Let’s look at the [...]]]>

Google (www.google.com) says they’re going to invest in an “experimental” gigabit to the home network for anywhere between 50,000 to 500,000 subscribers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the same Google that said they were going to bid on 700 MHz wireless spectrum a couple of years ago?

Let’s look at the details on this vague and puffy blog piece–

1) Google says they’re going to have a “small number’ of trial locations across the U.S.

2) It plans to offer service at a “competitive price” to “at least” 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people – that’s a factor of TEN variance.

3) It’s all an experiment to generate next gen apps, new ways to build fiber networks, and how to teach the grubby phone companies a better way to do business

OK, I’m making up the last part, but seriously, it’s getting rights-of-way and digging ditches.  Verizon and others have figured out how to put down fiber to the curb and to the home, so how is Google going to “learn something new” here?

4) It will supposedly be an “open access” network to give users the choice of multiple service providers and be managed in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

5) Here’s the kicker for me: “We’re putting out a request for information (RFI) to help identify interested communities. We welcome responses from local government, as well as members of the public.”

Add on that The Goog hasn’t said how much MONEY (cash) it will invest in this “experiment” and you get a verrrrry interesting fishing expedition.

Let me speculate how this goes–

1) The Goog will “select” townships offering free rights-of-way and potentially some of that FCC broadband build out cash.   Anyone expecting Google to actually p-a-y for right-of-way is probably out of luck.

2) Looking to 1), I would expect a rural build out or two or three.   And a lot of splash, waiving of the American Flag, big speech, marching bands, etc.

3) Fat chance on an urban build out with the potential exception of one place – San Francisco.  Comcast is the dominant home broadband provider and AT&T just hasn’t gotten its act together to deploy higher speed service beyond hyped-up DSL.

I could see Google playing some Jedi mind tricks in/on one of the San Fran municipalities — “This is the broadband you’ve been looking for…” and try to shake AT&T out of its penny-wise/pound-foolish lethargic approach to home service.

Will this play work to shame providers into more/better/faster speeds? Verizon should feel pretty secure with FiOS and AT&T just doesn’t care.

FYI for the techies out there – later deployments of Verizon FiOS (like those going into my neighborhood) use GPON (Gigabit Ethernet PON) technology, so if Verizon wants to pull a media stunt to counter Google’s hype, it could (in theory) offer Gigabit speeds to the home in newer deployments overnight

Of course, GigE to the house translates to what you put on the backend network and doesn’t THAT make for some interesting network discussions?

The speed is made possible by Comcast’s rollout of [...]]]>

Comcast has announced the launch of 100 Mbps high-speed Internet services for businesses in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  The asymmetric service (100 Mbps down/15 Mbps up) also includes a bundle of business applications including Microsoft Communication Service, anti-virus software.  And it’s all available at $370 per month..

The speed is made possible by Comcast’s rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 service while the Microsoft Communications Services bundle includes Windows SharePoint and Microsoft Outlook using Microsoft Exchange Server.  Anti-virus software is McAfee’s and covers up to 25 PCs.

Can’t wait to see this service turn up in Philly and watch the sparks fly between Comcast and Verizon .  Also be interesting to see when Comcast tosses a hosted VoIP bundle (preferably HD) into the mix to really make things interesting for telcos.

Democratic Senators seemed to be more on point to delivery lectures more [...]]]>

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman nominee Julius Genachowski got the typical Capital Hill posturing lectures today at his confirmation hearing, but appears to be on track to be confirmed with Senate Commerce Committee leadership homing for a confirmation vote before July 4.

Democratic Senators seemed to be more on point to delivery lectures more appropriate for former Chairman Kevin Martin.  “”Fix the agency or we will fix it for you,”  said Senator John Rockefeller ( D-W.Va.), “Prove to us that the FCC is not battered beyond repair.”  Senator Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.) also chimed in with “It seems to me that you will lead a rather unhealthy agency. We’ve been through a period of substantial secrecy.”

For his part, Genachowski stuck to happy script sound bites, such as telling Rockefeller “The FCC should be a model for transparency, openness and fairness” and saying he would bring  “common sense” to government rule-making and that the FCC can serve as a model for  “excellence in government” through “open, fair and data-driven processes.” (The ghost of Kevin Martin wasn’t known for open processes).

Robert McDowell also appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday for his confirmation hearing. McDowell is the Republican “bundled” into this set of hearings and is up for his second term as a FCC Commissioner.  McDowell is known as a free-market guy, but has demonstrated a more collegial approach to working out issues than Martin.

Source: Wall Street Journal carrying Dow Jones report.

1)       Jeff Pulver can still pull over 100 of the “right people”  to an event just after InterOp and just before the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

2)       The baseline for a PSTN/POTS phone [...]]]>

If you don’t feel like plowing through all of the HD Communications Summit pieces, here’s a recap of what went on.

1)       Jeff Pulver can still pull over 100 of the “right people”  to an event just after InterOp and just before the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

2)       The baseline for a PSTN/POTS phone call hasn’t changed since 1937 or so – unlike everything else in the modern world.

3)       Pulver plans an FCC petition this fall to upgrade PSTN to HD;  digital TV provides a case justification to move to a new technology.

4)       Frequency range for a PSTN call is 300-3000 Hz

5)       AudioCodes Google Search on “HD Voice/VoIP” – Past 10 years, 190,000 hits. Past 12 months, 82,000 hits, so the trend line is going up and to the right.

