Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Op-Ed in my Home Town Paper
Time For A Falmouth Internet
By David S. Isenberg
[This article appeared in today's issue of The Falmouth (Massachusetts) Enterprise as an Op-Ed, on p. 4. It's available to subscribers as a .pdf -- David I]
Falmouth can’t trust its Internet providers anymore. Two weeks ago, the Associated Press caught Comcast covertly blocking file exchange among peer-to-peer programs such as BitTorrent, Gnutella, and Lotus Notes. Comcast does this by injecting reset messages into Internet file exchange sessions. Reset messages tell one computer in an Internet file exchange that the other computer wants to end the exchange. Comcast’s reset messages are injected in the middle of the connection to fool both ends. The result is unsuccessful file transfer. There are no reports that Comcast’s Falmouth customers are affected yet, but Comcast has not renounced the practice, so it’s only a matter of time.
Until 2005, Comcast couldn’t legally interfere with our Internet activities, but a series of FCC and court decisions now makes it perfectly legal for Comcast, Verizon, and other Internet access providers to decide what our Internet connection can and can’t do. Congress is debating Network Neutrality legislation that would return control of our Internet connection to us. (When a Network Neutrality bill came before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2006, Representative William D. Delahunt was the only Democrat there who didn’t vote “Yes.” He voted “Present.”) So far, Network Neutrality remains an actively debated proposal.
Comcast’s predecessor, Adelphia, defied its agreement with Falmouth to offer advanced services. Then it failed to pay Falmouth’s penalty fees when Adelphia’s chairman and its CFO, father and son, stole the profits and drove Adelphia into bankruptcy. Now John and Tim Rigas are in federal prison.
Verizon is the other Internet access provider in town. A few weeks ago Verizon blocked an abortion rights group’s access to mobile messaging services. It unblocked it after public outcry, but its Internet terms of service assert that if your Internet activity “is objectionable for any reason,” Verizon, “in its sole discretion,” can terminate your service. Until Network Neutrality is restored to US law, it is only a matter of time before Verizon is deciding what we can and can’t do as a Verizon Internet customer.
Woods Hole scientists have another reason to distrust Verizon. On Thursday, October 12, 2006, at 2:30 PM, Verizon cut off services to Global NAPS, which provides Internet access to the six Woods Hole scientific institutions, as the result of a long-simmering business dispute. Woods Hole’s Internet went dead. Scientists around the world were unable to access critical databases at the MBL/WHOI library. Hundreds of underwater robots surfaced to send their data to Woods Hole and could not; irreplaceable data was lost forever. Frantic calls to Verizon hit a brick wall of lawyers and unavailable vice presidents. Woods Hole’s Internet was restored late Saturday after a 53.5 hour outage.
Clearly, the giant telephone and cable companies can’t be trusted where the interests of Falmouth citizens are at stake. Fortunately, it is becoming easier for citizens to own their own network. Just as computers have become friendlier and easier to use as they’ve become more powerful, so have networks. Networks are much cheaper to build and operate than roads, sewers and water pipes. Hundreds of US towns and cities, such as Lafayette, Louisiana, and Clarksville, Tennessee, are building municipal networks. A Falmouth Internet could ride the same technology curve as, e.g., Hong Kong, where a 100-megabit connection costs about $49, about the same as Verizon’s 5-megabit connection here. In Paris, a 100-megabit connection plus 100 channels of TV, plus unlimited in-country telephone calling costs about $40.
We could have a Falmouth Internet that was many times faster and much freer than what the telephone and cable companies are offering us. The Falmouth Chamber of Commerce turned on the first phase of its downtown wi-fi network last summer, and the Falmouth Industrial Park just got a wireless link. Meanwhile, the Open Cape Initiative, a partnership of Cape Cod businesses and governmental organizations, is planning independent ways to connect the Cape to the rest of the world.
These are good beginnings, but Falmouth’s goal should be a town-wide, town-owned fiber optic network that reaches every house and business. The next step, I believe, should be a town requirement that whenever the pavement is built or repaired, e.g., for sewer construction, bike path construction, sidewalk improvement, et cetera, a duct for fiber optics (a simple, flexible plastic pipe) should be buried. This is a very cheap way to invest in a networked future that Falmouth’s citizens control. Where there’s no buried duct, we can put fiber optic cable on power poles.
