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CenturyLink Lights Up First 1 Gbps Customers in Las Vegas

Nearly two months after announcing that they'd be offering 1 Gbps service to a select few development residents in Las Vegas, CenturyLink has announced that they've started lighting up their first ultra-high-speed customers. The company's announcement goes out of its way to avoid specifics of any kind, only stating that 1 Gbps connections are being offered to "select northwest Las Vegas communities" in the Northwest area of the city.


The company has run a similar, limited deployment of 1 Gbps service in Omaha, where they were able to piggyback on older TV infrastructure installed previously by Qwest. In Omaha, the 1 Gbps speed runs users $150 standalone, or $80 when bundled with existing television and phone services.

"The 1 Gbps service is being offered first to residents in the city's northwest area, but will be available to additional communities and small businesses in 2014 as CenturyLink expands its fiber network," the company says of their Las Vegas deployment.

As with other deployments of this type, CenturyLink's 1 Gbps offering is what I affectionately refer to as "fiber to the press release," or a relatively small fiber to the home deployment that primarily delivers oodles of positive press, even if the vast, vast majority of CenturyLink customers are on slow, aging DSL lines (not to mention heavily usage-capped) that will not be upgraded anytime soon.
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AlexNYC
join:2001-06-02
Edwards, CO

AlexNYC

Member

Meanwhile ...

Meanwhile in rural Eagle County, Colorado the best they can offer is 1.5 Mbps ADSL ...
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Re: Meanwhile ...

I laugh every time I hear someone complain about their DSL line when vast swaths of the country lack landline internet.
GetMoney
join:2010-06-11

GetMoney to AlexNYC

Member

to AlexNYC
said by AlexNYC:

Meanwhile in rural Eagle County, Colorado the best they can offer is 1.5 Mbps ADSL ...

says Alex "NYC" hahahaha

ummno2013
@centurytel.net

ummno2013 to AlexNYC

Anon

to AlexNYC
Unbeknownst to you, there are upgrades occurring as we speak. Relax.

AlexNYC
join:2001-06-02
Edwards, CO

1 edit

AlexNYC

Member

Re: Meanwhile ...

I doubt that very much. Century Tel, Century Link, that CO has not seen an upgrade in about 10 years ...
»/coinf ··· EDWRCOXC
Ahuacamolli
join:2001-11-30
Rancho Santa Fe, CA

Ahuacamolli

Member

Private use of public utility easements?

Assuming that CenturyLink is using public utility easements, what give them the right to use public utilities easements for private services?

Or has CenturyLink purchased, and using it's own private easements?
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

Because they are a utility company....

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

said by gapmn:

Because they are a utility company....

No, they are not.

Gas and Electricity are utility companies, which meter how much you use and consume.

CL is *NOT* a utility company. They are a telecommunications company.
jorcmg
join:2002-10-24
USA

jorcmg

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

Good so CL doesn't need to report their outages to the state PUCs in their region then going forward. That's probably news to them that the laws have changed according to you.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

So, cable companies are now utilities too, eh?

After all, they provide telecommunications services as well.
BlueC
join:2009-11-26
Minneapolis, MN

BlueC

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

said by SimbaSeven:

So, cable companies are now utilities too, eh?

After all, they provide telecommunications services as well.

Cable companies are not regulated the same way as incumbent telcos. CenturyLink is an ILEC in most areas (if not all, I'm not certain about all regions). ILEC is an incumbent telecommunication provider who is regulated with the state PUC.

Cable companies are treated differently. That's how things are today, may change in the future, who knows.

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx to Ahuacamolli

Premium Member

to Ahuacamolli
The EASEMENT for public service provider is written into city and/ or state codes and are included in the legal description of every platted lot. You cannot exclude a service provider from entering your property.

By definition a UTILITY as a public service: service provider, organization, corporation, and institution.

