Virginia's 2011 Broadband Availability Map - Purple-Wired Service Providers/Blue-Fixed Wireless ISPs - Does not include wireless mobile coverage (click to enlarge)

The state of Virginia released its latest broadband availability map today, and it shows much of the state’s well-populated areas have access to one or more providers, but also identifies significant gaps in service for rural communities and several smaller towns.

The map is a collaborative effort between the Center for Innovative Technology, Virginia Information Technologies Agency’s Virginia Geographic Information Network, and Virginia Tech’s eCorridors Program.  It hopes to identify areas of significant gaps in coverage with the help of ordinary Virginians crowdsourcing the veracity of the data.

While mobile wireless provides service in some areas where wired providers do not, the stringent usage limits on service don’t make them very useful for home broadband replacements.  Outside of large population centers, telephone company DSL predominates.

“This new map will play a vital role in our efforts to ensure that all Virginians have access to affordable, reliable broadband services. Having the ability to identify and closely analyze unserved areas, gives us the opportunity to strategically align resources and pursue collaborative efforts between public and private organizations to expand broadband coverage across the Commonwealth,” said Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey.

A research report sponsored by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the nation’s largest cable lobbying group, has concluded that millions of broadband stimulus dollars are being wasted by the government on broadband projects that will ultimately serve people who supposedly already enjoy a panoply of broadband choice.

Navigant Economics, a “research group” that produces reports for its paying clients inside industry, government, and law firms, produced this one at the behest of a cable industry concerned that broadband stimulus funding will build competing broadband providers that could force better service and lower prices for consumers.

• More than 85 percent of households in the three project areas are already passed by existing cable broadband, DSL, and/or fixed wireless broadband providers. In one of the project areas, more than 98 percent of households are already passed by at least one of these modalities.

• In part because a large proportion of project funds are being used to provide duplicative service, the cost per incremental (unserved) household passed is extremely high. When existing mobile wireless broadband coverage is taken into account, the $231.7 million in RUS funding across the three projects will provide service to just 452 households that currently lack broadband service.

Navigant’s report tries to prove its contention by analyzing three broadband projects that seek funding from the federal government.  Northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Kansas, and southwestern Montana were selected for Navigant’s analysis, and unsurprisingly the researcher found the broadband unavailability problem overblown.

The evidence demonstrates that broadband service is already widely available in each of the three proposed service areas. Thus, a large proportion of each award goes to subsidize broadband deployment to households and regions where it is already available, and the taxpayer cost per unserved household is significantly higher than the taxpayer cost per household passed.

The cable industry funds research reports that oppose fiber broadband stimulus projects.

But Navigant’s findings take liberties with what defines appropriate broadband service in the 21st century.

First, Navigant argues that wireless mobile broadband is suitable to meet the definition of broadband service, despite the fact most rural areas face 3G broadband speeds that, in real terms, are below the current definition of “broadband” (a stable 768kbps or better — although the FCC supports redefining broadband to speeds at or above 3-4Mbps).  As any 3G user knows, cell site congestion, signal quality, and environmental factors can quickly reduce 3G speeds to less than 500kbps.  When was the last time your 3G wireless provider delivered 768kbps or better on a consistent basis?

Navigant also ignores the ongoing march by providers to establish tiny usage caps for wireless broadband.  With most declaring anything greater than 5GB “abusive use,” and some limiting use to less than half that amount, a real question can be raised about whether mobile broadband, even at future 4G speeds, can provide a suitable home broadband replacement.

Second, Navigant’s list of available providers assumes facts not necessarily in evidence.  For example, in Lake County, Minnesota, Navigant assumes DSL availability based on a formula that assumes the service will be available anywhere within a certain radius of the phone company’s central office.  But as our own readers have testified, companies like Qwest, Frontier, and AT&T do not necessarily provide DSL in every central office or within the radius Navigant assumes it should be available.  One Stop the Cap! reader in the area has fought Frontier Communications for more than a year to obtain DSL service, and he lives blocks from the local central office.  It is simply not available in his neighborhood.  AT&T customers have encountered similar problems because the company has deemed parts of its service area unprofitable to provide saturation DSL service.  While some multi-dwelling units can obtain 3Mbps DSL, individual homes nearby cannot.

Navigant never visited the impacted communities to inquire whether service was actually available.  Instead, it relied on this definition to assume availability:

DSL boundaries were estimated as follows: Based on the location of the dominant central office of each wirecenter, a 12,000 foot radius was generated. This radius was then truncated as necessary to encompass only the servicing wirecenter. The assumption that DSL is capable of serving areas within 12,000 is based on analysis conducted by the Omnibus Broadband Initiative for the National Broadband Plan.

Frontier advertises up to 10Mbps DSL in our neighborhood, but in reality can actually only offer speeds of 3.1Mbps in a suburb less than one mile from the Rochester, N.Y. city line.  In more rural areas, customers are lucky to get service at all.

Cable broadband boundaries were estimated based on information obtained from an industry factbook, which gathered provider-supplied general coverage information and extrapolated availability from that.  But, as we’ve reported on numerous occasions, provider-supplied coverage data has proven suspect.  We’ve found repeated instances when advertised service proved unavailable, especially in rural areas where individual homes do not meet the minimum density required to provide service.

We’ve argued repeatedly for independent broadband mapping that relies on actual on-the-ground data, if only to end the kind of generalizations legislators rely on regarding broadband service.  But if the cable industry can argue away the broadband problem with empty claims service is available even in places where it is not (or woefully inadequate), relying on voluntary data serves the industry well, even if it shortchanges rural consumers who are told they have broadband choices that do not actually exist.

