Initial communication with U of M by a neighbor indicated that a 123Net wireless system needs to be licensed, have legal permission to operate on U of M land, and not interfere with their radio astronomy work. It is by no means a sure thing, but it is positive that we did not get a flat denial. I have not been able to arrange a follow up meeting with U of M and 123Net as of yet.

There is also renewed activity with Charter cable. Charter is supposed to come through our neighborhood late March/early April to re-asses cable deployment. This does not mean we will get cable, but they are looking at the situation. If anyone spots and Charter trucks in the area, let me know.

The Charter involvement is thanks to Dan Manning at Connect Michigan (http://www.connectmi.org). Connect Michigan is a non profit working with the Michigan Public Services Commission to increase broadband adoption. I have been talking with Dan over the last few months. He recently got the ear of the Senior Director of Engineering at Charter and told him of our situation. This isn’t the first time Charter has surveyed the neighborhood. I’m hoping we have the right people looking at the problem this time so they can come up with a realistic solution, however.

We had a number of questions answered and have gotten direction as to next steps in term of residential wireless access. Some of the pertinent points from the meeting:

• 123Net offers two plans. A 16 Mbps plan equivalent to typical Cable internet speed for $60/month and a 1 Mbps plan equivalent to low end cable speeds for $40. The high end plan requires “Line Of Sight” to their tower. The low end plan does not.
• Line Of Sight means that, from an antenna mounted on your house (probably the roof) you can physically see their tower. The lower speed option is “Non-Line Of Sight”. It can go through trees and some obstructions.
• There is new equipment just approved by the FCC that would enable high speed connections without Line Of Sight. 123Net is getting the equipment for testing, it may be an option for people to get high speeds who are behind trees.
• 123Net has no data caps. Unlike Verizon, AT&T, HughsNet, and even Charter Cable, 123Net does not restrict the amount of data you can download or reduce your speed after you use a certain amount of data.
• 123Net will need to set up equipment on an existing tower or we would need to build a tower in the neighborhood. Existing towers include the U of M tower on Peach Mountain and the Sprint/Nextel tower on Barker Road. My best guess at cost of erecting a tower is $15,000 – $20,000.
• Ordinances require a tower to be 400′ from any structure and 150′ from the road. They must be built on public land. There is not any public land in our neighborhood, we would have to pursue a variance if we build a tower. As this is a community project for the public good, we may get some sympathy for a variance.
• There is a $200 hook up fee to install the necessary equipment on our house. We would not own the equipment. 123Net would come out for free to service it if we have any problems.
• Service requires an antenna be mounted probably on your roof. There are 2 kinds of antennas. The high speed service uses a 2 foot x 1 foot slightly curved wire mesh style antenna. The low speed service uses a 6′ long narrow antenna that looks like the blade of a hedge trimmer.

Next Steps:

I’ll be working with some neighbors to find out if 123Net can put their equipment on the U of M tower on Peach Mountain. This may be a long shot but it is worth pursuing.

If the U of M tower does not pan out, we’ll look at where we could put a tower in the neighborhood or if the Sprint/Nextel tower on Barker Road could service us.

I was hoping to get this meeting together by the end of July. That didn’t pan out due to peoples vacation schedules and my work schedule. The 123Net rep was tied up for most of August, but I think the time is right to try and pull this together.

I talked with the Township, and they will let us use their hall for a neighborhood meeting. I need to get a date from 123Net, and then I’ll get the word out to everyone.

A brief refresher on 123Net and their services. 123Net is a provider out of Southfield that services areas from Detroit to Saline. They bought 20/20 Communications, an Ann Arbor based wireless company, about a year ago.

123Net offers a form of fixed wireless internet access. It is not the same technology as wireless services from cell phone companies like Verizon or AT&T nor is it the same as sattellite internet.