Century Link is a telephone corporation that provides a public service. Other examples of public service: EMT, fire, police, gas, light, water, post office, waste management, abatement, animal control, etc..
Ahuacamolli
join:2001-11-30
Rancho Santa Fe, CA

1 edit

Ahuacamolli

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

said by linicx:

The EASEMENT for public service provider is written into city and/ or state codes and are included in the legal description of every platted lot. You cannot exclude a service provider from entering your property.

By definition a UTILITY as a public service: service provider, organization, corporation, and institution.

Century Link is a telephone corporation that provides a public service. Other examples of public service: EMT, fire, police, gas, light, water, post office, waste management, abatement, animal control, etc..

This is not a personal attack. Only my voicing of disagreement.

Most everything you stated is erroneous, incomplete, or just wrong. But this isn't the place to argue law.

I ASSUME that CenturyLink is a legally formed, operating, tax paying corporation, and a de facto public utility, utilizing a lawfully granted/dedicated/seized/prescriptive "public utility" easement and/or right of way as defined by applicable law. But is it's specific use in this specific situation, lawful? I don't know. But I do think it's worthy of professional legal scrutiny.

The question is: Can a PUBLIC easement be used by a Public Utility entity for PRIVATE purposes?

This question will soon become a very hot topic across the US. That's the PUBLIC is paying attention and is aware of specific legal definition (as established by the statutes and case law affecting their particular area) of easements and rights of way.

The situation with AT&T and Google in Austin, Texas (Reported by DSLReports »AT&T Whines About Sharing Utility Poles With Google Fiber [83] comments ) is one of several other current matters of relevant interest.

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

I don't think so.

I've owned property in several states. Every piece of land I ever owned had easement for utility company employees to come onto the land for various reasons. Reading the gas and electric meters, trimming trees, marking underground utilities before digging, repairing/replacing lines, are all valid reasons that do hold water. It is their job to ensure public safety.

Where I live the state utility commission has oversight over telephone, gas and lights. It does not have oversight over poles, cable companies, wireless communications of any type or kind, or internet/broadband connectivity.

AT&T, Century Link, Verizon are federally registered and licensed telephone companies, that operate under federal guidelines to provide communication capability for their customers. If they own the poles in question they may have ground to stand on. Google? Zero. Let them erect their own towers on city land if Austin will allow it. They don't need to piggyback; they need to pay their own way.

This is a thorny question that may ultimately be decided by the wise nine.
Ahuacamolli
join:2001-11-30
Rancho Santa Fe, CA

Ahuacamolli

Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

I'm not going to argue, nor discuss matters of law, with you or anyone else here in a public social forum.

I'm now retired. But, if you should ever have need of a (fairly well know, respected, and active) adjudicated expert witness to provide testimony with regard to specific areas of real estate law (including easements and rights-of-way, oil, gas, minerals, condominiums, planned unit developments, time shares, water rights, hospitals, and airports) I've no doubt that your attorney would know how to contact me.

I still spend a lot of time at my local law library. Is there one available to you?

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

Re: Private use of public utility easements?

I have access to a private law library. It does me no good as I can no longer read print. I have a lawyer who is well versed in real estate law.

I bought property that went thru Closing. About a month later I received a letter from the neighbor asserting encroachment. The error was in the original survey that was taken by the property owner who was not a surveyor; he took it off the wrong pin. The legals went to two Title companies, re-surveyed three times and re-platted twice before my lawyer wrote the final Opinion. What I thought would take 30 days actually took over one year to complete.

I was privileged to read the original papers drawn for the first land sale between a white man and a Native Cherokee man before Oklahoma attained statehood. It applied to a tract of land not far from where my land was located. The differences between the language and legals of two properties was a world (and 99-years) apart.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

Curious if we'll see this more

What are the costs like for FTTP upgrades in conduit or aerial-served areas?

I'm inclined to think that we're going to see more of this from CL going forward. They would certainly be more inclined to move forward with some upgrades in profitable/lower-cost areas than say AT&T, because they can't exactly neglect the fixed-line part of their business in favor of $25/GB data. :P

Take my area for example - your typical fairly high-density subdivision. Their penetration rate is so high (due to them providing a reliable service and Comcast not) that they've sold all their DSLAM capacity. I've heard (from a local tech) that they plan on bringing Prism here as well. Fiber is available at the cross box (they offer VDSL2 here), so wouldn't it make more sense to invest a little more in FTTP instead of another DSLAM? Then they could possibly offer this gigabit service and could offer unlimited Prism streams.

