Tennessee Municipal Utility Offers 1 Gbps to the Home
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, September 20, 2010 · 
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Chattanooga, Tennessee, now boasts the fastest Internet service in the country.
EPB Fiber Optics announced last week that by the end of this year it will offer ultra-high-speed Internet service of up to 1 Gbps to the end user’s home or business.
EPB, a subsidiary of Chattanooga’s electric utility, operates the largest municipal 100% fiber optic network in the country. Back in 2007, the city council voted 8-0 to approve the $200 million project, and despite two failed legal attempts by the cable industry to derail the project it has moved forward. The company services 170,000 homes and business spread over 600 square miles in Chattanooga, Hamilton County and parts of five other counties in southeast Tennessee and three in North Georgia.
EPB, which began offering high-speed broadband in 2009, provides 30 Mbps service for $58 a month, 50 Mbps for $71 a month, and 100 Mbps for $140 a month (recently reduced from $175). Currently, 15,000 customers subscribe to at least one fiber optic service—television, Internet access or phone service—and 12,000 subscribe to the Internet service. The high-speed Internet service is piggybacked on top of the utility’s smart-grid network, the impetus for the initial fiber-to-the-home network.
According to the New York Times, the utility plans to charge $350 a month for its 1 Gbps service tier, a high-ticket price tag that will likely only appeal to a handful of businesses, even though the service will be offered to every customer in its service area. “We don’t know how to price a gig,” said Harold DePriest, chief executive of EPB told the Times. “We’re experimenting. We’ll learn.”
FTTH Now Available to 20 Million North American Homes
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, September 20, 2010 · ·
End-to-end fiber optic networks capable of delivering enormous levels of bandwidth are now available to 20 million North American homes, according to a report released last week by the Fiber-to-the Home (FTTH) Council.
The council also announced that 6.45 million households on the continent now receive Internet, television and/or voice services over FTTH networks, an increase of about 650,000 from six months ago.
The precise number of “homes passed” by FTTH networks when the survey data was compiled is 19,966,000, representing approximately 17.4% of North American households, and up from about 18,250,000 homes passed six months ago.
The survey of broadband providers throughout North America, which is conducted by RVA Market Research, found that FTTH networks are continuing to expand beyond Verizon’s $23 billion deployment of its FiOS fiber to the home network, with hundreds of smaller telecoms across the continent now moving forward with FTTH upgrades. Read more
New Broadband Stimulus Awards Include Satellite, Public Safety Networks
Posted by Jesse Ward on Thursday, August 19, 2010 · ·
Yesterday Vice President Biden announced that as part of the second round of broadband funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the government has awarded $1.8 billion to 94 new broadband projects within 37 states.
This announcement includes 66 grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) to deploy broadband and connect community anchor institutions, create and upgrade public computer centers, and encourage the sustainable adoption of broadband service. It also includes 28 awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for broadband infrastructure and satellite projects that will provide rural residents in 16 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service.
The University of Arkansas received the largest financial award,$102 million, to connect community anchor institutions throughout the state. Other winners include Windstream which received more than $64 million for four new projects; Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corp. which received more than $21 million for a FTTH network; and Peoples Telephone Cooperative which was awarded more than $28 million to provide middle-mile broadband service in eastern Texas, connecting 190 community institutions to broadband.
For the first time the stimulus winners include four satellite operators: Read more
FTTH Satisfaction on the Rise
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, August 16, 2010 · ·
Consumer appreciation of fiber to the home (FTTH) services is steadily growing, according to a new report commissioned by the Fiber-to-the-Home Council. Seventy-one percent of FTTH subscribers report that they are “very satisfied” with their Internet service, compared with 53% for cable modem subscribers and 52% for DSL.
The survey, which also asked respondents to measure and report the speed of their Internet connectivity via www.speakeasy.net, found that average FTTH download and upload speeds continue to stay well ahead of cable and DSL. Based on these reports, FTTH currently has a median download speed of 16.6 Mbps and an upload speed of 4.5 Mbps, 1.5 times faster than cable modem download speeds, and 5.7 times faster than the median DSL download speeds. In terms of upload speeds, FTTH is 3.2 times faster than cable modem and 5.7 times faster than DSL.
But perhaps the most interesting finding is that despite the promise of FTTH services, the majority of consumers still don’t know the difference between a cable modem, DSL or FTTH service. Although 41% of broadband subscribers recognize the term fiber to the home compared to 28% who did so in 2009, this still leaves 59% who are uninformed. Read more
RUS Awards $1.2 Billion in Stimulus Funds
Posted by Jesse Ward on Thursday, August 5, 2010 · ·
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced the funding of 126 new broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide rural residents in 38 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service. Today’s announcement is part of the second round of USDA broadband funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
In all, $1.2 billion will be invested in the 126 broadband infrastructure projects. An additional $117 million in private investment will be leveraged, bringing the total funds invested to $1.31 billion.
A complete list of projects receiving ARRA broadband grant awards today can be viewed online. A few of the big winners in this round: Read more
Google Launches ‘Fiber for Communities’ Website
Posted by Jesse Ward on Friday, July 16, 2010 · ·
Back in February, Google announced plans to build experimental, ultra high-speed networks in communities across the U.S. chosen from public submissions. More than 1,100 communities and 194,000 individuals submitted requests, representing all but three U.S. states (Delaware, Florida and South Dakota). Google is still busy plowing through the applications, and it won’t be announcing the winners until year-end.
In the meantime, the Internet titan is capitalizing on the public and media interest in its project. Google has launched a Web site called Google Fiber for Communities to inform the public about fiber networks and Google’s project. The site also will serve as a communications and advocacy platform to encourage federal and local support for “changes designed to bring ultra-fast broadband to more communities.” Read more
Verizon Extends ‘FiOS without Contract’ Nationwide
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 21, 2010 · ·
Verizon has extended FiOS without a contract nationwide, offering new subscribers FiOS TV, Internet and digital voice bundles on a month-to-month basis at the same prices previously available only to customers with two-year contracts, with guaranteed pricing for one year and no early-termination fee. For customers who want two-year price protection, Verizon has expanded its 30-day FiOS Worry-Free Guarantee.
The month-to-month option and Worry-Free Guarantee expand upon offers introduced earlier this year in Florida and Pennsylvania and that have met with very favorable customer response.
The no-contract offering starts at $99.99 per month before taxes, fees and customer-selected service additions. Verizon has previously offered month-to-month bundles, although for $20 to $30 higher per month than bundles with the two-year contract. Read more