Due to the much smaller up front investment, a 123Net build out of service is most likely more feasible than getting service from Charter, Comcast or AT&T. In the neighborhood meeting, I would like to get more specifics on their services, costs, and comparisons to Cable and DS&L. What 123Net will want to see is interest from a large number of us. So the more people that can attend the better.

When I have a meeting date, I’ll get the word out!

A 123Net representative will be driving around the neighborhood in the coming weeks, noting possible locations to install antennas. My guess is they need at least one tall location above the treeline that can “see” one of their other transmitting antennas. They may need a few such installations around the neighborhood to get us all hooked up.

Myself and a couple of other residents have mentioned they would help out in whatever way they can to get us hooked up. I won’t know what they may require until after they look around. I half expect that mounting an antenna mast 10 – 20 feet above a barn roof or erecting a tall utility (i.e. telephone) pole with an antenna on top may be what it takes.

I have mentioned to them about the very tall U of M tower on Peach Mountain that is visible by nearly everyone on Scully road. There are numerous reasons why it may not be usable, but if they could broadcast from that tower, they could cover a large portion of the township.

I have no further info at this point on costs or feasibility. My guess is that, even if we had to erect two or three utility poles/antenna masts, the build out costs would be significantly less than cable.

I will pass along more information as I get it. At this point we just have to keep showing 123Net that we have a strong desire for broadband and we are willing to work out the kinks to make it happen!

Note, 123Net owns 20/20 Communications, which I believe services their residential customers. I don’t want to confuse things at this point, but service may actually come through 20/20 Communications.

Hello everyone,

Charter has surveyed the area of Scully, Walsh, Valentine, Stoneview, Black Pine, Gleason and Timberlane roads. They have not yet looked at the areas on Territorial, Blue Heron, Donovan or other non-adjacent roads. I would guess that brining service to other neighborhoods in the area would average out to about the same costs if we were to proceed all at once.

Here I’ll review how much Charter wants to build out service and what the per household costs might be. For Scully and adjoining roads the numbers are:

Labor:      $197,272
Material:    $73,139
Allowances: ($65,400)
---------------------
Net Cost:   $205,011

I would guess many are shocked at this number. Some probably expected more. I’m not going to get into wether this is unfair or a good deal. I’ll just lay out the numbers as is.

Charter figures out labor and materials costs and “potential make ready charges, costs from the power company and other matters out of our control…” Each potential service hookup gets a $600 allowance. For our area, we have 77 homes and 32 empty lots which give us our allownace:

77 + 32 = 109 potential "hookups"
109 x $600 = $65,400 allowance

So this would give a build out cost per “hookup” of:

$205,011 / 109 = $1881

This $1881 would be a “best case” scenario and would involve:

1) Convincing everyone in the area to pay for hookup.
2) Identifying developers/owners of empty lots and convincing them to pay $1881 per hookup.
3) For neighbors who may own empty lots, they would agree to pay for multiple hookups.

If the build out cost were divided equally among the 77 existing homes (assuming everyone wants cable), the cost would be:

$205,011 / 77 =  $2662

In this case, we would then have to figure out how to reimburse residents as new homes (on those 32 empty lots) are hooked up.

In the more realistic scenario that not everyone wants cable or would pay the up-front investment, there are a few other options I can think of:

1) Grants throught the Department of Agriculture and Federal Communications Commission. Both of these organizations have programs to help build out rural areas.
2) Form an LLC or co-op which funds the build out and recoups their investment through monthly surchages on service.

Again, I don’t want to give my personal opinion at this point. I’d like everyone to think on this and post their feedback.

What do you think? Crazy? Doable? Unfair? Good deal? Let us know.

More importantly, 123Net wants to work with us and develop a plan to bring service to our neighborhood, which is very encouraging. Their cooperative attitude resulted in part from our web site and seeing the commitment of all of you. Thanks everyone for your support!

I have provided 123Net with a listing of possible antenna locations as well as information about local towers that are visible from our area. Surprisingly, there are 3 visible towers within 4 miles. It will take them some time to digest the information and respond with alternatives. At that point, we’ll probably meet with them as a group.

