Speed Matters
August 27, 2009
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) have just released a study called “Speed Matters” – I couldn’t agree more that speed matters, but I also disagree with the namby-pamby view of what the CWA believes broadband speed should be. The website for more information is www.speedmatters.org.
Before I go on to explain why the CWA recommending that an acceptable broadband speed is 10 megabits downstream and 1 megabit upstream is not in their long term best interests. But before I go there … a trip down memory lane.
While President of Frontier Communications back in the 1990’s, I had the opportunity to interface with Local CWA 1170 – “Up the Rebel!” Anyhow, for the most part, I had good dealings with these folks. On occasion, I would spend a day with one of the techs in the service van’s going around fixing customers problems. I always thought those moving office van jobs were the best in the company. You showed up early, received your assignments, and management was now in your rear view mirror.
Customers always enjoyed when you showed up because you were there to solve a problem or initiate a service. These grassroots services people were invaluable to the company, they knew where the proverbial bear would crap in the woods and were street warriors, of sorts. The biggest gripe the van nomads had was with arbitrary job assignments by management – which I happened to agree with the CWA. A van nomad would get his or her assignments for a day and by going down the list they could tell you out of six jobs, two will take all day – if anyone new, they would. But, management measured on how many jobs got done without considering complexity as many calls were repeat situations.
A lot of repeat situations were the result of not being allowed to do the job right in the first place in order to meet measures. So, you completed your 6 jobs, but you know at least two will be showing up again in a day or two — no one was measuring repeats outside of the nomads in the vans. The groans in the garages at 6:30 am when certain addresses would pop up … again and again.
This is a family blog, but some of the stories I could tell you that the van nomads experience are varied and wide — ranging from a topless women greeting a tech at the door to allowing hookers during February cold spells in Rochester to warm up for a while in the van (sorry, no hanky panky), to discovering service fraud by cross wiring blocks to the President (yours truly), riding shot gun with a super soaker pulling up on another working nomad crew and letting them have it on a hot summers day.
Anyhow, as I said I had a good relationship with the CWA and in leading the first local market competitive carrier in the United States back in 1994, the CWA was a great conduit for being competitive. Bob Flavin, President of 1170 back then would call me occasionally and whisper sweet nothings in my ear over the phone on certain competitor’s activities or a forthcoming pissed-off customer. Many times I was able to counter or diffuse certain situations as a result.
Bob and I didn’t need a contract to know what was in the best interest of the company and its customers – we trusted each other.
Back to the speed question. If you look at the release of information, here are the top and bottom rankings by state in America:
Fastest Internet Connections
Delaware (9.9 mbps)
Rhode Island (9.8 mbps)
New Jersey (8.9 mbps)
Massachusetts (8.6 mbps)
New York (8.4 mbps)
Slowest Internet Connections
Mississippi (3.7 mbps)
South Carolina (3.6 mbps)
Arkansas (3.1 mbps)
Idaho (2.6 mbps)
Alaska (2.3 mbps)
No offense to Delaware or Rhode Island, but Ted Turner owns land bigger than your states. I am surprised you don’t have higher speeds than this!
As I have advocated in previous posts that it would be in the interests of all Americans and the CWA to have a minimum threshold of 100 megabits now and 1 gigabit services to 80% of America within a decade. My opinion, any grants or loans from the government should be predicated on achieving these parameters plus reliability standards. When you combine speeds like this with reliability standards, the most cost effective platform is fiber optics. The 20% outside the 80% is mostly rural-rural – USF-like funded satellite, 4G or WiMax capabilities for access is my proposed solution. Let’s face it folks, 50 megabits to rural-rural areas can be a good goal, a fair goal – dial-up or no service is unacceptable. Global competitiveness requires we do not fall behind further by serving the lowest common denominator such as rural-rural (i.e., FTTB — Fiber-To-The-Barn) just like what has been done in our public school systems but everywhere.
Though this is my view and world statistics supports me, I have yet to get invited to the White House for lunch to discuss my opinions on 100 megabits or the dumbing down of our public education system to serve the lowest common denominator of student.
The telephone companies are on the way to becoming “integrated telemedia” (copyright Dave Rusin) companies with one huge advantage at the moment – an in place network infrastructure wire line and wireless. However, to achieve long term cost advantage, the CWA should push for fiber connectivity while avoiding copper creep bandwidth limits to enable others to succeed. Its pure arbitrage and a fools bet in my opinion, to milk the copper under today’s regulatory environment. If you can’t get forbearance on the copper, either sell the copper to an unsuspecting third party or rip it out and replace it with fiber as soon as possible. Think about it, if some CLECs whine inside the beltway for copper access, see how fast they will line up to buy the frame and copper loops from the ILEC and its regulatory conditions – I think the hypocrisy will show itself. Let the CLEC own the facility and the van rolls … . If you don’t believe me, go ask an RLEC … I am sure they would rather pay regulated rates for copper facility use to a CLEC that thinks it’s a great money maker… van rolls are even more costly in rural areas.
Assuming Japan, South Korea, Australia, Tasmania, those crazy Portuguese and others stand still with bandwidth rates they are delivering today, at our current rate it would take America 15 years to catch-up – assuming they stand still!
I encourage the CWA to lobby for 100 megabits and reliability first, and then the dialogue on how to incent investments private and/or public can begin in earnest. In the interim, encourage ILEC management to offer up copper loops for out right sale to CLECs fighting forbearance – just sell them as is where is and subject to regulations – hell, the ILEC can be a CLECs customer on those loops since the business model is so lucrative per the CLECs. Meanwhile, the CWA can get busy installing last mile fiber access and advancing America.
Up the Rebel!
Written by Dave Rusin - Telecom Executive
Posted by wbrache | Filed Under American telecom, Dave's Corner, Forbearance, ILEC Corruption, Telecom Blogs, Telecom USA, Telecom bloggers, Telecommunications bloggers, Telecommunications industry, Telecommunications news
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