(My understanding is that this gigabit service is Ethernet. My source for this is the fact that GPON can't do symmetrical gigabit reliably on a shared network, and their Calix ONTs are switchable between Ethernet and GPON. So perhaps they wouldn't offer that in every area, but they should be able to run a large enough fiber bundle to the GPON splitters and direct cross-connect anyone who orders gigabit, and GPON for anything less.)

In other words, there are areas where I think it would make good business sense for them to do this, vs. the alternative of staying with copper and investing in new equipment and pushing equipment farther (like FTTC which is a total waste of money).

toby
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA

toby

Member

Re: Curious if we'll see this more

Fibre to the home costs $.
Leaving the existing wires to the home costs zero.

There is nothing with copper wiring if it used to its maximum potential, it rarely is.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

Re: Curious if we'll see this more

It costs money, but if the numbers are right, why not? I'm talking about areas that are conduit or aerial-served, which would make them relatively easy to upgrade, and likely in a similar ballpark to adding additional DSLAMs (when you take into account that more services can be sold over fiber, e.g. this gigabit service and additional Prism TV boxes).
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned) to toby

Member

to toby
It surely is not zero. It also costs big $$ to maintain that copper too. The problem is these companies always think short term instead of long term. Copper limits what they can do now never mind in the future even with technology advancement on the copper side. Fiber also allows them to offer services they're not able to now due to the lack of capacity.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven to toby

Member

to toby
said by toby:

Fibre to the home costs $.
Leaving the existing wires to the home costs zero.

There is nothing with copper wiring if it used to its maximum potential, it rarely is.

Ha.. Define maximum potential. It has been an outdated technology since last decade.
..and newer technologies (for old TP) are more expensive then just ripping out the old copper lines, recycling them, and using those funds to put in fiber.

Unfortunately, brad is right. Most telecoms think in the short term, not in the long term. In the long term, maintaining the copper lines is actually costing them more.

Plus, it cost money back then (half a century ago) to put in the copper lines. It didn't cost them zero, but they've had their ROI for decades now. They want to milk it until it literally disintegrates into the ground.

toby
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA

toby

Member

Re: Curious if we'll see this more

said by SimbaSeven:

said by toby:

Fibre to the home costs $.
Leaving the existing wires to the home costs zero.

There is nothing with copper wiring if it used to its maximum potential, it rarely is.

Ha.. Define maximum potential. It has been an outdated technology since last decade.
..and newer technologies (for old TP) are more expensive then just ripping out the old copper lines, recycling them, and using those funds to put in fiber.

Most houses have at least 4 pairs, so that gives at least 4 bond-able pairs.

I would say that is the maximum potential.

I don't understand why people are so against 'copper', its in your house you know.

Ripping out these old copper lines to each and every house would cost billions upon billions.

You really thing they'd rip up the copper lines and recycle them? There is zero money in that.

The distance from the DSLAM to my house is 7768 feet, according to the DSL modem, all underground.
Not cheap to replace.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Curious if we'll see this more

said by toby:

Most houses have at least 4 pairs, so that gives at least 4 bond-able pairs.

I would say that is the maximum potential.

I don't understand why people are so against 'copper', its in your house you know.

Ya, it's good for electricity and CATV. That's about it.
said by toby:

Ripping out these old copper lines to each and every house would cost billions upon billions.

You really think they'd rip up the copper lines and recycle them? There is zero money in that.

I'd really like a figure in that. I'm sure the tons of copper would have ZERO value and definitely would NOT pay for the fiber upgrade.

..and I'm sure it doesn't cost billions and billions of dollars to rip out the old copper line and replace it with fiber. Well, according to the rich-as-hell CEO's (and the stockholders), it does.
said by toby:

The distance from the DSLAM to my house is 7768 feet, according to the DSL modem, all underground.
Not cheap to replace.