If 123Net does decide they can provide service, they offer 2 plans:

Speedwise, the base plan is about 30% to 100% faster than typical 3G and satellite plans (1.3x to 2x faster). I don’t have personal experience with their services, but from a technical standpoint their technology should offer a higher quality more consistent connection than 3G wireless or satellite. Did I mention it doesn’t have the ridiculously low data caps that other providers have?

Their service works by installing a transmitting antenna in a location able to “cover” the neighborhood. It broadcasts a broadband signal (they describe their technology as 4G). The base plan does not require line of site to their antenna. I assume this means it can operate through some tree cover or partially obstructed locations. The upgrade plan requires line of sight to the 123Net antenna. I suspect this means the Base plan operates in the 900 Mhz band and the Upgrade plan in the 5.8 Ghz band.

While progress on these things is never as fast as one hopes, I will continue following through with them until we have a plan.

Mark remembered me from Congressman Tim Walberg’s Coffee hour and again expressed his desire to understand more about the broadband issue. I reiterated that the State’s Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Agreement needs reformed. That that document usurps local governments power to serve their communities interests. Mark seems genuinely interested in the issue, but I think he currently has no time to work on it given the economy and budget issues.

County Commissioner Dan Smith was their as well. He has done some further research at the County and turned up a list of “tower” assets put together during the Wireless Washtenaw program. This is a listing of tall structures around the county that could hold antennas for a fixed wireless broadband system. This was a timely find, as I have been talking with 123Net about neighborhood wide broadband fixed wireless.

I also met Todd Girdis, President of IntelliHome Systems, a local small business. Todd was interested in what we needed as his company services many varied technology areas. While his company doesn’t build out broadband systems, he indicated he has worked with such companies. He was interesting to talk to and may prove a useful resource.

As always, thanks everyone for your help and support!

To understand why satellite and 3G wireless lag far behind other forms of broadband, I’ll focus on three key areas:

1. Speed (or bandwidth)
2. Data caps (or download thresholds)
3. Costs

In each area, I’ll give a brief overview of all the technical mumbo jumbo first. First, though, I’ll give a basic summary of the types of services I’m going to compare:

Cable

Provided by a cable TV company, access comes into the home through a coaxial cable

DSL

Provided by a Telephone company or other provider, access comes into the home through a your telephone line.

3G Wireless

Provided by a cellular phone company, uses a data card or wireless router which connects to the cell phone provider and either plugs into the users computer or connects to the user’s computer wirelessly with WiFi. Same access used by smart phones.

4G Wireless

Provided by a cellular phone company and works much the same as 3G wireless. It is a new, much faster more robust technology which is just starting to become available. Also used by smart phones.

Satellite

Provided by a satellite provider, provides internet access though a satellite dish via satellites 22,000 miles above the earth.

WiMax

A wireless technology provided typically by smaller local companies which can provide better range and speed than 3G wireless. Sprint also offers “4G” WiMax in Grand Rapids Michigan.

This list covers the types of service generally available in Washtenaw county. I’ve left out technologies such as fiber to the home and LTE wireless as I am not aware that those are or will be generally available in the near future.

Speed

For broadband internet access, the speed of your service is usually measured in megabits per second, abbreviated Mbps. Bandwidth is another term meaning nearly the same thing. The higher the speed (bandwidth), the quicker you can view web pages, download documents and send and receive emails. Also, if you have multiple devices (computers, iPads, Wii’s, etc.) that need internet access at the same time, the more bandwidth you will need.

You may also see the term kilobits per second, abbreviated kbps in reference to internet speed. The conversion between the two is fairly easy, 1000 kbps equals 1 Mbps. I’ll just use Mbps in this article.

The FCC has recently defined broadband as a service capable of delivering speeds 4 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload¹. Download refers to how fast information can come to your computer from the internet, upload is how fast data goes from your computer to the internet. Typically internet users need much more download than upload bandwidth.

