 
bent
not broken
Premium
join:2004-10-04
Longmont, CO
clubs: | Wish... ... I was there. My city has a fiber ring, they just need to build the last mile.  | |
| 
johndoe303
join:2003-01-01
Boca Raton, FL | Congrats. So where do we begin? How does one get the city behind this kind of movement?
--
WRTSL54GS v2 + WRT54G v2 | |
|  |
bent
not broken
Premium
join:2004-10-04
Longmont, CO
clubs:
 ·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Congrats. I'd say by pitching it to the citizens: mailers, door hangers, passing petitions and such. People are waking up to the fact that current technology data connections are becoming increasingly vital to the 21st century economy, and will only continue this trend. The time to trust our economic future to a purely profit driven duopoly is past. They won't build current technology infrastructure unless they deem that the area has high profit potential. We're seeing that already. I can tell you that Qwest doesn't offer VDSL in Aurora, CO, rather they offer it in Highlands Ranch, CO.
The areas that could benefit the most from widely available, reasonably priced, very fast data connections, the lower- to mid-income areas, will be the last to be served by the cablecos and telcos, whom in which I see increasingly little difference.
--
»www.lp.org/issues/family-budget.shtml
"That government is best which governs least" - Thoreau | |
| | | | | | | 
davoice
join:2000-08-12
Saxapahaw, NC
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Congrats. said by johndoe303  :I didn't understand how they could provide service to one gated neighborhood in South Florida. Verizon can operate as a CLEC anywhere in the US they wish. And in states where they already have a CLEC license there's no real barrier to entry except planning/installation/maintenance.
All sorts of weird things like this happen in and around Dallas. Inside the beltline, Dallas is SBC/ATT. Outside the beltline, Dallas is exGTE/Verizon. But you find pockets of them sneaking into each other's territory to service a new housing development. One such example is the Austin Ranch development in Frisco. That's squarely in Verizon territory but SBC/ATT made the developers a deal and ran fiber and copper on a near-exclusive basis.
(Not completely exclusive since when that project was done, Texas still had laws that made SBC share the copper connections w/ Verizon... so Verizon is, in their home territory, buying copper loops from SBC, who is operating as a CLEC, not an ILEC, so that Verizon can provide services to end customers as the ILEC.)
Short version... It can and is done when the money smells right.
}Davoice | |
| | | | ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| Well, it sounds like you already have the seeds of an organization. What you need to do next is expand beyond the borders of your neighborhood. Create a flier to advertise an initial meeting to discuss the issue, then hit the streets and place it on as many doorsteps as you can reach. Then see how many people show up. At the meeting, you need to have information to give to the folks there about what you want to propose, be it muni FTTH, wi-fi, whatever. Then, after you've discussed things in the open forum, tell whoever is there that you want to form an advocacy group, and anyone who is interested in taking part should stay at the meeting. Some people will certainly get up and leave at that point, but you want enough people to stay to help put together an effective organization. At that point, you can start to get yourselves organized. After that, you continue to have meetings and grow your organization until you're ready to approach your local government with a proposal.
Once you have your organization in place and working, one thing that you need to do is talk to cities that are doing this right now. Ask them about any community advocacy groups in their area and how you might reach them. Also ask the project administrators if they'd be willing to share their experiences with you. I expect many will. The goal here is to show your local government officials that this idea can work and to have solid evidence to back it up.
Finally, be prepared to look at all the uses for such a network, not just consumer uses. For example, the city could use it to create an extremely fast network for their various departments without needing to lease expensive T-1 or T-3 lines from the telco. They might also use it to cut their phone costs, since all offices could be connected via fiber, and they'd only need one group of outgoing lines for outbound calls, which would be cheaper than each department having its own outgoing lines. If you have a local college in town, then the fiber network could be tied into its campus network to offer a very fast connection, so the college could offer one or more television or radio channels to the community. This would be great for local distance ed students. You could use the network to allow people to monitor elderly family members who live alone. Get creative and think about all the things such a network can do besides offering cable TV, Internet, and phone service.
Good luck! | |
| | | | Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| said by johndoe303 :Thanks for the reply. I've been in contact with Verizon.. A regional rep who was involved with the West Coast {Florida} FiOS deal and he told me my HOA could bring in Verizon.. I thought it was strange because logistically there is no Verizon service around here.. I didn't understand how they could provide service to one gated neighborhood in South Florida. Long story short they were in talks with our HOA but we had elections and now homeowners have lost control of the HOA (long story short Country Club members swept our HOA. The recent majority of club members don't even live in this neighborhood). Since then the talks have stopped and I haven't heard anything new. As for FiOS at the city level, we're associated Boca Raton otherwise known as West Palm Beach County.. which bring many other issues in itself. Any ideas? Anyone? best thing to do would be to organise the neighborhood to oust the current board via vote. if they dont live there find a way to replace them im sure there must be some clause if the majority doesnt like whos in charge of the HOA they are gone.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
| 
ftthz
If love can kill hate can also save
join:2005-10-17 | benefiber ... looks like customers got more choices ^_^ | |
| 
Hype83
Premium
join:2003-08-19
Lafayette, LA | so glad this is great, i am going to sign up asap | |
| 
Yauch
join:2005-06-24
| If only.. If only customers wanted Triple Play packages this network could be successful. The fact they are concentrating on a package deal most likely means they aren't going to try to compete with the telcos internet connections on price or speed. | |
| | | |
|
|
Lafayette Finalizes Fiber Financing
·
·