its service in the first quarter of this year. However, Google has yet to install any cables. It’s now estimating a service launch date later this year.

Just what is the holdup? The paper reports that Google is now engaged in a debate about how it will hang its wires on utility poles and the associated fees and costs.

According to the paper, Google had expected that the overarching government of Wyandotte County – a single entity that governs both Kansas City, KS, and the overarching county – could streamline the permitting process because it also owns the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities. Indeed, when the project was first announced, the original agreement with the city included just 60-words relating to pole attachment issues and provisions.

In short, Google was given two options. The company could string its cable on the poles in the traditional space reserved for telecom and cable providers, at market approved rates, or a second option — the ability to hang its wires in the space ordinarily reserved for power lines. In the later case, the pole attachment fee would be waived in exchange for Google delivering service to 130 anchor locations such as schools, libraries and city buildings.

Unfortunately for Google, it apparently didn’t count on the costs needed to hang the fiber so close to electric wires, or the need for more skilled and costly technicians. It seems the Internet giant expected its brand reputation would provide the company with an advantage, and the clear the way of red tape faced by all other ISPs.

Traditionally, there have been contentious negotiations between the utility provider, the PUC and telecommunications and cable providers in regard to pole attachment rates, timelines for approval and placement of the cables. In April 2011, the FCC announced a landmark order that provided clarity and uniformity, and was designed to streamline the pole attachment process and rates. However, the order still provides for some flexibility for the local utility and governing authorities to make arrangements which favor certain competitors.

The Kansas City Star spoke to local cable provider SureWest who admitted that it too would have liked to have benefited from free access to pole attachments.

But even with this advantage, there are giant hurdles in the way of building any next-gen network. We’ll keep you posted on Google’s network development and the to-be-announced pricing scheme.

Windstream Makes Improvements

Steve Fravel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:37:20 +0000

Due in part to an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant of $2.3 million, Windstream Corp. has announced the implementation of its first broadband stimulus construction project near Stilwell, OK.

The project will include a 56-mile fiber optic cable and electronics upgrade to the existing Windstream network. The improvement will allow 1,360 potential customers access to an improved high-speed Internet connection. The construction should conclude in March, with the new service available to customers in late June.

The Stilwell project represents only a fraction of the planned 13-state infrastructure improvement for which Windstream has stimulus grant money. The company announced that it has been awarded a total of $181.3 million making it the largest recipient of stimulus grant money in the country. Scott Morris, a spokesman for Windstream, is quoted as saying that all of the planned stimulus improvement work will be completed under the established terms of the grant program, making June 2015 the completion date. Windstream has indicated that it will contribute $760,000 in capital towards the completion of the Stilwell project.

Windstream stimulus projects are planned for Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

Quick Stats

Steve Fravel — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:30:33 +0000

According to comScore Video Metrix service, online video usage increased again in the final month of 2011. comScore notes that 182 million Internet users in the United States watched 43.5 billion videos. The average Internet video user devoted 23.2 hours to watching online video during December 2011.

According to the Diffusion Group: 64% of connected Smart TV owners use WiFi.

The Implications of SOPA and PIPA for Small ISPs

Jesse Ward — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:38:39 +0000

Update: As of this morning, January 20, there is no congressional action planned in either house. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has postponed the cloture vote previously scheduled for January 24 on PIPA. However, Sen. Reid said he remains “optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks” on disagreements over its provisions. Also this morning, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said that his committee won’t take up SOPA until “there is wider agreement on a solution.”

Two new congressional bills, SOPA and PIPA, have received widespread attention from tech trade outlets and mainstream media sources, many of which have issued a battle cry that the Internet will be unjustly censored. Yesterday, thousands of websites joined the protest, committing to “digital darkness” for 24 hours as a means to draw attention to the proposed anti-piracy legislation.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, HR 3261) was introduced on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-Texas), along with 12 co-sponsors. In the Senate, its closely related cousin is the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PROTECT IP Act, or PIPA, S 968) which was introduced on May 12, 2011, by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 11 bipartisan co-sponsors.

In short, the draft legislation aims to protect U.S. based content providers by restricting end user access to infringing, foreign websites. Since the website is located offshore, a lawsuit against the website owners in a U.S. court would be futile.

The legislation is aimed at ISPs that enable access to the infringing content, and online payment providers and ad services that do business with the websites. For instance, if Warner Bros. maintains that a website located in China is distributing a copy of the movie The Dark Knight, the studio could demand that Google remove the website from its search results, PayPal no longer accept payments to/from that site, ad services pull all ads and finances from it, and ISPs take actions to restrict consumer access to the content.

The proposed legislation will enable the U.S. attorney general to seek a court order against the targeted offshore website that would then be served on U.S.-based ISPs. Section 102 of SOPA says that, after being served with a removal order:

A service provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof) that is subject to the order…Such actions shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within five days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order.

