Source: Broadband Bargains 2005

The above chart is also from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The purpose of this chart is to show that different countries have different expectations for broadband speeds as well as different prices charged per kilobit per second. Japan offers the most megabits for the dollar whereas the United States is lagging not only in broadband penetration but also in available speeds and affordability. In order for the United States to compete in a global economy availability as well as price and speed need to be considered by top policy makers.

The ITU also pointed out that countries that lowered their prices also have higher broadband penetration. The United States could learn from this example and seek to increase broadband availability by offering increased speeds and decreased costs.

Broadband – Expectations Differ

As you can see from these discussions, all broadband is not equal. Not only do we have issues of unequal access within the United States but when considered from a global perspective we can see more inconsistencies. Despite the technology used to deliver service it is clear that different countries define broadband differently.

Broadband Technology

There are many different types of broadband technologies, such as cable, DSL, powerline, satellite, and wireless. Each of these implementations can provide similar services to consumers and businesses.

Generally speaking broadband service delivery can be separated into two main categories: wired and wireless. Wired broadband delivers services over some type of wire connected to your home or office. Wireless broadband uses the electromagnetic spectrum and does not require a wire running to your home or office.

Homes and businesses have many different wires or connections for telephone, cable and electricity. For many years these were separate networks and could only deliver one type of service. Telephone lines delivered phone service, cable delivered video service, and electric lines delivered electricity. Today it is technically possible to deliver broadband service and digital content (voice, video, data) using any of these wire connections or "pipes." Your phone company might also be your cable company and vice versa or your electric company might be delivering broadband and phone services. Each of these connections or pipes has pros and cons relative to broadband delivery.

The telephone network is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous communications infrastructures. Without any upgrades the same network that brought your grandparents a party line can give you access to the Internet through a dial-up modem. The telephone network can also provide broadband service using Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL). DSL is available through the local phone company. Call your local phone company to find out if DSL service is available in your community or neighborhood.

Broadband Over the Cable Network (Cable Modem)

Another pipe running into most homes is the coaxial cable that traditionally provides television programming. According to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association cable passes by 99% of occupied homes in the United States. Most cable companies have upgraded their networks to deliver cable modem broadband service over the same network that delivers video programming.

Cable modem service is adequate for residential service and many small businesses. However, like DSL it is not adequate for large businesses.

Another pipe that goes to every house is from the electric company. It is now possible to deliver broadband service through a technology called Broadband over Powerline or BPL. BPL is a relatively new entry in the delivery of broadband service. Several electric companies have developed pilot projects to determine the economic feasibility of using BPL to deliver broadband. Technically BPL service allows customers to simply plug a special modem into any outlet in their home to access high speed Internet.

Recommended Resource: CURRENT Communications Services has an excellent online video about Broadband over Powerline.

Fiber optic cable is another type of wired broadband delivery technology. Fiber optic cables carry digital information in the form of light pulses and are capable of delivering very high levels of broadband. The Internet backbone runs across the world on fiber optic cable.

There are many acronyms associated with fiber cable build outs. Below is a brief list of the common fiber acronyms you may encounter.

• FTTH – Fiber to the Home, also know as FTTP – Fiber to the premise
• FTTN – Fiber to the neighborhood
• FTTC – Fiber to the curb
• FTTx – Fiber to everyplace

Fiber to the home networks connect a fiber optic strand the diameter of a hair to each home or business. The high bandwidth available through fiber technology enables delivery of the Triple Play (voice, video and data) over the same network infrastructure.

The number of fiber to the home networks is growing. Several large telephone companies are in the process of building fiber to the home networks to deliver video services in addition to voice and data services. Most new fiber to the home connections are located in suburbs and new developments where companies get enough subscribers to pay for the network deployment or government supported projects such as UTOPIA in Utah that involves several cities.

Examples: Buffalo, Minnesota and Columbus, Kansas. In addition to fiber to the home projects several rural communities and counties such as Pickens County, Alabama are building "fiber rings" to improve the availability and affordability of broadband services to businesses and residents.

As the name implies, wireless broadband delivers broadband service without using wires to connect to a home or businesses. Wireless broadband is delivered over radio frequencies through transmitters and receivers. Wireless broadband can be categorized into two basic categories: satellite and wireless networks.

