We've Moved!

This blog has moved to its very own domain. The new site includes all of the old posts, plus some new stuff. Please come and visit us at http://www.networksierra.org.

Obama Promises Improved Broadband Access

It's on the record. In this week's radio and YouTube address, President-Elect Obama has proposed improved broadband access as part of his economic recovery plan. He sees this as an important part of maintaining this country's competitiveness in the global marketplace and notes that the U.S., the country where the Internet was invented, is currently 15th in the world in terms of broadband adoption. Watch the address here, then send your comments and ideas via the transition web site, www.change.gov.

Help Coming for Rural Broadband?

The Obama-Biden Transition Team has named two strong supporters of Net-Neutrality to be the FCC Review Team Leads.

Susan Crawford is a Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, teaching communications law and internet law. She was a partner with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) until the end of 2002, when she left to become a legal academic. Ms Crawford recently ended her term as a member of the Board of Directors of ICANN.

Ken Werbach is an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the organizer of the annual Supernova technology conference (http://www.supernova2009.com). His research explores the legal and business dynamics of information and communications technologies. Formerly, he served as Counsel for New Technology Policy at the FCC during the Clinton Administration. He has also edited Release 1.0, a renowned technology newsletter, and founded Supernova Group, a technology analysis and consulting firm.

In March, Ms. Crawford had this blunt response to the assertion made by Richard Russell, the White House's associate director on science and technology policy, that the US rollout of broadband access was going well:

I think it's magical thinking to imagine that we're somehow doing fine here, and I just want to make sure that we recognize that even the [International Telecommunications Union] says that between 1999 and 2006 we skipped form third to 20th place in penetration.

At the annual Tech Policy Summit, a gathering of top officials in the world of tech policy, Ms. Crawford made the following observations about the current state of broadband in the US:

We're not doing at all well for reasons that mostly have to do with the fact that we failed to have a US industrial policy pushing forward high-speed internet access penetration, and there's been completely inadequate competition in this country for high speed internet access.

This is like water, electricity, sewage systems: Something that each and all Americans need to succeed in the modern era. We're doing very badly, and we're in a dismal state.

Since the first step in fixing a problem is the recognition that this is a problem, these choices bode well for increased broadband penetration, especially in under-served rural areas like ours.

You can listen to Susan Crawford discuss telecom policy here, and read Ken Werbach's columns on tech policy at internet-infrastructure journal Circle-ID.

VOIP Over WiFi in Mountainous Terrain

I ran across an interesting article about a guy who is experimenting with VOIP Over WiFi in mountainous terrain.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/14534

Shameless Self Promotion

I have started a new blog, called Internet Newcomer. It is, as the title suggests, a blog of information and advice for Internet beginners. The aim with this site is to build a collection of articles and references that will bridge the knowledge gap that exists for most newcomers to the Internet, allowing them to view the Internet less as a mystery and more as an interesting new landscape to explore. This site is all about making the Internet useful to the newcomer, in either their business or personal life.

Please come and visit and leave comments or suggestions. If you like what you see, tell your friends. I expect that those who use the site will help to choose which paths to explore and to let me know if we have gotten off track.

Podcast on Community Wireless

On IT Conversations, Jon Udell interviews Michael Lenczner, co-founder of Île Sans Fil, Montreal’s community wireless network.

With over 150 access points and nearly 60,000 users, the project is a huge success, all the more so given that municipal wi-fi projects in other cities have failed to materialize. And yet, Mike questions the value of what’s been accomplished. The project’s goal was not merely to light up hotspots in downtown Montreal, but to enhance the “sociality” of the city and elicit more and better civic engagement. He doubts these goals have been achieved, and asks himself hard questions about how technology can be deployed to these ends.When I met Mike recently in Montreal, I said: “It amazes that you’re asking yourself these questions. He replied: “It amazes me that others don’t.”

Listen or download at http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3571.html

Broadband Planning Regional Meeting

Yesterday, Bob Ingalls and I attended the second planning meeting for an ambitious project, currently called Central Sierra Connect. It is being spearheaded by the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency (A-TCAA), with funding from the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF). Although the project is in its early stages, its objective is to facilitate broadband availability to unserved and under-served areas of five counties: Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador and Alpine. Significantly, all five county governments have indicated that they will participate and several business communities were also represented. Of the 25-30 people who attended yesterday's all day session, several expressed the opinion that there is currently a window of opportunity for this issue to be addressed by the counties of the foothills and if we do not start the process now, we may fall so far behind the urban areas of the state that we may never catch up.

A-TCAA has been invited to apply for a $250,000 grant from the CETF, which could be received as early as Q2 2008. They have already received a "pre-grant" of $10,000 to prepare the application. Part of that process has been the two planning meetings that took place in Sonora, aimed at bringing together participants (stakeholders, in planning-speak) from the five counties. Those of you hoping to see new wireless towers springing up in the next six months are likely to be disappointed. This is a long term project and the first step will be to develop a comprehensive plan that addresses the issues concerning all of the stakeholders. This phase of the project is likely to take a least a year from the time the grant is awarded. Years two and three of the grant cycle will implement the plan.

So, to recap, A-TCAA has received some money to help them apply to receive more money to pay for a plan. Believe it or not, this is real progress and I'm excited about it. It means that there is agreement across all of the foothill counties that this is a serious issue that requires action (or at least a plan of action). They have the support of a major source of funding in the CETF, which can open the doors to other sources. The participants in the meetings so far have been committed and capable. Bob is a member of the Infrastructure team and I have chosen to work with Outreach. The other teams in the project are: Advisory Council (administration), Demand Survey and County Liason.

The next milestone will be a completed grant application to the CETF, which we plan to submit by the end of February, for consideration at CETF's March board meeting. There should be a Central Sierra Connect web site available soon and I will continue posting here as we progress.