More Ideas regarding Community Fiber Projects

I spent some time today talking with Randy Sorenson, RSA Corp., about fiber optics and community networks. Randy has a background in installing fiber plant. He has worked with cities and long-haul carriers. He indicated that Kaysville and Fruit Heights are among his municipal customers. He also worked for ELI at one time.

Randy is currently working on a project to bring a hybrid of fiber and wireless connections to some communities in Utah County. I spent time picking his brain about a few areas that are interesting to me. Following is a summary of our discussion.

On Utopia: Good ideas that are probably too ambitious and unfocused.

On Fiber Builds: Until recenly the cost of underground fiber builds had been around $75.00/foot. RSA is currently working with a micro-trenching technology. This is where a shallow trench is dug into the road asphault and the fiber is laid in that trench. Then the trench is sealed. This is very cool technology. No breaking of the road base and the fiber can be placed at the rate of about a mile per day.

A special fiber is used in the micro-trenching process. Randy says that you could throw this fiber on the ground and run over it with a truck. There would be no damage.

Micro-trenching costs anywhere from $13.00/foot to $9.00/foot. The determining factor is the scope of the project. A couple of miles seems on the low end. Anywhere over 10 miles will get you down to the lowest per mile cost.

Aerial fiber costs are down around $5.00/foot at the low end. Randy indicated that aerial fiber has been proven to be more reliable than underground fiber. No real reason was given. But aerial does seem to be a very good option.

On Community Networks: A combination of fiber and wireless should be used to bring high speed Internet access to existing communities. It's too ambitious to attempt fiber to all homes and business right away. Wireless tied to a fiber ring gives communities and vendors an opportunity to generate cash flow and establish a presence.

Any new developments should at least require a conduit reserved for fiber at every new home and business. Many municipalities are contemplating statutes to require this action by contractors and developers.

On Wireless Vendors: Cisco is Randy's vendor-of-choice for wireless. However, the base stations must be modified. With RSA's modifications the base stations can transmit effectively up to 3500 feet. The combination of tying base stations into a fiber ring enables high speed access at reasonable prices.

On Security: The wireless equipment is much more secure today than it was just a year ago. Randy employs two technicians to spend there time attempting to hack into his system. He is very serious about securing his network.

On Future Initiatives: Wireless won't solve the first mile problem in the long run. Fiber should be installed to every home. This can be done a little bit at a time.

On Future Impediments: Fiber costs are coming down. The real problems are in the costs of the electronics at the ends of the fiber. A typical cost for the box at the home would be between $900 and $1200. These costs should come down in the next few years. Until then it is the major stumbling block.

On the Future of fiber: There isn't much pressure to retrofit old glass. Yes, there is new fiber out there and yes the glass is much more pure. But the real technology advancements are in the lasers. Old lasers were effective for about 42 miles. After that you could upgrade to the long range lasers and that would take you to about 57 miles. Now the new lasers can carry up to 1000 miles. And do this on the old fiber.

On supporting a community network: I've thought about and advocated outsourcing network support. This is based on my belief that large companies and even private individuals would not put up with rookie mistakes and unjustified outages. The only way to insure a quality network is if a qualified support organization runs the network. Randy thinks that outsourcing would double the cost of network support and jeopardize the viability of the project. I need to rethink my position.

I enjoyed my conversation with Randy. In the near future I hope to get him to talk to the Farmington City Council. I'll let you know how that goes. Meanwhile, you can reach Randy at 801.768.2199.

That's all for now............
9:30:29 PM    comment []