How do the speeds of various services compare? The chart below compare typical speeds available today^{2, 3, 4, 5, 6}:

We see that satellite and 3G wireless far fall below the threshold of broadband as determined by the FCC. We also see that they far fall below the level of service offered by other providers. Furthermore, cable can provide speeds up to 100 Mbps and DSL up to 24 Mbps in other areas right now, demonstrating the clear lead these technologies have. This does not take into account fiber optic service which are just coming to market that can deliver 200 to 1000 Mbps to the home user.

4G wireless services currently being rolled out by Verizon can offer very solid speeds, but are dependent on the users ability to get a good strong signal. 4G plans also have serve data transfer limits as described below. While 4G is exciting, it is not a long term solution. As an emerging technology, it lags far behind existing cable and DSL capabilities not to mention the potential of fiber optic connections.

As a rule of thumb, if you can’t get a broadband plan rated at about 5 Mbps, you won’t be able to effectively use some broadband services such as video streaming (e.g. NetFlix, AppleTV). The 5 Mbps number accounts for the actual speed requirements to stream video plus the unfortunate fact that all residential services suffer slow downs from network congestion, poor infrastructure and other factors. If you consider being able to stream video as a benchmark for broadband service, having a plan advertised at 5 Mbps could be considered a minimum speed requirement.

One last note on broadband speed. The broadband speed requirements will continue to increase. This is due to the inevitable increase in data size of the resource we use on the internet. Just as dial up practically cannot function as a means of internet access now, the 1 or 2 Mbps satellite plan of today will become obsolete in the future. When will this happen, my guess is within 2 to 5 years.

Data Caps

Data caps are a limit placed on the amount of data the user can download and upload. They are sometimes referred to as download thresholds, but I’ll use the term data cap. Once a user has transferred more data than his cap allows, the provider will either charge them extra (wireless plans), reduce their speed to very slow levels (satellite plans) or threaten possible service termination (cable plans).

Caps may be daily or monthly limits. They are usually measured in gigabytes, abbreviated GB, per month or megabytes, abbreviated MB per day. Both GB and MB are measurements of a quantity of data. 1000 MB equals 1 GB. Here, I will present everything in GB.

Below is a chart comparing broadband data caps on a monthly basis^{7, 8, 9, 10}. As a benchmark to what can be considered the minimum data cap for a true broadband service, we can use the worldwide average broadband user’s monthly data transfer which is 14.9 GB per month¹¹. I left out DSL and WiMax services because I could not find a data cap on their web sites or in their service agreements.

Using 14.9 GB per month as the minimum for broadband, 3G and 4G wireless plans as well as satellite plans do not qualify. Note, 14.9 GB of data transfer per month can be considered a minimum, but should by no means be considered an adequate or acceptable data cap. The residential customers data transfer requirements will vary considerably depending on number of users, number of computers and types of online activities. To get an idea of how much data transfer you may need, take a look at our broadband data transfer calculator.

Costs

Ironically, it is the poorest performing services, satellite and wireless plans, that cost the most. Below I’ve compared typical monthly costs for various internet access plans^{12, 13, 14, 15, 16}. These costs are averaged over a 2 year period, so any special introductory rates are averaged in with higher service rates for the balance of the term.

Note that prices fluctuate greatly by market, bundled services and other unpredictable factors. These represent typical costs and are for general comparison only.

Looking at the data, it is fairly obvious that not only are satellite and wireless plans are considerably more expensive than other plans, even those providing much better service.