Such a network can, potentially, pay for itself in streamlined town and school system information processing. Better jobs, higher property values, better healthcare and more efficient police and fire department work are also likely. Plus cheaper telephone service, cable TV, and Internet for everybody. The Enterprise made a strong editorial call for municipal networking in November 2005. The recent shenanigans by Comcast and Verizon won’t be the last wake up calls, either. But we should not hit the snooze alarm again; it is time to act.
(David S. Isenberg, a resident of Woods Hole and Cos Cob, Connecticut, is a former distinguished member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories and a former student of Falmouth Public Schools.)
By David S. Isenberg
[This article appeared in today's issue of The Falmouth (Massachusetts) Enterprise as an Op-Ed, on p. 4. It's available to subscribers as a .pdf -- David I]
Falmouth can’t trust its Internet providers anymore. Two weeks ago, the Associated Press caught Comcast covertly blocking file exchange among peer-to-peer programs such as BitTorrent, Gnutella, and Lotus Notes. Comcast does this by injecting reset messages into Internet file exchange sessions. Reset messages tell one computer in an Internet file exchange that the other computer wants to end the exchange. Comcast’s reset messages are injected in the middle of the connection to fool both ends. The result is unsuccessful file transfer. There are no reports that Comcast’s Falmouth customers are affected yet, but Comcast has not renounced the practice, so it’s only a matter of time.
Until 2005, Comcast couldn’t legally interfere with our Internet activities, but a series of FCC and court decisions now makes it perfectly legal for Comcast, Verizon, and other Internet access providers to decide what our Internet connection can and can’t do. Congress is debating Network Neutrality legislation that would return control of our Internet connection to us. (When a Network Neutrality bill came before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2006, Representative William D. Delahunt was the only Democrat there who didn’t vote “Yes.” He voted “Present.”) So far, Network Neutrality remains an actively debated proposal.
Comcast’s predecessor, Adelphia, defied its agreement with Falmouth to offer advanced services. Then it failed to pay Falmouth’s penalty fees when Adelphia’s chairman and its CFO, father and son, stole the profits and drove Adelphia into bankruptcy. Now John and Tim Rigas are in federal prison.
Verizon is the other Internet access provider in town. A few weeks ago Verizon blocked an abortion rights group’s access to mobile messaging services. It unblocked it after public outcry, but its Internet terms of service assert that if your Internet activity “is objectionable for any reason,” Verizon, “in its sole discretion,” can terminate your service. Until Network Neutrality is restored to US law, it is only a matter of time before Verizon is deciding what we can and can’t do as a Verizon Internet customer.
Woods Hole scientists have another reason to distrust Verizon. On Thursday, October 12, 2006, at 2:30 PM, Verizon cut off services to Global NAPS, which provides Internet access to the six Woods Hole scientific institutions, as the result of a long-simmering business dispute. Woods Hole’s Internet went dead. Scientists around the world were unable to access critical databases at the MBL/WHOI library. Hundreds of underwater robots surfaced to send their data to Woods Hole and could not; irreplaceable data was lost forever. Frantic calls to Verizon hit a brick wall of lawyers and unavailable vice presidents. Woods Hole’s Internet was restored late Saturday after a 53.5 hour outage.
Clearly, the giant telephone and cable companies can’t be trusted where the interests of Falmouth citizens are at stake. Fortunately, it is becoming easier for citizens to own their own network. Just as computers have become friendlier and easier to use as they’ve become more powerful, so have networks. Networks are much cheaper to build and operate than roads, sewers and water pipes. Hundreds of US towns and cities, such as Lafayette, Louisiana, and Clarksville, Tennessee, are building municipal networks. A Falmouth Internet could ride the same technology curve as, e.g., Hong Kong, where a 100-megabit connection costs about $49, about the same as Verizon’s 5-megabit connection here. In Paris, a 100-megabit connection plus 100 channels of TV, plus unlimited in-country telephone calling costs about $40.
We could have a Falmouth Internet that was many times faster and much freer than what the telephone and cable companies are offering us. The Falmouth Chamber of Commerce turned on the first phase of its downtown wi-fi network last summer, and the Falmouth Industrial Park just got a wireless link. Meanwhile, the Open Cape Initiative, a partnership of Cape Cod businesses and governmental organizations, is planning independent ways to connect the Cape to the rest of the world.
These are good beginnings, but Falmouth’s goal should be a town-wide, town-owned fiber optic network that reaches every house and business. The next step, I believe, should be a town requirement that whenever the pavement is built or repaired, e.g., for sewer construction, bike path construction, sidewalk improvement, et cetera, a duct for fiber optics (a simple, flexible plastic pipe) should be buried. This is a very cheap way to invest in a networked future that Falmouth’s citizens control. Where there’s no buried duct, we can put fiber optic cable on power poles.
