VTel broadband goals set for state

Even though we are now 10 years into the new millennium, residents across large swaths of the state still rely on dial-up Internet – or in some cases — have no access at all.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100524/NEWS03/5240363                    VTel broadband goals set for state  •  By Josh O'Gorman RUTLAND HERALD - Published: May 24, 2010  •  Even though we are now 10 years into the new millennium, residents across large swaths of the state still rely on dial-up Internet – or in some cases — have no access at all. However, the president of Vermont Telephone Company has plans that could, if the funding comes through, provide high-speed Internet access to the most far-flung mountain hollows.  •  VTel President J. Michel Guite is spearheading a campaign to make high-speed Internet access available to all residents, schools, and public safety and municipal organizations.  •  "We could be the first state to have 100 percent access to high-speed broadband Internet," Guite said last week from Dallas, where he was attending a conference on the very subject of Internet access. "It would be a good way to market the state and attract new businesses."  •  For seven months, VTel, an independent communications company based in Springfield, has been testing what is called GigE – one billion bits per second – Internet access to 24 businesses and residences in the Springfield area. Guite is convinced that GigE, which is transmitted through optical fiber from one location to the customer, is the best way, in some cases, to provide high-speed access.  •  Guite is so convinced he took out a television advertisement during the Super Bowl touting GigE and the way of the future. The ad, which can be seen online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqZEOvfZAPw, drew the ire of Comcast with its assertion that it is "20 times faster than cable."  •  While the ad does not mention Comcast by name, Laura A. Brubaker, director of public relations for the western New England region for Comcast, refuted VTel's claim.  •  "Comcast offers Vermonters blazing fast Internet speeds, and we have begun offering even faster speeds in parts of the state with our roll out of wideband starting earlier this year, which delivers homes and businesses up to 50 Mbps (megabytes per second)," Brubaker wrote in a statement. "VTel made false and misleading claims regarding the speeds of its Internet service. Comcast takes its advertising very seriously, including our obligation to substantiate claims, and we hold our competitors to the same standard."  •  To give a sense of scale, 1 GigE equals 1,000 Mbps.  •  Guite rejected Comcast's complaints, saying, "What they simply did not know because they were complaining from Philadelphia, is that we're 20 times faster than cable, and that's before GigE."  •  While most high-speed Internet is provided through a passive optical network, in which multiple customers draw from a share point, Guite is touting "active" fiber. This mode of transmission, where optical fiber connects the customer directly to the provider without a shared hub point, is already the practice in Hong Kong and Singapore, and Guite hopes it becomes the way in Vermont too.  •  "You put as much capacity as you decide to over a fiber that does not have a share point," Guite said, noting that users connected to a share point can slow down each other's Internet speeds. "It's just like the old copper telephone network from 100 years ago, when you had a piece of copper between the house and the office and you can make a phone call."  •  The plan will require installing optical fiber to customers who do not have it, and for some people, who either live or operate businesses in most rural parts of the state, fiber installation is just not feasible. For those potential customers, the fourth-generation (4G) wireless network might be the answer.  •  In Sweden, 4G gives customers wireless Internet with speeds approaching 100 Mbps, and VTel is looking to do the same thing in Vermont.  •  "What's key about this is we're bringing together all of our wireless licenses to serve 114,000 unserved households," Guite said.  •  Such endeavors are expensive, however, which is why VTel is one of many organizations to apply for federal stimulus money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. VTel has submitted two grant applications. The first, for $13.7 million through the U.S. Department of Commerce's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, would provide GigE to more than 200 schools, hospitals and public safety centers in the state.  •  However, the much larger initiative is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Broadband Initiatives Program. VTel has applied for $117 million in grants and loans, and would put up $30 million of its own money, to provide high-speed wireless broadband access to every unserved home, business or institution in the state, as well as parts of New York and New Hampshire.  •  These applications are part of the second round of the grant process. Vermont did not fare so well during the first round, with eight of the nine proposals, including VTel's, being rejected. However, things are looking better this round, according to Christopher Campbell, assistant chief technology officer for the state and – beginning June 1 – executive director of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority.  •  "I think we gave good reason to be cautiously optimistic for our chances in the second round," Campbell said. "First, there is more money this round. They only gave out a fraction of the money during the first round. Second, the Department of Agriculture has a drop-dead deadline to make awards by September."  •  Also, Campbell said, the Department of Commerce has clarified what it is looking for in its grant proposals.  •  Regardless of the outcome of the grant awards, this has been an excellent exercise in thinking about how to really bring the state into the 21st century, Guite said.  •  "We've spent a lot of time wondering how to reach those last unserved homes," he said. "It's made us think about our own future and that's been very productive."  •