1. “Sixth Broadband Deployment Report”, fcc.gov, July 20, 2010, http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-129A1.pdf
2. “Charter Internet: High Speed Internet Service”, http://www.charter.com/internet/overview
3. “AT&T DSL High Speed Internet Service”, http://www.att.com/dsl/
4. “Verizon Wireless – Mobile Broadband – Plans”, http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
5. “20/20 Communications :: internet Services, Sales and Consulting :: 4G Business WiMax”, http://www.2020comm.com/business.php
6. “Rural High-Speed Internet Service – HughesNet Satellite Internet”, http://consumer.hughesnet.com/plans.cfm
7. “Acceptable Use FAQ’s – Charter Communications”, http://myaccount.charter.com/customers/support.aspx?supportarticleid=2124
8. “Acceptable Use Policy – Residential Customers”, http://www.charter.com/footer/footerPage.jsp?tag=policies_resi_hsi_accep_use_policy
9. “Verizon Wireless – Mobile Broadband – Plans”, http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
10. “Rural High-Speed Internet Service – HughesNet Satellite Internet”, http://consumer.hughesnet.com/plans.cfm
11. “Cisco Visual Networking Index: Usage”, cicso.com, October 25, 2010, http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/Cisco_VNI_Usage_WP.pdf
12. “Charter Internet: High Speed Internet Service”, http://www.charter.com/internet/overview
13. “AT&T DSL High Speed Internet Service”, http://www.att.com/dsl/
14. “Verizon Wireless – Mobile Broadband – Plans”, http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
15. “20/20 Communications :: internet Services, Sales and Consulting :: 4G Business WiMax”, http://www.2020comm.com/business.php
16. “Rural High-Speed Internet Service – HughesNet Satellite Internet”, http://consumer.hughesnet.com/plans.cfm

Broadband isn’t just about speed

When evaluating broadband internet access alternatives, speed is the primary consideration. The service plan’s data cap is another. Sometimes called download threshold (satellite providers like this term), fair usage policy or fair access policy, these are all limits placed on the amount of data (web pages, emails, pictures, music, software, whatever) that the user can download. I will use just the term data cap.

Data caps are limits imposed by the service provider on the amount of data you can download in a day or month. To evaluate data caps and how they can affect your internet usage, we’ll have to go over some new techno jargon.

How do we measure data?

We already know data speeds are measured in Mega bits per second, abbreviated Mbps. The terminology for measuring the amount of data is slightly different. The amount of data is usually measured in Mega Bytes, abbreviated MB. In case your wondering, 1 Byte is 8 bits. We’re not going to do any converting here though, so you can forget I told you that.

There is one other wrinkle. Data is also often measured in Giga Bytes, abbreviated GB. The conversion here is fairly easy, 1000 MB = 1 GB. So, if you have 200 MB you’ve got 0.2 GB. Likewise, if you have 1.5 GB, you have 1500 MB. To keep everything consistent, I’ll talk just about GB in this chapter.

What do data caps do?

Data caps all have the same goal, to limit the amount of data used by the user. Limiting users data usage in and of itself is not bad or evil. Networks are a shared resource with a limited capacity. The problem is how low some of the limits are and how the caps are implemented.

Before I dive into the actual caps different providers impose, You need to get an idea how much data the average broadband user consumes. Luckily, Cicso (the company that makes the high tech equipment that runs the internet) has done that for us. They found that, worldwide, the average broadband user consumes 14.9 GB of data per month¹.

I’ve summarized the data caps for common provider plans in Webster Township in the chart below. All of these caps are presented as GB of data in one month. That way you can compare them to each other. The average broadband usage rate of 14.9 GB per month is indicated on the chart as well. You will note that that some types of plans, like DSL, are not on the chart. This is because I could not find any stated cap on the provider’s web site or in their usage agreements. I suspect these providers do have caps, but they probably do not affect the majority of users.

We see from the chart that the lowest caps are found primarily in satellite and wireless (3G and 4G cellular) plans. Unfortunately these are only plans available to many rural users.

Ouch! I hit my cap!

How do the providers “enforce” their caps? Satellite providers will considerably reduce the users connection speed when they hit their cap. They will still have internet connectivity, but it will be at dial up speeds. The wireless plans take a different approach. They don’t limit the subscriber’s speed when they hit the cap, they charge them an overage fee.