Such a network can, potentially, pay for itself in streamlined town and school system information processing. Better jobs, higher property values, better healthcare and more efficient police and fire department work are also likely. Plus cheaper telephone service, cable TV, and Internet for everybody. The Enterprise made a strong editorial call for municipal networking in November 2005. The recent shenanigans by Comcast and Verizon won’t be the last wake up calls, either. But we should not hit the snooze alarm again; it is time to act.
(David S. Isenberg, a resident of Woods Hole and Cos Cob, Connecticut, is a former distinguished member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories and a former student of Falmouth Public Schools.)
Technorati Tags: Cableco, Censorship, Comcast, Duopoly, FirstMile, FTTH, Infrastructure, LafayetteLA, MunicipalNetworks, NetworkNeutrality, USLosingLead, Verizon, WoodsHole
Comments:
Falmouth was the FIRST municipality in the USA to be essentially all wireless starting in 1997. The technology wasn't Wi-Fi, either! This was a partnership with the Town and my company, Homeland Security Wireless, Inc. to hook up all of Public Safety, the Town Municipal services, and the school system. For the Internet, I provided a "neutral" policy where I supplied Internet connectivity to the Town. This created competition for the service and best terms and conditions.
Over the intervening years, the existing network was overloaded because of the rapid growth of the applications (both good and bad) that created more bandwidth demand. As a result, the Town converted their main infrastructure to the licensed 4.9 GHz frequency band and to 5.8 GHz frequency bands. At one location we have aggregated 100 Mbps throughputs. Thanks to new technologies, this now creates the development of wireless client devices that will support 100 Mbps signaling speed costing $600 for a unit approximately 10" x 10" x 4" weighing about 1 pound.
While FiOS was not mentioned, it is Verizon's fiber capability. Even the cable company uses fiber optic backhaul in certain areas. The trouble here is that it is not available on the Cape, nor is it ubiquitous.
I don't have deep pockets to provide a fiber optic circuit to the home. I need to do so because wireless has already overtaken OC-48 fiber optic capability.
The Town of Falmouth could easily make its own utility, but when one registers for CLEC status or starts to offer TV service and gets tangled up with the state or local cable commissions, the whole process gets bogged down.
At least wireless has proven that it not only a competitive technology, but it is a proven technology, and the air is still free. Rural users can even use the new 5.4 GHz frequencies while someone ponders the business model for wired connections. If anything, a neutral network lets in competition so you can get a better deal! The forward looking plan is to connect to a fiber-ring and more ubiquitous access.
Falmouth is a leader. WHOI is a leader. The result is the Cape Cod area is sitting at the crossroads of new Internet concepts that will provide choices and benefits unheard of in other areas. Additionally OpenCape will create the potential of a more Wide Area Network serving the interests of this great area to live.
I don't see problems. I see opportunities.
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Over the intervening years, the existing network was overloaded because of the rapid growth of the applications (both good and bad) that created more bandwidth demand. As a result, the Town converted their main infrastructure to the licensed 4.9 GHz frequency band and to 5.8 GHz frequency bands. At one location we have aggregated 100 Mbps throughputs. Thanks to new technologies, this now creates the development of wireless client devices that will support 100 Mbps signaling speed costing $600 for a unit approximately 10" x 10" x 4" weighing about 1 pound.
While FiOS was not mentioned, it is Verizon's fiber capability. Even the cable company uses fiber optic backhaul in certain areas. The trouble here is that it is not available on the Cape, nor is it ubiquitous.
I don't have deep pockets to provide a fiber optic circuit to the home. I need to do so because wireless has already overtaken OC-48 fiber optic capability.
The Town of Falmouth could easily make its own utility, but when one registers for CLEC status or starts to offer TV service and gets tangled up with the state or local cable commissions, the whole process gets bogged down.
At least wireless has proven that it not only a competitive technology, but it is a proven technology, and the air is still free. Rural users can even use the new 5.4 GHz frequencies while someone ponders the business model for wired connections. If anything, a neutral network lets in competition so you can get a better deal! The forward looking plan is to connect to a fiber-ring and more ubiquitous access.
Falmouth is a leader. WHOI is a leader. The result is the Cape Cod area is sitting at the crossroads of new Internet concepts that will provide choices and benefits unheard of in other areas. Additionally OpenCape will create the potential of a more Wide Area Network serving the interests of this great area to live.
I don't see problems. I see opportunities.