Navigant’s report seeks to apply the brakes to broadband improvement programs that can deliver consistent coverage and 21st century broadband speeds that other carriers simply don’t provide or don’t offer throughout the proposed service areas.  The cable industry doesn’t welcome the competition, especially in areas stuck with lesser-quality service from low-rated providers.

This empty water tower in Madison, Wis. caught fire Friday as workers began painting preparations, disrupting wireless communications services on the city's west side for months. (Photo: WMTV Madison)

A water tower fire on Madison’s west side has wiped out WiMAX broadband service for at least 150 fixed wireless broadband customers, leaving them cut off for so long, provider TDS Telecom is canceling their service and assisting customers in switching providers.

A Madison utility manager said workers Friday were preparing to paint the 100,000-gallon tower in the 2700 block of Prairie Road when insulation around communications cables caught fire.  Smoke was visible from the empty water tower for miles, and several nearby homes had to be evacuated because of fears of a potential collapse.

City engineers have since deemed the tower safe, but the real impact will be several months of interrupted broadband and cell service from several area providers who depended on the tower as an antenna site.  The tower was particularly crucial to TDS Telecom, which depended on its strategic location to deliver its wireless broadband service in western Madison.  It will take several months to restore service.

“Based on our discussions with the City, we anticipate it could take a very long time to repair the damaged tower,” states DeAnne Boegli, TDS National Public Relations Manager. “Since this is the only viable tower location TDS can use to serve these homes, and because temporary solutions are not available, our customer’s best option is to select another facilities-based communications provider.”

TDS will assist all 147 impacted customers in changing their service without penalty and remove the equipment from customer homes at their request and convenience. The company is also providing the customers a month’s service credit.

“Unfortunately, this accident has left us with no reliable or timely restoration options. TDS understands communications services are critical to our customers and we want to get them transitioned as quickly as possible, even though it means they must select another provider,” said Boegli.

Affected cell phone companies are trying to establish temporary cell tower sites to improve service in the area while repairs get underway.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WMTV Madison Water Tower Fire Wipes Out WiMAX 5-14-10.flv[/flv]

WMTV-TV in Madison broke into regular programming to deliver a special report on the fire.  We’ve also included some raw video of the fire.  (11 minutes)

The 'Prince of Wales,' one of Inter-Island Ferry Authority's boats that connect the island to the mainland (Courtesy: Inter-Island Ferry Authority)

Providing broadband to 6,000 residents of Prince Wales Island, located along the western strip of Alaska that borders on British Columbia, Canada is the ultimate challenge.  Parts of the island don’t even have access to traditional landline phone service, relying instead on fixed wireless service.

Residents have complained loudly about the poor quality of phone service on the island for years, particularly when it is provided to the 1,000 residents of Klawock, Craig, and several adjacent communities served by Alaska Communications Systems (ACS).  Ten percent of ACS customers are stuck with fixed wireless, which guarantees no Internet access, and sub-standard phone service.  What perturbs many of them is the fact another phone company’s landlines are within the sight of their homes and communities, but they can’t get service from that company.  Those lines are owned by ACS competitor Alaska Power & Telephone (AP&T), an employee owned utility that serves many areas ACS doesn’t.

Friends and neighbors served by AP&T are happy with their telephone service.  Residents served by ACS are not.

The Alaska Dispatch tells the story:

Every three months Ron Fitch drives five miles down a state highway so he can use a friend’s telephone to monitor his pacemaker.

Fitch, who lives on Price of Wales Island, has a phone at home, but he gets his service via fixed wireless, which is similar to a cell phone signal but is routed through a box mounted in the house. Since you can’t recalibrate a pacemaker over a wireless signal, Fitch makes the drive four times a year.

“Times have changed, and it doesn’t seem right that we can’t get Internet or a fax or anything over our phones,” said Eric Packer, a builder who lives outside Klawock. “It’s like living in the dark ages.”

ACS customers on the island have been complaining about their phone service for years, and for some the frustration is sharpened by the view of lines — owned by ACS competitor Alaska Power and Telephone — running near their homes. Two years ago the Regulatory Commission of Alaska opened an investigation into ACS service on the island, citing numerous customer complaints and a request from Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

With all of the negative press focused on ACS, the company relented, telling the Regulatory Commission it will offer to connect those fixed wireless customers to landline service, but will only pay for up to 1,000 feet of wiring between the nearest ACS junction box and the customer’s home.  ACS will bill customers the balance of costs beyond 1,000 feet if a customer insists on landline service.

ACS is a major recipient of universal service funds which subsidizes phone service in rural areas to keep it affordable.  ACS receives about $4 million a year.  ACS fixed wireless customers on the island pay about $26 a month.

ACS customers perennially without broadband have complained to the Regulatory Commission, according to the Dispatch, suggesting it hurts the island’s economic development.  Some customers have managed to switch to cell phone service and dropped landline/fixed wireless service, and a select few are trying to rely on satellite Internet service, which customers characterize as expensive and slow.

Pricing for landline DSL service from either ACS or AP&T is itself slow and expensive, and AP&T service is usage limited:

ACS promotes the fact their service is unlimited.  Includes local and long distance telephone service.  One year contract term required.  Pricing may be higher in rural areas not specified on the ACS website.

The 1Mbps service tier is currently available in select areas dependent upon local infrastructure.  Each additional gigabyte of usage is pro-rated at $5.00/GB.  AP&T provides wireless broadband in selected rural areas.