Satellite Internet service is provided through the same small dishes used to deliver video services, such as DirecTV and Dish Network. Users send and receive information to the Internet via a satellite dish to a receiver on a satellite in space. The satellite retransmits the signal to and from the network operation center that is connected to the Internet. Satellite broadband service is available to nearly any location in the United States that has a clear view of the southern sky.

Recommended Resource: Satellite Signals provides links to satellite Internet providers serving the United States. Information available through this site includes installation costs, broadband service levels and broadband Internet service costs for satellite Internet service.

There are two basic types of wireless networks. The first is a small wireless local area network, commonly known as a Wi-Fi Hotspot. These networks are designed for indoor use with a broadcast range of several hundred feet and include both public and private networks. Hotspots are often deployed by businesses to provide broadband access to their employees. Hotspots are also found in many retail environments such as coffee shops to provide service for customers who use built-in wireless cards in their computer to connect to the Internet.

The second type of wireless network is a Wireless ISP (Internet Service Provider). This type of network is designed to serve very large coverage areas using a point-to-multipoint network topology and broadcasts wireless data up to 20-miles. Unlike Wi-Fi networks where the customer uses their own Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) antenna, a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) broadcasts a signal from a base station and the signal is received by a fixed wireless antenna mounted on the customer's premises. Most WISP systems are based on proprietary systems that do not allow roaming.

In between a Wi-Fi Hotspot and a WISP, there is a hybrid version of the first two systems, which is called a Neighborhood Internet Service Provider (NISP) or Wi-Fi Hotzones. Wi-Fi Hotzones use a group of access points to cover a large outdoor environment such as a neighborhood, marina, shopping mall or campground.

What advantages are provided by wireless broadband?

Wireless networks can cover wide geographic areas efficiently, providing the first available broadband service, or a competitive service, into many communities. Networks of varying sizes can be deployed in places where it would be prohibitively expensive to run wires. The lower cost of deploying wireless networks is enabling rural communities and the private sector to build out wireless broadband. Because trenches do not have to be dug, there may be less overall disruption and visual impact to communities. Wireless also has opportunities for mobile uses that other technologies do not.

Examples : Many communities such as Stevenson, Washington are also deploying hotspots in downtowns to serve tourists.

Recommended Resource: Broadband Wireless Exchange.

Broadband Applications

Applications For Broadband – I'm connected, now what?

Infrastructure and geography will be very different for every community. Different infrastructure technologies will work better in some areas than others. Regardless of what broadband technologies are available in your community or what infrastructure projects your community may decide to undertake, the applications made available by broadband service will benefit all citizens.

• Send / receive large files including software updates
• Participate in multiplayer network games
• Work from home, a local coffee shop, or on the road
• Share an internet connection
• Research at lightning speeds
• Make free phone calls to anywhere in the world (voice-over-IP)
• Access video-on-demand
• Use Interactive TV
• Create and share content
• Store backup files online

Many of today's applications require broadband to work properly. The table below shows the minimum and ideal speeds necessary for some of the more popular applications. (From the Canada Broadband Task Force )

Source: Lonestar Broadband

Of the applications on this list only online gaming, shopping, banking, and reading electronic newspapers are even possible using dial-up Internet

Commercial Broadband Applications (click on the links below to expand on the subject)

Telemedicine

• Simple and relatively easy to implement applications like patient ordering medications or scheduling appointments online.
• Remote reading and monitoring of data generated by devices implanted in patients.
• Advanced applications such as a remote, rural health care clinic being able to send test or lab results to a larger health care facility for instant readings and diagnosis.
• Using video conferencing for a doctor in a distant location seeing the patient and making a diagnosis.
• Using video conferencing for doctor-to-doctor consultations or continuing education.

Telemedicine can improve the quality of health care and lower health care costs in rural communities. Other telemedicine applications using monitoring and surveillance equipment can be used to safely allow older adults to remain in their homes instead of being placed in a long-term care facility.

Example: The Alaska Tribal Health System (ATHS) wide area network (WAN) is a state-of-the-art, secure telehealth network designed to meet the telehealth needs of the Alaska Tribal Health System organizations in all areas of Alaska.

Resources:

• Telemedicine Information Exchange
• American Telemedicine Association

Teleworking

Teleworking or telecommuting is working from home or outside the traditional office or workplace using a digital device and an Internet connection. Telework benefits employers who see savings in office overhead costs as well as increased productivity and motivation of their employees. It also allows business to continue running when events such as a major snowstorms close roads and keep employees at home. Employees benefit from teleworking by saving time and costs for commuting. It also offers flexibility for those who also care for older parents or younger children.