Maybe alot cheaper than you think. Also, what is your DSL speed? I'm betting 1.5-3mbps due to the distance from the DSLAM. I'm sure you'd like to stick with that until the decade is over.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ to toby

Anon

to toby
Number of pairs to each house is probably dependent on local regulations. I believe, but am not certain, it's only 3 pairs here.

Not only that, the terminals generally only have 25 pairs, for several houses. I also think the exact number of houses per terminal depends on the area. The one that serves me serves 4 houses I believe, so 4 pairs each would be doable, but that may not be the case everywhere. One DSLAM vendor's marketing material used the assumption of 12 houses per 25-pair terminal, and I can easily see that being the case in some areas.

So no, copper cannot be used to what you call the "maximum potential" everywhere. If you're going to do the digging anyway to run more copper pairs, why not just do the right thing and run fiber?

Also, this is a bit silly; at 7768 ft. you'll be lucky to see 15M.
TAZ

TAZ

Anon

Re: Curious if we'll see this more

15M on 4 G.998'd pairs, I mean
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

So that's what the $2 Price Increase is paying for!

If just 20 Mb costs $60 I can't even imagine what 1 Gbps will cost!
primeomega
join:2004-03-11
De Pere, WI

primeomega

Member

Re: So that's what the $2 Price Increase is paying for!

said by ArizonaSteve:

If just 20 Mb costs $60 I can't even imagine what 1 Gbps will cost!

"..the 1 Gbps speed runs users $150 standalone, or $80 when bundled with existing television and phone services..."
Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL

1 recommendation

Joe12345678

Member

why no CSN ca / ba or FSN SD / AZ and Time Warner Cable SportsNet?

Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Lakers

Giants

Golden State Warriors

Athletics

Sacramento Kings

are in market there.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

1 recommendation

tshirt

Premium Member

Unfortunately...

...what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas

Cheese
Premium Member
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL

Cheese

Premium Member

Re: Unfortunately...

Naples, Fl and Las Vegas were the first 2 places to get the 25/2 when CL rolled it out a few years ago, I was one of the first few in Naples to get it, I would imagine that it may not be long before others do get it.

Beezel
join:2008-12-15
Las Vegas, NV

Beezel

Member

Of course...

They would test it in the developing higher income area first.

JJH
@comcast.net

JJH

Anon

FTTH in Orlando

Just ordered CenturyLink since they are offering FTTH to the home, though it's capped at 100mb total bandwith 40mb for the internet. Has anyone heard if they are going to offer gigabit service in Orlando?
political_i
join:2013-11-12

political_i

Member

Re: FTTH in Orlando

If it is a Prism TV market, my assumption would be they will upgrade those first, especially if the wiring is old.

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

First and foremost ..

Century Link is a registered telephone company as is Verizon and AT&T. They are charged with maintaining communications from coast to coast. At this point in time copper is a necessity in rural areas where isolated farm towns may be more than twenty miles apart. Copper is still the most reliable and viable option when connecting plant to customer who is many miles away.

Fiber is in or may come to your plant. FTTH may eventually be delivered to the local hospital, schools, city and county offices, and emergency services. It will not be delivered to farms.

It may never be delivered to the home; Here's why.
[1] It's expensive to roll out.
[2] Phone companies are presently busy milking the fatted calf while providing the least possible service.
[3] There is no compelling reason, or desire on their part, to upgrade plant and client modem to provide broadband to rural America.
[4] That they have been given over 500B to do it is moot.
[5] Fiber to POP thence over copper to home (10/1) in town is probably as good as it will get for the foreseeable future.
[6] The distance from the plant to the customer is the enemy. Broadband speeds do degrade very slightly every 1/16th mile. This is one reason why the "Last Mile" is a thorn in the paw of the lion and his prey. It is the eternal chase.