6)       Depending on who’s talking, HD audio would use a range between 100-7000 Hz. Diminishing returns after 7000 Hz delivery.

7)       The tighter PSTN clips consonants.

8)       FM radio sounds better than a PSTN call.

9)       HD Connect is the working name of the HD Communications trade association Pulver is starting because a) Polycomm has a trademark on HD Voice and b) AudioCodes has a trademark on HD VoIP

10)    Everyone wants a “HD Connect” logo to put on their boxes

11)    When HD voice (generic) happens [in North America], it will happen really really fast, predicts everyone.

12)    But right now, [North American] service providers are on the fence waiting to see who jumps first.

13)    Nobody can agree on a single HD codec, but most agree we need fewer codecs and there seems to be sufficient codecs out there

14)    More codecs = more part cost, more support costs, so the fewer, the better

15)    Ain’t no such thing as a “free” codec. Support costs and potential indemnification issues lurk.

16)    Wireless and wireline will likely use different codecs because the cellular carriers need to get the most out of their leased spectrum (i.e. spectral efficiency)

17)    Transcoding will be necessary to move between HD codecs; AudioCodes is happy.

18)    North American cable companies are getting ready for HD, but until the business case is clear (i.e. “Show me the money”), they aren’t in any rush.

19)    Cable may have a leg up by locking in DECT CAT-iq as a standard so service providers can provide an end-to-end experience without transcoding or other tweaking.

20)    The Europeans are ahead of us (again).  BT, France Telecom, T-Mobile are all deploying HD today in their respective territories.

21)    France Telecom expects to be able to exchange HD voice calls with other carriers by the end of the year.

22)    Enterprises are likely to be the earliest adopters of HD. They control their own infrastructure, are deploying VoIP, HD gets rolled out as “just another app” onto the existing infrastructure.

23)    Avaya has incorporated wideband codecs in all of its phones; Polycom is adding wideband codecs to all of its phones.

24)    HD is a “killer app” when it comes to talking to a non-native language speaker and you can’t understand his/her accent.  The broader range means you can understand what someone is saying rather than having to work at interpreting (i.e. filling in the blanks) as to what they are really saying.

25)    HD on cell phones is happening – in Europe.  France Telecom is (once again) leading the way with mobile HD.

26)    Truphone says it is working with HD in the lab and is ready to roll when the time is right.

27)    Qualcomm has done demos/field trials of HD on cellular.

28)    In the trials, Qualcomm used the Swiss-army-knife of IP telephony – Digium’s Asterisk – to transcode between its 4GV-WB codec and G.722.

29)    Qualcomm is still trying to fight the EVDO/LTE battle.

Earlier pieces on the HD Communications Summit

HD Communications Summit: Pulver announces HD marketing association, FCC petition, fall event

HD Communications Summit: Codec convergence, “HD” logo take center stage

HD Communications Summit: Cable bides its time

HD Communications Summit: Islands of HD, trending upward

HD Communications Summit: HD Cellular is happening

HD Communications Summit: Analysis – Will international needs bootstrap HD voice?

Presentations at the HD Communications Summit – pictures

HD Communications Summit – A PR/marketing view

The transaction is expected to return around $8.6 billion to Verizon and its shareholders as Verizon continues to “transform its growth profile” (i.e. shed parts of its business that aren’t making money [...]]]>

Verizon is selling off its wireline operations in predominantly rural areas across 14 states to Frontier.  Ba-be, we can hear you now…

The transaction is expected to return around $8.6 billion to Verizon and its shareholders as Verizon continues to “transform its growth profile” (i.e. shed parts of its business that aren’t making money so fast) and focus on wireless, FiOS, and global IP networks. As CEO Ivan Seidenberg pointed out in Verizon’s press release, ” All of Verizon’s remaining local landline operations have high concentrations of FiOS in more densely populated markets.  We believe our focus on reshaping our asset base will drive higher growth over time and improve long-term returns.”

As a part of the deal, the company is transferring over around 110,000 FiOS Internet customers and 69,000 FiOS TV customers, so it will be interesting to see how the numbers are juggled for FiOS growth moving forward.  Assets transferring over to Frontier include Verizon’s switched and special access lines in the affected areas, as well as its Internet service and long-distance voice accounts.  Also included are fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) assets (i.e. FiOS) deployed by Verizon in 41 local franchises and the state of Indiana, which pass approximately 600,000 homes and small businesses.  Frontier will continue to provide video services in these areas after the completion of the merger.

NOT included in the deal are anything involving Verizon Wireless, Verizon Business, Verizon Federal or anything that says Business in the title.  Verizon Business will purchase local services from Frontier in order to serve existing customers.

Approximately 11,000 Verizon company employees  are being transferred over and are expected to continue to be with Frontier after the merger.  Verizon is touting Frontier as a reliable partner (gotta sell the deal to the shareholders, since they’re getting Frontier stock) that has successfully acquired, operated, and invested rural telecom propers, including landline assets purchased from Verizon between ’93 and 2000.  Operations Frontier is getting from Verizon include all of Verizon’s local wireline operating territories in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin annnnd a small number of Verizon’s exchanges in California, including those bordering Arizona, Nevada and Oregon.

Cox DOCSIS 3.0 high-speed cable service delivers – but will your home gear?

Some quick and dirty pictures of what I’m using to trial/beta Cox’s 50/5 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem service.

Test configuration - Linksys WRT310N router and Cisco DPC3000 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem