Indianola, Iowa has relied on community-owned and non-profit Indianola Municipal Utilities (IMU) to deliver gas and electric service to the community of 15,000 for more than 100 years. Now customers in south-central Iowa will soon be able to purchase broadband service from the utility as it prepares to open its fiber-to-the-home network to residential customers.

Partnering with Mahaska Communication Group (MCG), IMU will be in the triple-play business of phone, broadband, and cable television by October.

Iowa’s public broadband network has served institutional and large commercial users since being installed in the late 1990s. But residential services were not available until recently.

Wholesale service comes primarily from Iowa Network Services via a SONET protected fiber optic ring, with redundant access going from and to Indianola. Multiple direct connections to Tier 1 backbone providers also ensure reliability and speed.

MCG intends to compete against cable providers like Mediacom and phone companies that include CenturyLink and Frontier Communications. MCG will market three broadband services in Indianola:

• 25/25Mbps – Available for as little as $5/month when bundled with a triple-play package including phone and television service;
• 50/50Mbps – Targeting homes with multiple users.  Download a 2 GB movie file in 1 minute;
• 100/100Mbps – For multiple users with high bandwidth demands and business customers. Download a 2 GB file in 30 seconds.

The triple play package, including 25/25Mbps broadband, TV and phone service will sell for $99.95 a month. That is the ongoing rate, not an introductory teaser that expires after 6-12 months. Standalone broadband customers can purchase 25/25Mbps for $39.95 a month. Upgrading broadband speed will be fast and affordable: $5 a month extra for 50/50Mbps service, $10 a month more for 100/100Mbps service.

Mediacom charges considerably more for its broadband service, which has vastly slower upstream speeds and usage caps. CenturyLink locally provides 1-3Mbps DSL service for many customers in the area.

MCG promotes its forthcoming service as a vast improvement over what phone and cable companies sell locally:

• The network is locally owned and operated and their employees live and work in the region. MCG does not use offshore call centers for customer support;
• MCG has no contracts, term commitments, or early cancellation penalty fees;
• No usage limits or speed throttles — and the speeds are fast in both directions;
• No introductory prices that leave customers with a higher bill after 6-12 months.

The municipal utility says it welcomed other Internet Service Providers, including CenturyLink and Mediacom, to sell services over their public fiber network. Neither provider has shown any interest.

[flv width=”640″ height=”450″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Indianola Iowa Fiber 3-29-10.flv[/flv]

Introducing Indianola, Iowa and its new community-owned fiber to the home network, an important upgrade for a community 15 miles from Des Moines. (4 minutes)

America’s worst-rated cable company is facing an apparent customer backlash on two fronts — its introduction of usage caps and at least one disgruntled unidentified citizen who mailed Mediacom a white powdery substance that forced a temporary closure of one hospital and left two Mediacom employees and two Washington County, N.C. sheriff’s deputies quarantined Wednesday.

Deputies launched an investigation after Mediacom employees handled and opened a plain envelope that was found to contain an unknown substance. Employees unintentionally exposed two sheriff’s deputies to the material after they responded to the incident. As a precaution, Mediacom’s Plymouth office was evacuated and both employees and police were decontaminated in an area hospital also placed on lockdown.

All are reportedly doing fine and the unknown substance was sent to Raleigh for further examination. Authorities won’t release further details about the envelope or its contents as the investigation is ongoing, but did say the substance turned out not to be harmful.

Earlier this month the cable company announced it was introducing variable usage caps for customers who either add or change broadband services after August 1. Current customers will be grandfathered under Mediacom’s informally uncapped usage plans, but cannot make changes to their packages without choosing one of several new usage-limited plans. (Thanks to Stop the Cap! reader Curt for sending along the details.)

The caps range from 150GB for Mediacom’s lightest-use plan Launch, which offers 3Mbps downstream, 250GB for the popular 15/1Mbps Prime plan, to 999GB for the company’s 50/5 Ultra and 105/10Mbps Ultra Plus plans.

A Mediacom representative explained the company’s reasons for the usage caps:

“We’ve implemented the usage allowances to ensure we can deliver on our promise of Always Faster Internet,” said “Chad” — from Mediacom Social Media Relations in Gulf Breeze, Fla. “In reality, only 2% of our users exceed our usage allowances. This 2% can use over 19 times what the average household would use, and this can dramatically impact the service you experience in your home. It could cause us to raise our rates for everyone, just to accommodate the excessive use of a few.”

Unfortunately, not every Mediacom customer currently has access to a company-developed usage measurement tool. If a customer exceeds their limit, Mediacom will charge a flat $10 for every 50GB segment over that amount.

Mediacom’s need to implement usage caps is open to debate, however.

The company’s latest 10-Q report filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, Mediacom admits it has already increased rates for its broadband customers – heavy users and otherwise. At the same time, Mediacom admits its costs to operate its broadband service have dropped 18.7%, principally due to lower connectivity costs.

In fact, the largest costs Mediacom faced included:

• Field operating costs, which grew 13.7% as the company increasingly relies on outside, third-party contractors;
• Marketing costs increased 13.8% to pay for the company’s rebranding, junk mail marketing, and advertising;
• Employee costs increased 23.5%, primarily to beef up its marketing and direct sales to potential business customers.

Nothing in Mediacom’s required declarations to the SEC show any impact by so-called “heavy users” on its broadband service costs or revenues. If they represented any potential threat to the company’s value to investors, disclosure as a “risk factor” is required by law.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WNCT Jacksonville Investigation continues following Mediacom Powder 8-8-12.flv[/flv]

WNCT in Jacksonville, N.C. covers a potential anthrax scare when an unidentified person mailed a plain envelope to Mediacom in Plymouth containing a white, powdery substance.  (2 minutes)

The CWA’s Verizon-Cable Company Deal Monster

While Verizon customers in more than two dozen towns and communities around Boston can enjoy fiber optic broadband service today, residents inside the city of Boston cannot buy the service at any price. It is largely the same story in Syracuse, Buffalo, and Albany, N.Y., and Baltimore, Md.

With Verizon’s fiber network FiOS indefinitely stalled, local community leaders and union workers are more than a little concerned that Verizon is spending time, money and attention promoting a deal with the cable industry — its biggest competitor.

The Communications Workers of America is stepping up its protest of a proposed deal between Verizon’s wireless division and large cable operators including Comcast and Time Warner Cable that would result in cross-marketing agreements that sell cable service to Verizon Wireless customers and wireless service to cable customers.

The union is urging the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission to stop the deal because, in their view, it will destroy any further expansion of fiber optic-based FiOS, reduce competition, and raise prices for consumers.

The union notes that cable operators are not being asked to promote Verizon’s FiOS network, only Verizon Wireless’ phone services. Verizon Wireless, which barely mentions FiOS service in many of its wireless stores, would suddenly be promoting Comcast and Time Warner Cable instead.

The odd-network-out is clearly Verizon’s fiber optic FiOS service, which was originally envisioned as a competitor against dominant cable operators. But when the economy tanked, Verizon stalled fiber deployment, agreeing only to wire areas where the company already concluded negotiations with local officials. That leaves urban population centers in the northeast (except New York City) stuck with the cable company or Verizon’s DSL service, which has been become increasingly difficult to buy.

Verizon countered the deal would be good for consumers, especially those buying cable packages.

“We believe these agreements will enhance competition, allowing Verizon Wireless to take market shares from other wireless companies, while allowing cable companies to more vigorously compete by enabling them to offer wireless services as part of a triple or quad-play package of services,” the company said in a statement.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CWA TV Ad Behind Closed Doors.flv[/flv]

The Communications Workers of America launched this new ad — “Behind Closed Doors” — last week in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania media markets. (1 minute)

But union workers in FiOS-bypassed communities like Binghamton, N.Y. suggest customers will simply be on the short end of Verizon’s stick. They note the nearest city where Verizon is deploying fiber optics is suburban Syracuse — more than 70 miles to the north.

BALTIMORE: Left behind as FiOS spreads to six surrounding counties

BOSTON: No Internet revolution

ALBANY: The Empire State’s capital city has no FiOS

BUFFALO: Hit hard by the digital divide

SYRACUSE: Surrounded by high speed—but none for the city

[flv width=”580″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WBNG Binghamton Union Fights Verizon Deal 8-8-12.mp4[/flv]

WBNG reported on a CWA-sponsored protest against Verizon’s deal with cable companies in FiOS-deprived Binghamton, N.Y.  (1 minute)

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WCPO Cincinnati Video Charging phone on the go might be risky 8-9-12.mp4[/flv]

If you use a public cell phone charging station, your data could be at risk, warn security experts. A new breed of hackers are modifying the charging outlets found in airports, phone booths, and other public venues to capture your phone’s data while you charge. WCPO in Cincinnati shows you how it can be done.  (2 minutes)

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bloomberg Roku CEO Gives His Insight into the Future of TV Video 8-7-12.flv[/flv]

Anthony Wood, the chief executive officer of Roku Inc., talks with Bloomberg TV about the changing television industry. (4 minutes)