Draw a line from Chicago to Tulsa Oklahoma. The coverage area is 100 miles north and south of the line.
Theoretically Chicago has 100T to share. St. Louis and Tulsa will be allotted 1G each as their population is 1M or more. KC will be allotted 500MB. Iowa City will be allotted 350MB. The balance of the area is a runt pup with allotments of 100MB or less. Rural areas may be allotted 25-50MB each. Areas not covered may be solely dependent on satellite or microwave connections. This allotment is not base solely on population. A STEM city, or port city, with research facilities, universities, has a history of developing cutting edge technology and products, supports. manufacturing, and large hospitals my be allotted 100MB based on need, vs the town of a larger size with one university and a large commercial base.

The truth is if you want blazing fast Internet, the only place you will find it is in the largest Metro areas. As some one who lives in rural America and longs for FTTH, the reality is I have a dependable Internet connection, and a phone that works 98% of time. It is as good as it is going to get for the foreseeable future.

The only reason I do have a decent speed is because I live in the town that is the heart of the county. It supports city and county offices, 911, EMT, and fire/police services, plus a port of call, marina and college. A town nearby of the same size that is also a county seat, but offers less services is rewarded with half the bandwidth that costs 50% more than what I currently pay. Why? Income disparity and greater distance between communities.

There is greater company profit: fiber v copper, less maintenance, and no oversight. The downside is no cost relief to the consumer, and no real viable solution.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Can't make anyone happy.

You suck for not offering 1Gb and you still suck when you start offering 1Gb. I wonder what it takes to make people happy?

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

Re: Can't make anyone happy.

I agree. The response is unfortunate.

I'm not a blind fanboy of CL or any other company by any means, but I will respect and acknowledge when a company does something good. In this case, you have CL deploying gigabit speeds over FTTP through at least some portion of their service area, and now in two different cities _that did not have any competition from Google or someone else_.

And it's not like CL couldn't just play the same game as AT&T if they wanted to (with deploying only where there's competition). Provo is, after all, CL/Qwest territory.

ummno2013
@centurytel.net

ummno2013

Anon

Get it right

Ok, Karl, man, seriously, the upgrades are happening in a lot of places. You can check addresses yourself on the CenturyLink.Com website, there are a lot of customers who qualify for the GPON service. We have upgrades going in place all over, Omaha is not going over existing cable infrastructure anymore either, if you kept up with things you'd know that. It's all FTTH. Even in Florida we are doing GPON installs, and it is only increasing coverage. Most people don't need GPON, hence the slow growth, but at least the company is ahead of the game. All you do is bash bash bash, and yes in some cases it is deserved, but dude, give credit where it's deserved at least. You can't single out certain neighborhoods, if you know the engineering aspects behind this. Upgrades don't happen overnight, as in a lot of these cases new fiber must be put in. So relax, and quit complaining all the time.

ummyes2013
@embarqhsd.net

ummyes2013

Anon

Re: Get it right

Upgrades, eh? When I first became an Embarq customer in 2007, the fastest DSL I could get was 1.5Mbps. Guess where I am today, 6 years later? 1.5Mbps. Upgrades my ass.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad to ummno2013

MVM

to ummno2013

CenturyLink is "evaluating" other areas for FTTH

CenturyLink's Ewing: We're evaluating other areas for FTTH
By Sean Buckley, FierceTelecom - December 11, 2013
»www.fiercetelecom.com/st ··· 13-12-11
quote:
The telco has completed the majority of its FTTH build out in Omaha, Neb., where it leverages an existing fiber network that was built out by its predecessor company US West to deliver a cable-like video service in the 1990s.

Upon completion, the Omaha FTTH network will provide service to about 48,000 homes.
:
After seeing favorable results from its trial in Omaha, the service provider also just began offering its FTTH service in Las Vegas. Initially available in the city's northwest area, CenturyLink plans to extend the service to additional communities and small businesses next year.

Besides Omaha and Las Vegas, CenturyLink continued to build out FTTH to new housing developments in other markets such as Iowa.
:
"In Iowa, we actually built fiber into a subdivision where the cable decided not to build in when they knew we were putting fiber in," Ewing said.