Telecommuting can be a boon to rural and small communities that offer a high quality of life but few high paying jobs. Fast and affordable broadband connections allow people the flexibility to live and work where they want.

For more information about the economic and social benefits of telecommuting for both workers and employers refer to FAQ: What are the benefits of Telework - Telecommuting.

Resource:

• The Telework Coalition

E-Government

E-Government refers to the increasing push for government at all levels to make more services available online. Local governments use e-Government to deliver services and information to their residents and customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can also save considerable expenses and make processing paperwork and documents more efficient. Citizens like e-Government services because they go online instead to get the information and services they need of standing in line.

• University of Minnesota Extension's Access eGovernment educational program
• Making a Case for Local E-Government (PDF), University at Albany's Center for Technology in Government

Agriculture

One of the biggest benefits broadband offers to agriculture is to connect buyers and sellers. Connectivity allows farmers to keep up-to-date on prices and find buyers for their commodities. Once farms are connected a world of additional possibilities opens up such as allowing farmers to telecommute and earn additional income, distance education also allows for improvements in crop planning and pest management. Tele-veterinary services and virtual livestock auctions also become possible with broadband. Wheatland Broadband is a wireless Internet service provider in Kansas that offers special services to farmers and other agricultural customers.

Distance learning enables students of all ages and from any geographic location to take advantage of educational opportunities in schools, universities and other educational institutions. The United States Distance Learning Association is a non-profit organization with many resources available.

Public Safety

Broadband networks can assist police, fire and other law enforcement personnel in many crisis situations. Some applications include:

• Large streams of data can be transferred securely and quickly.
• On-site personnel can upload information to coordinators.
• Internet voice communications (VoIP) can supplement or replace disrupted landline phones.
• Video conferencing can save travel time and decrease response time.
• Video surveillance can be used to monitor almost any location: borders, airports, ports, train stations, crisis scenes and work places.

One example of how broadband communications plays a role in public safety was demonstrated after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf coast in August 2005. Long before landline phones, cable, cellular phones and other emergency communications services were back in operation, wireless broadband networks were being used to provide phone and Internet services to public safety officials and relief workers.

Resources:

• Project MESA - an international partnership using mobile broadband for public safety
• Wi-Fi Policing Comes to Georgia
• Wireless networks give voice to evacuees
• Hurricane Katrina

National Security

Applications For Persons With Disabilities

"Broadband makes possible remote interpreting, which greatly enhances the quality of life for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It also supports peer-to-peer signing, a revolutionary development that for the first time allows people who are both deaf and limited in reading and writing to engage in meaningful and rewarding communication at a distance."

This study repeatedly mentions how the Internet can erase disabilities in the eyes of others. Communicating online or virtually allows people to explore ideas, thoughts and relationships without being labeled as handicapped. Broadband communications also help people with disabilities feel less isolated. Rather than feeling as though they are trapped at home or maybe a hospital, people with disabilities can be brought together with others and explore options of distance learning or telecommuting.

Utility Applications

Small Business Assistance

Information Gathering

Tourism

E-Commerce & Entertainment

Resources:

• A National Imperative: Universal Availability of Broadband by 2010 (PDF) TechNet 2020
• Broadband and Americans with Disabilities (PDF)

Delivery Models

Bringing affordable broadband to rural communities in America has proven to be a difficult task. Leaders in many rural communities look to their local telephone company (Verizon, AT&T, Alltel, Qwest, etc.) or local cable company to deliver the service. These providers often respond that they have no plans to upgrade their system because of the low population densities or demand for broadband services will not pay for the investment required to deliver the service. With such a high initial investment, private Internet providers are not able to recover their costs in a reasonable time frame.

In short, there is little financial incentive for the large private companies to extend high speed Internet to many rural communities. In many communities local entrepreneurs deploy wireless broadband networks to fulfill the need.

Community leaders faced with the inability to obtain broadband service through the phone or cable company look to two other models, municipal (local government) delivery or public private partnerships to bring the service to the community.

Understanding the business structures and financial models for these three delivery models will provide invaluable insight to individuals interested in identifying and implementing projects in rural communities to increase the availability of affordable broadband service.

