It's a mix of miracles, talent, and deparation. Usually when the state government gets involved, Fairpoint (or whoever owns the phone company this week) manages to use their role in government to screw things up good. It's a miracle that didn't happen succesfully.
The backers AND planners are talented folks. Biddeford is the oldest Internet provider in the state (about a year older than us), and has worked with all the Internet providers (including us and competitors) and the university for planning/designing it properly from the ground up. The planners here are the talent. We all firmly believe the economics and expansion of Internet will be better with this than without. As far as I know this project has been planned exclusively by small clecs, ISPs, and the university. Maine (and NH and VT) has a bankrupt phone company that has been shafting everyone for more than a decade. Prior to that, we were just a backwoods place where hand-me-down telco gear was installed when it wasn't good enough for Boston. It's the Internet supercowpath. The major ubiquitous fiber owners in Maine are the cable companies (which were recently bankrupt) and they don't have to share their fiber because of Brand-X, and they can't run fiber places they dont have franchise agreements for, since they'd have to cover the whole town. And then there is Fairpoint. Verizon skipped town with a 2+ billion dollars sellout and we got a debt ridden replacement with the same people, same plant, and different name. Fairpoint has fought at every level of government as a Bell to not have to provide wholesale access of anything whenever possible. Fairpoint has also been in big lawsuits preventing other companies from deploying fiber (see fairpoint/verizon versus oxford networks.) Thus, the only wide spread fiber is stuff bought with the blood of lawyers before wholesale agreements were nullified. Without wholesale access, prices are really such Fairpoint doesn't want to sell it, like thousands a month for just a local loop. Many people either want redundancy from fairpoint (a fair business need), or are looking to drop fairpoint like a lead balloon. There are also many places where fairpoint does not go, regardless of the price. Consumers can have a choice by porting to a cell phone or voip, but ISPs and large institutions haven't had any options for redundancy or a future when it comes to a better Internet middle mile. For the first time ever, people are starting to realize a duopoly isn't sufficient or ideal, especially when the Bell doesn't have the money to deploy end user DSL on schedule. On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 02:24:08PM -0500, Robert West wrote: > So how did it get through? :) > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Josh Cheney > Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 2:17 PM > To: WISPA General List > Subject: Re: [WISPA] stimulus announcements thus far > > Speaking as someone from Maine, and who knows a bit about what that plan > entails, it is an excellent project. > > On 12/17/09 2:10 PM, Robert West wrote: > > On the outside, that all sounds like reasonable choices and towards the > > actual goal. > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of Matt Liotta > > Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 1:41 PM > > To: WISPA General List > > Subject: [WISPA] stimulus announcements thus far > > > > A $33.5 million grant to the North Georgia Network Cooperative for a > > fiber-optic ring that will bring high-speed Internet connections to > > the northern Georgia foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The > > project will serve an eight-county area with a population of 334,000. > > > > A $25.4 million grant to the Biddleford Internet Corp., a partnership > > between the University of Maine and service providers, to build three > > fiber-optic rings across rural Maine. The network will pass through > > more than 100 communities with 110,000 households and will connect 10 > > University of Maine campuses. > > > > A combined grant/loan of $2.4 million to the Consolidated Electric > > Cooperative in north central Ohio to build a 166-mile fiber network > > that will be used, among other things, to connect 16 electrical > > substations to support a smart grid project. > > > > A 4G wireless network to be built by an Alaska Native Corporation in > > southwestern Alaska, a fiber-to-the-home project in a remote corner of > > New Hampshire and computer centers for 84 libraries in Arizona. > > > > -Matt > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ---- > > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > > http://signup.wispa.org/ > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ---- > > > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- > > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > > http://signup.wispa.org/ > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- > > > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > -- > Josh Cheney > [email protected] > http://www.joshcheney.com > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- /* Jason Philbrook | Midcoast Internet Solutions - Wireless and DSL KB1IOJ | Broadband Internet Access, Dialup, and Hosting http://f64.nu/ | for Midcoast Maine http://www.midcoast.com/ */ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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