This is an update to an article originally published in the January
2004 Skylines.
You may recall we surveyed SSA membership for interest in broadband internet access for
the SSA area. We received nearly 170
responses. Roughly 50% of the respondents
were looking for broadband for between $40 and $60 per month, and another 35% were willing
to pay between $60 and $80 per month. The
remaining 15% were not price sensitive.
We then started talking to several broadband service providers in the
area. To make a long story short, there are
now four technologies available today that are viable: satellite,
DSL, cable modem, and fixed
wireless. There are some other
technologies that might be available in another one to five years that we did not
consider.
Satellite can work for many people, but it has several drawbacks.
First, it is not inexpensive; the monthly costs are typically $80 per month or
higher, plus the initial equipment installation typically costs upwards of $650.
Satellite also suffers from high latency (the time it takes for the signal to
travel back and forth to a satellite orbiting at 23,000 miles).
Satellite also seems to “drop out” during periods of high moisture, and lastly,
the speed is not quite up to DSL speeds. Finally, satellite does not yet support VPN,
a requirement for telecommuting.
[up to intro]
DSL is a good choice if your telephone company's local facilities and the wiring to
your house will support it. It is generally required that you have no more than
17,000 feet of cable between your phone and the telephone company's central office
(CO). DSL can operate at speeds that are comparable to cable modem, but the distance
between you and the CO, and the condition of the phone line can severely impact the actual
speed you get.
DSL is now available to residents in the Las Cumbres & Oak Ridge
Road area. Verizon serves this area, and
starting in December 2003, they decided to make the infrastructure upgrades to make this
service available in this area. Unfortunately,
this is only a tiny fraction of the SSA area, and it does not help anyone living more than
a couple of miles from Las Cumbres. Verizon
is charging around $35 per month for this service.
We received reports in late January 2004 that SBC will be upgrading
the CO in La Honda to support DSL for that area. We do not have any additional
information at this time.
We have tried to get SBC interested in doing similar upgrades to
other areas of SSA. Unfortunately, they have
been unwilling to make the necessary upgrades. It
is not unreasonable to expect that SBC will not invest in the necessary upgrades in our
lifetimes.
[up to intro]
Cable modem is often one of the fastest broadband choices available. The cable
companies tend to have less than stellar reputations, but when the cable modem works, it
is often very good. Prices for a cable modem alone can be about $45 to $55 per
month, but will usually be lower if the broadband service is bundled with cable TV.
In late January 2004, we heard that Comcast is upgrading the cable system serving the
Skylonda area. The rumor is that the system will be able to provide cable modem
broadband beginning in February or March 2004. We do not have any additional
information at this time.
[up to intro]
The remaining choice is fixed wireless.
The advantage of fixed wireless is that the infrastructure is low cost, and that it
can be deployed almost anywhere relatively quickly. There are now five fixed wireless venders that
could or do serve our area:
-
Bull Pen Wireless (website)
- Etheric (website)
- Gatespeed Internet (website)
- Hilltop Internet (website)
- Skyline Broadband Service (website)
[up to intro]
Bull Pen Wireless does not
have an access point in the Skyline area at this time. It
is unclear that they would be willing to deploy in our area unless we could provide them a
list of 30+ users in a given area. Reviewing
the locations of all the survey respondents, that might work in a couple of areas, but
would leave large areas of SSA without service. If
Bull Pen could deploy their service in our area, they would charge an initial setup fee of
$299, and $59/month for the 256Kbps service. They
also offer higher bandwidth options of 512Kbps and 1Mbps for $99/month and $199/month
respectively. This is marginally within our
search criteria for their low speed service. It
should be noted that the 256Kbps service is on the low end of DSL speeds.
Etheric has an access point in the
La Honda area. They make impressive claims of very high bandwidth, but they look fairly
expensive for residential users. They might be a very good choice for a commercial
user. Installation is $599 to $699 for equipment plus an installation charge of at
least $99. Their most basic plan (1 Mbps symmetrical) starts at $99 per month.
They have several other plans upward from that.
Gatespeed has an access point on Black Mountain already, but has a
mixed record for service. Also, we have learned that their access point is directed
toward the valley (not Skyline). They are also on
the expensive side ($99/month), for relatively low bandwidth (256Kbps).
You can upgrade to 512Kbps bandwidth or 1Mbps with prices of $199/month and
$299/month respectively. Initial equipment
cost is $399. The price structure for
Gatespeed is well outside of our search criteria.
Hilltop now has an access
point that is serving some of the residents in the Heather Heights area. They are operated by
people living on highway 9. Their initial
setup fee is $395, which is moderate. Their
monthly service fee is $49.95, which is in the middle of our search criteria.
The bandwidth they promise is 1 Mbps download and 230 Kbps upload. They are willing to deploy if we can present clusters of 4 or more users.
Skyline Broadband Service
installed three access points on Black Mountain. From these access points,
they can serve anyone with line-of-site to Black Mountain from approximately
Heather Heights all the way to Fogarty Winery. They have also added new access
points on nearby ridges and can now reach many portions of Portola Heights and Alpine
Road. They are operated by
people living on Skyline Blvd. Their initial
setup fee is $300 and their
monthly service fee is $49.00, which is in the middle of our search criteria.
The bandwidth they promise is 1 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. They are willing to deploy
new access points if we can present clusters of 4 or more users.