The most vocal proponents of SOPA And PIPA include the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Opponents of the bill counter that it can be unjustly used to censor the free flow of information on the Internet. They maintain that the proposed legislation will create an Internet blacklist whereby content owners could order an ISP to block an entire website due to an allegation that a portion of the site contains infringing content. This, of course, has significant implications for websites with user-generated content such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Wikipedia.

Further, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF) calls our attention to Section 104 of SOPA, which would allow an ISP to pro-actively (i.e. without a court order) restrict access to websites that it determines are infringing. The EFF is concerned that this will give service providers broad authority to restrict access to competitive content (think Comcast restricting access to alternative video content).

So what does this all mean for rural ISPs? There is some confusion about what measures ISPs will have to take. In its draft form, SOPA infers that DNS blocking would be satisfactory. If this is the case, presumably the end user could get around the restriction by simply typing in the IP address for the site they are trying to visit, or by manually setting up offshore DNS to handle his website requests.

That being said, tech media reports have surfaced that imply that the language in the bills – in their current form or after content providers further lobby Congress – can be more broadly interpreted to require ISPs to monitor customers’ traffic and block IP addresses.

One of the interesting items about this legislation is that it assumes the network is a static technology. However, the Internet was built to be resilient and dynamic. It’s likely that any technical legislation that is put into place will be bypassed quickly.

The good news for ISPs is that there are provisions in the legislation that limit your liability if you take reasonable actions to comply with any court-ordered content restrictions. However, conceivable you’d be on the hook for the administrative and technical time it takes to modify your network to comply with the court-ordered requests and respond to the notices.

Yesterday Chairman Smith reaffirmed his support and his confidence in SOPA. However, on heels of yesterday’s media blackout, of the 40 sponsors of PIPA before the protest began, six have dropped out: Sens. Marco Rubio, Roy Blunt, John Boozman, Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley and David Vitter. (Jerry Moran dropped off last June.) In the House, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith also may have lost two SOPA co-sponsors – Reps. Lee Terry and Ben Quayle – along with other supporters of the bill.

With this much media attention and a surging grassroots opposition, one has to wonder if the legislation is on life support.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has scheduled a vote Jan. 24 on whether to invoke cloture on a motion to take up the PIPA legislation. A cloture vote determines whether the Senate will cut off debate and proceed to a final passage vote. However, it is unlikely that supporters can reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to invoke cloture (meaning there is no telling when a final passage vote would come up).

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee began marking up SOPA in December and is slated to continue the process in February. The measure appears to have enough support to advance through the committee.

The video post below offers a great explanation of the many intricacies of SOPA and the opposition’s arguments.

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For more:
CNet has a refreshingly unbiased and unassuming explanation of SOPA and PIPA.
Gizmodo has a more inflated – although clearly worded — view of the legislation.
See the full text of SOPA and PIPA.

Live from CES 2012

Kevin McGuire — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:37:59 +0000

The following is a guest post from Kevin McGuire, vice president of wireless operations for Enhanced Telecommunications Corp., in Sunman, Indiana.

Another year, another CES is upon us. My sense is that it is much larger than last year’s event. The first day on the show floor I was unable to have a conversation with a vendor because so many people were there. Like in years past, I wanted to write a guest post to offer some insight into items I feel might be of importance to the rural telecom industry. Of course the show is so big that it is impossible to get to everything, so apologies if I missed something.

TVs and Video

I don’t even know where to begin here. There was so much going on in the way of TVs that I really question who’s buying all of these things. Here are a few key trends:

Attendees at CES evaluate Sharp's new 8K TV.

Ultra Definition TVs: Think HDTV was the end of resolution? Think again. Nearly every manufacturer had an Ultra Definition TV (UDTV) to showcase (although technically I think a UHDTV needs to have 8K resolution). Also known as 4K TVs , they are roughly 4,000 horizontal lines of definition, or 4x the resolution of current HDTV televisions. Sharp even had a prototype 8K TV, which is 16x the resolution of current HDTVs. I’ll tell you that they looked absolutely stunning next to a current 1080p set. I’d even go so far as to say it is nearly as impressive as going from SD to HD. Now, I’m guessing we’re still a year or two away from 4K becoming mainstream, but think of the bandwidth implications for providers.

3DTVs: I had hoped that 3D was going away, but alas, it was still in every manufacturer’s booth. There’s a movement away from active glasses, with most having both non-powered glasses and even glasses-free 3D. I’ll be honest though and admit that I couldn’t tell that the images were in 3D. Maybe it’s just my eyes, but I was not impressed. The best glasses-free TV I saw came from TCL (The Creative Life) and while it had limited content (just a few commercials), it was very obvious it was 3D, and it didn’t give me eye fatigue.

Set-Top Box Replacement: I have long suggested that I have a Sony PlayStation 3 at home, so there is no reason I should need another set-top box. I also have a GoogleTV, and would suggest the same thing. Looks like things are starting to happen to make that more of a reality. Samsung’s Smart TVs now have apps that work with DirecTV, Xfinity, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. While there was some effort around this last year, the DirecTV app is actually shipping with new smart sets.

Video Everywhere: Gone are the shackles of sharing video content between every device you own. Want to watch live TV on your IPad? Done. Want to stream a video you took on your phone to the TV? No problem. Want to wirelessly transfer content from your laptop to a large screen? Intel’s WiDi technology is now being built into TVs. The technology is there to do some really cool things. It’s now up to the content owners to allow it to happen.

Connected TVs: This was all the rage last year, and there’s no shortage of facebook, photo sharing or Web content on TVs. My big concern is that there doesn’t seem to be any standard (someone please correct me if I am wrong). Every manufacturer had their own way of doing/displaying things, all with their own UI and system. I can’t see app developers working with every nuance of disparate systems, and I can’t see manufacturers continuing to support and release their own middleware. There’s something to connected TVs, but I think we’re still a ways off from its potential. Regardless, I’m going to guess that about every new TV your consumers buy will be able to hook up to the Internet — so get those DSL packages updated.

Cameras and Microphones: Cameras and microphones now are being built into TVs. While video conferencing is an obvious application, some of the 3DTV manufacturers suggest that the TV will recognize where people are sitting and adjust the picture accordingly. Also, voice recognition is now on its way to TVs, allowing you to change channels with your voice. Finally, taking a note from Microsoft, some manufactures are working to enable gesture control on their sets.

Haier's transparent TV

The Future (maybe): TCL also had a holographic TV which I can’t even begin to describe. It looked like some heads-up display from a futuristic space ship or something. Maybe more on that next year. They also had a pretty cool set that displayed two programs at once. By using special glasses, each viewer could see only their program. I didn’t get a chance to ask how they handled audio. Also, Haier had a transparent TV. No kidding. I was able to look at my hand behind the display. I asked why anyone would want that and they said it was more for retail applications. Good thing I am not in retail because other than the coolness factor, I just don’t see it. Finally, there was a product called Brain Wave TV where you wore this headset type device and could change channels and control the TV. I didn’t get to try it out, but I have a hard enough keeping track of my remote, let alone this thing.

Ultrabooks

Ultrabooks on display at CES.

With all of the hype over Ultrabooks, I have to say that while much needed in the laptop space (as I type on my beefy Dell laptop), I am not overwhelmed by something that Apple did back in 2008. By definition, they are half the weight and width of existing laptops. And with most base models coming in at 4G of RAM and a 128G SSD, it’s likely more than enough power to do what you need on the road.

Don’t get me wrong — I think they are going to sell like crazy (who wants to lug around a heavy laptop if they don’t have to), but nothing earth shattering to see here, IMHO. If I were in the market for a laptop, I’d probably wait a bit for the release of Intel’s Ivy Bridge and Windows 8.

Connected Vehicles

As if smartphones aren’t putting enough bandwidth pressure on mobile networks, soon all cars will be connected as well. Why? In the labs there are a whole bunch of ideas.

With embedded chips, they can act as WiFi hotspots for passengers, provide more accurate mapping and location information, and even stream media. In the near term, it appears that the old radio will look and act more like a tablet or smartphone. More futuristic will be the sending of live traffic data between vehicles, braking information to warn drivers of potential issues ahead, and even vehicles that drive and park themselves, the latter of which can happen with the driver outside of the car.

The new Audi connected dashboard.

Heads up displays are also making a resurgence, enabling drivers to place a phone call and receive information about traffic and other items without needing to look away from the road. Couple that with advances in voice recognition and I’m anxious to see new products and services in this field.

There was no indication as to how much bandwidth the media streaming would take. One nice thing is that since it appears that your car will be a network hotspot, you will be able to share media between devices. So if you have a movie on your iPad, you can now send it to the vehicle’s screen to share with everyone. That may help cut down on some of the bandwidth, but I think it’s safe to say that we’re talking about a pretty monumental shift in mobile data usage.

Connected Home

Once again, companies were showcasing ways to unlock doors remotely, monitor security cameras from your smartphone, smart thermostats, etc. But to be honest, I felt like I walked through the exact same booths in this category as last year.

I was unable to locate a fully-integrated system that could handle everything from A-Z. There are different protocols, different implementations and I just don’t know that the average consumer is going to want to install and maintain their own system. I think what is honestly going to take the connected home to the next level is service provider support, and that starts with AT&T and Verizon.

Verizon was the only one I saw at CES, and I think they have something. Working with Motorola, there will be a gateway that bridges all of the connected devices in your home (appliances, IP cameras, TVs, lighting) and provides control of them via browsers or tablets and smartphone apps. I may be wrong, but if you offer security monitoring as a service today, this concept is something that you should really be looking into.

Health Tech

Similar to the connected home, there was a whole section of the exhibits devoted to health technology. From a service provider perspective, there is a movement to place a home health gateway in the home. This device will connect to blood pressure monitors, scales and a whole host of other devices. This information can then be sent securely to a doctor’s office where they can monitor a patient’s progress. I’m unclear how this will all shake out, but again we’re talking more bandwidth, and perhaps a reason for an older demographic to get broadband. I wonder if broadband will be covered by health insurance?

So that about wraps it up. If you were there, I’d be interested in your comments.