Traditional private sector providers such as telephone and cable companies are profit driven. Private sector providers only make infrastructure investments in communities where there is a reasonable return on investment within a short period of time to support stockholder value. In 2000, the National Exchange Carriers Association estimated that it would cost $10.9 billion to upgrade the 3.3 million rural telephone lines that would not already be capable of carrying broadband by 2002 (Bell et al., 2004). There simply is very little financial incentive for telecommunications or cable companies that deliver services over cables to upgrade or extend their infrastructure in many rural communities.

The incumbent telephone providers also operate as regulated monopolies. These companies face additional requirements to provide universal telephone service and meet other requirements of state and federal laws and regulations. The FCC and state Public Utility Commissions regulate only the video content delivered by cable companies. As of early 2006, the FCC does not regulate broadband and telephone (Voice over IP) services delivered by cable companies.

The challenges associated with improving the rural telecommunications infrastructure have given rise to two alternative delivery models, each of which is designed to overcome some of the problems faced by private providers. These include the municipal model and public/private partnerships.

Municipal governments get involved in the provision of advanced telecommunications services when the private sector fails to deliver or when the cost of service is appreciably higher than in other locations. Local governments attempt to fill the gap by leveraging community resources such as right of ways, infrastructure, and other government property.

Municipal broadband is normally delivered through a municipal utility or authority. The local government builds, owns, and operates the utility to deliver broadband service to customers within the government's or authority's geographical boundary. Municipal utilities can either be operated by a single municipality or by several municipalities on a regional level.

This service delivery model is typically found in large cities or in smaller municipalities that provide electric or telephone service. The municipality owns the customer and the infrastructure and competes directly with the private sector. Anecdotal evidence suggests that municipalities with a history of delivering utility services are more likely to be successful deliverers of advanced telecommunications services, largely because of experience with billing and the organization of delivery departments.

Most broadband municipal authorities operate much like the traditional private sector models with the key difference being that they often have access to other revenue and can justify a longer term return on investment than the private sector. Sources of revenue available for government broadband projects include bonds and grants. Government utilities may also have the luxury of having more time to pay off debts as compared to the private sector. Governments often select wireless options such as fixed wireless or Wi-Fi because the start up costs are much lower than connecting wires to each and every home.

Municipal delivery models face a number of potential obstacles.

Private sector providers consider public sector competition to be unfair. As of early 2006, fourteen states have passed legislation that prohibits or limits public sector delivery of broadband services. The Freepress website provides up-to-date information on current and pending state and national telecommunication policies.

Municipal utilities or authorities also face problems associated with high startup costs and low population density, especially if delivery is limited to a small population within municipal boundaries. In this situation, municipalities, like their private counterparts, find it difficult to amortize the cost of facilities and make the return on investment necessary to sustain and upgrade facilities.

Traditional public-private partnerships are contractual arrangements where the resources, risks and rewards are shared between the public and private sectors to provide greater efficiency, better access to capital, and improved compliance with a range of government regulations regarding the environment and workplace. Through this agreement, the skills and assets of each sector (public and private) are employed to deliver a service or facility for the use of the general public. Public-private partnerships can take a wide variety of forms. Definitions of the various forms of public-private partnerships can be found on the General Accounting Office website.

In addition to sharing resources, each party typically shares in the potential risks and rewards associated with the delivery of the service and/or facility. The public's interests are fully assured through provisions in the contracts that provide for on-going monitoring and oversight of the operation of a service or development of a facility. Examples of telecommunications public private partnerships are found across the country.

The following links provide specific examples for the following states:

• Colorado: The Multi-Use Network Service (MNT)
• Oregon Public-Private Partnerships for Telecommunications in Oregon (PDF)

While each of these partnerships involve state or large city governments working with incumbent broadband providers, there are a growing number of projects being implemented in rural areas including the BRAIN project in rural central Pennsylvania, the Regional Fiber Consortium and Fiber South Consortium in west central Oregon Oregon Rural Fiber Network.

Groups including the Yankee Group, In-Stat, Forester and Jupiter are promoting a newer public private partnership model. Under this public private partnership the public sector builds, owns and operates the transport network and provides open access to ISP's, cable providers and other service providers in the private sector. Examples of this type of partnership include:

• UTOPIA in Utah is building an open access fiber optic network in member cities throughout the state and private sector partners are delivering services through this transport network.
  
  
• Rural Allegany County, Maryland delivers transport services to public organizations (government offices, schools, police, fire departments and ambulance services) via a licensed wireless network. Private sector partners use the transport network to deliver services to businesses and consumers.

Public Policy

Public policy is "messy" but understanding federal, state and policies and how they interrelate is important to community leaders interested in improving the availability of affordable broadband services in their community. The following information is intended to give you a basic understanding of telecommunication policy in the United States.

Public policies enacted at the federal, state and local levels affect the availability and delivery of broadband services to your community. These policies set the rules and regulations that impact how private businesses (phone companies, cable companies, Wireless Internet Service Providers, etc.) and governments can be involved in increasing the availability of broadband services across the country.

Public policy impacting broadband services (telecommunication law) is created at the federal, state and local levels. Federal laws supersede state and local regulations.

Federal Government

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is the law dealing with broadband infrastructure. This act was created to increase competition in the telecommunication industry and increase the availability of advanced (broadband) telecommunication services. Robert Crandall's "Competition and Chaos: U.S. Telecommunications Since the 1996 Telecom Act" is an excellent resource to understand the impact of the 1996 Telecommunication act on the delivery and availability of broadband services.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the federal agency that has the most direct impact on broadband policy. This agency writes the rules to enforce the telecommunication act, collects and analyzes data to predict future policy issues surrounding policy issues.

State Government

Many states have created legislation that covers areas not specifically touched on in federal law. Examples of state laws that influence broadband include allowing or prohibiting local government to deliver broadband services, laws dealing with the use of public right of ways for broadband infrastructure and spelling out the rights of local governments to require franchises for delivery of video and broadband services. The FreePress web site tracks broadband policy activities in across the country.

Every state has a public utility commission that regulates the rates and services of utilities. Faced with issues of unequal access and price many local officials are thinking of ways to get their communities connected without waiting for the traditional providers. Efforts to implement municipal broadband delivery have sparked a great deal of state level information policy activity. Some states, such as Pennsylvania, have passed bills that prevent local communities from offering competitive broadband services. The FreePress site maintains a page that tracks policy debates in every state.

Private Sector

The telecommunication industries are very active players in the policy arena. Larger telephone, cable companies and telecommunication equipment companies hire lobbyists to represent their interests to federal and state policy makers and administrations. Some argue that lobbying by special interest groups results in laws that benefit large corporations and do not take the public into consideration. Citizens groups representing the public argue that they cannot afford full-time lobbyists and policy making tends to be influenced more by corporations than by average citizens or small groups. Some lawmakers argue that lobbyists actually help to inform those voting on pending bills about the impact on various segments of society. Lobbyists have been part of politics our political system for more than 200 years and will likely continue. The Center for Public Integrity maintains a Web site that tracks lobbying activities on broadcast, cable and telecommunication industries in each state.

Citizens

Citizens can impact telecommunication policy by staying informed about the issue, contacting their elected representatives, and at the ballot box. Citizens can become involved in the policy process through public interest groups. These groups often claim to be non-partisan but each group has its own agenda and may have a political leaning. The following public interest groups focus on telecommunications and information policy:

• Media Access Project
• Benton Foundation
• New America Foundation
• Aspen Institute
• Heritage Foundation
• American Enterprise Institute
• Brookings Institution
• Free Press

Case Studies

Several communities that have undertaken projects to improve their digital access and development were selected as case studies by the developers of this guide. We tried to find communities with a population of less than 15,000 so that the lessons learned could be applied to many other rural communities.

Each community's story is unique; each community uses the broadband technology that best meets their needs. However, similar themes repeat themselves during every interview with project leaders.

• The key thing these communities have in common is that they did not wait for someone else to help them.
• They all recognized a need to improve their access and skills and found a solution that worked for their situation.
• In each of these stories we heard about one person or a small group with a vision, commitment, and persistence.
• Every community had to go through their own process highlighted in the Connecting Rural Communities manual including visioning, assessments, leadership recruitment, and constant communication to keep revising as the projects developed.
• Many communities share success stories and repeatedly mention how competition has benefited residents.

• Broadband Over Powerline - Princeton, IL
• Use & Adoption of Broadband - Potter County, PA
• Fiber Optic Cable - Saint Peter, MN
• Fiber Optic Cable - Columbus, KS
• Fiber Optic Cable - Pickens County, AL
• Hybrid Fiber/Coaxial Cable - Coldwater, MI
• Wireless Broadband - Buffalo, MN
• Wireless Broadband - San Diego County, CA
• Wireless Broadband - Stevenson, WA
• Demand Aggregation - Southern Tier Region of New York
• Grants and Mentoring - Forks, WA