How much can the overage charges run? If we take Verizon wireless as an example, they have two wireless data plans, a $50 per month plan with a 5 GB cap and a $80 per month plan with a 10 GB cap. Both plans have a $10 per GB overage charge. So, the average broadband user, consuming 14.9 GB of data, would pay $150 per month with the 5 GB plan and $130 per month with the 10 GB plan. For residential broadband service this is an astronomical charge.

The next logical thought is that the user can limit what they do on line to reduce their usage. This is true. The problem with this logic, however, is that the user no longer truly has broadband access if he cannot use the resources on the internet. It is like having a Corvette, but you can only put one gallon of gas in the tank per month. Do you really have a high performance sports car you can take out and drive, or do you have an expensive car that looks really cool in your garage?

Conclusions

Data caps are stated in most broadband users service agreements. For Cable, DSL and WiMax users, they are generally not a concern as they are relatively high. For the rural customer on wireless or satellite, however, they are a serious concern. Those users are either forced to not use the resources on the internet to stay under the cap or to pay high overage fees. In either case, it is clear that these types of plans do not provide real broadband internet access.

1. “Cisco Visual Networking Index: Usage”, cicso.com, October 25, 2010 <http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/Cisco_VNI_Usage_WP.pdf> 

In the last Broadband 101 chapter, I compared speeds of various types of internet access. Although I didn’t mention it, the speeds I talked about in that article were all download speeds, or how fast you can get data (web pages, emails, videos, etc.) from the internet to your computer. All internet connections have two distinct speeds, however, a download speed and an upload speed. Upload speed is how fast your computer can send data to the internet. The upload speed will generally be much less than the download speed. This is fine, though, because the broadband user needs more capacity to receive information from the internet and much less capacity to send information to the internet.

What are typical upload speeds? I’ve expanded the table from the previous chapter to show both download and upload speeds for some typical internet connections:

Service         Download Speed    Upload Speed
-----------------------------------------------
Dial Up            0.0336           0.0336
slowest DSL        0.768            0.128
slowest cable      1.0              0.128
fast cable        25.0              3.0

When will the upload speed of my connection affect my internet access? Upload speed will affect activities like emailing images or documents and uploading digital photos to get prints made. User’s who work from home often have to send large documents to clients or to their office. User’s who want to do video conferencing for business or with family and friends will have to be sure they have adequate upload speed as well.

The only definition for broadband upload speeds that I know of is from the Federal Communications Commission.  The FCC defines broadband upload as speeds of at least 1.0 Mbps¹.  As for a comparison of what internet access plans would be considered broadband based on upload speed, it would look much like the comparison done in the previous chapter for download speeds.  Satellite, 3G wireless and low level DSL and cable plans wouldn’t be considered broadband.

Another topic which affects all of the speeds we’ve talked about is advertised speed vs. actual speed. Advertised speeds are what the provider tells you you will get. Actual speed is what you can expect to get on average. These are, unfortunately, quite different. The FCC found that actual speeds are usually 1/2 of advertised speeds for a typical residential plan. Any broadband user will tell you that their speeds do vary considerably throughout the day. I’ve used many types of service and, while some are much more consistent than others, 1/2 is a good rule of thumb. What you typically find is that during peak hours, when everyone in town is on-line, speeds can be very very low. Off peak hours, late at night for example, you’ll often get close or actually achieve the advertised speed.

Are consumers being ripped off or scammed because of this? Yes and no. No because networks are a shared resource and, unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for guaranteed bandwidth, You’ll at times have slow downs. Yes because there are no rules in place that make providers tell consumers what typical speeds they can expect and for how long during the day they can expect them.

In this chapter, I hope I’ve enabled you to better understand some of the details of internet connection speeds. Please feel free to post questions or comments, I’ll do my best to help out!

1. “Sixth Broadband Deployment Report”, fcc.gov, July 20, 2010 <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-129A1.pdf>