Hey All,
I have a site in Alabama that could really use some additional diversity, but apparently ATT fiber is the only game in town.
If anybody has any options, such as fixed wireless in the 10-50mbs, please reply to me, off-list.
Best,
Joe
I don't know about AT&T, but Verizon physically removes the copper connections when they install fiber into a building. Oddly, this is legal. Verizon is required to open up their copper to CLECs, but not fiber.
The only option at that point is cable or wireless.
How far? There are a lot of fixed wireless solutions in that space.
Also building your own fiber an option? That distance comes into play as well...
Jared Mauch
Any realistic answers are probably going to require an address or physical
location to be able to quote services. Know there are several Fixed wireless
providers in AL, you might look at www.wispa.org as I believe they have some
information as to which wisps service which areas.
The Verizon *regulated ILEC operating company* is required to provide equal
access. FiOS comes from an unregulated subsidiary.
Whether there might be some illegal collusion in the unreg subsid generating
a pull order for a copper service from the regulated LEC is one thing...
but why would it otherwise be illegal for the LEC to pull the copper?
It *is* their copper...
That's an interesting perception, and I'm curious where you came by it.
Cheers,
-- jra
I feel a topic shift coming...
You can get Satellite service as well.
It's really expensive, for the bandwidth, but worth a look if you
don't have any other options.
Verizon, the copper wireline company, is removing service from locations EVERY TIME VZ fiber is installed in a building. This prevents other companies from providing service by leasing Verizon's copper infrastructure. If there was copper at a location then VZ would be required to resell it and nobody would be locked out.
We often get customers in buildings lit by Verizon fiber service who want to change carriers. Too bad they can't anymore. Technically they can switch providers. Verizon will remove the fiber, re-install copper, and have the customer down for a week or so.
If Verizon was not a wireline monopoly I might not have such an issue with this practice.
Full Disclosure: I work for a CLEC.
Depending on location, perhaps Charter. They do offer transport service in some areas they service.
--John
From: "Eric Wieling" <EWieling@nyigc.com>
Verizon, the copper wireline company, is removing service from
locations EVERY TIME VZ fiber is installed in a building. This
prevents other companies from providing service by leasing Verizon's
copper infrastructure. If there was copper at a location then VZ would
be required to resell it and nobody would be locked out.
TTBOMK, whether Verizon has copper to a building has *no bearing at all*
on whether a CLEC can place an order for wholesale service to that location;
VZN is *required* to provide that wholesale service, at the regulated NRC
and MRC rates, whether they currently happen to have the physical facilities
in place or not -- are you alleging either that I've misunderstood that,
or that VZN is refusing such orders *simply* because they've removed
facilities to an address where FiOS has done an install?
Cause either of those ought to violate the rules.
We often get customers in buildings lit by Verizon fiber service who
want to change carriers. Too bad they can't anymore. Technically they
can switch providers. Verizon will remove the fiber, re-install
copper, and have the customer down for a week or so.
See above.
Cheers,
-- jra
So if Verizon is on the hook to support the CLEC's, why are they
pulling the local loop? I'm sure it isn't free to pull it and certainly
not to reinstall it, so what might be their motivation?
Mike
VZ wants to get rid of their copper plant. It's expensive to maintain, and it requires that they sell service to competitors. Once they've disconnected their customers from it, they can just eliminate the copper plant. POTS service which ILECs provide, is basically copper service. So once the copper is gone, they are no longer in the heavily regulated POTS business. The result being, they can do whatever they want.
--John
I can understand their motivation if what Jay writes is incorrect. My
guess is that Jay may be correct technically, but VZ does it anyway
because they figure they can get away with it.
Mike
So if Verizon is on the hook to support the CLEC's, why are they pulling the local loop? I'm sure it isn't free to pull it and certainly not to reinstall it, so what might be their motivation?
Mike
Someone tells me off list that indeed, if the plant isn't *there*, VZN
isn't required to build it.
Now, if that's the case, then they can't adminstratively block *someone
else* from building it, either...
Cheers,
-- jra
Yes, but it's assymetric. VZN isn't required to build the 150 foot of
copper plant from building to pole, and they can't stop a competitor
from building 12,000 foot of copper plant from PoP to building. 
Hi Jay,
They way I heard it, ILECs like Verizon are required to provide
unbundled elements of the tariffed services anywhere they accept new
orders for service which consumes those unbundled elements. They are
not required to deploy new infrastructure solely to satisfy an order
for an unbundled element but they may not deliver new
element-consuming services without also satisfying the orders for
unbundled elements.
So, if they build new POTS ports at the CO, they're required to also
fill the orders for unbundled POTS ports. And if they lay new copper
to connect those ports to customer homes they're required to also fill
the orders for unbundled pairs along the same path.
Separately, an ILEC like Verizon has a universal service obligation to
deliver a POTS line anywhere you order one. Without exception.
The hinky part is that the FCC decided that copper pairs are an
unbundled element but PONS wavelengths and Coaxial cable frequency
channels are not. So, Verizon doesn't have to share access to FIOS and
Comcast doesn't have to share access to the coax. As long as they
deliver phone service without consuming copper pairs, universal
service doesn't compel them to build any copper plant to satisfy your
unbundled element order.
I pine for the return of structural separation. If the cable plant
provider was required to be a separate company from the services
provider, we wouldn't have these shenanigans. Different shenanigans
but not these.
Regards,
Bill Herrin
So why is it, then, that Vision Cable-Bright House-Advance/Newhouse Cable
Partnership (which is what the payroll checks have said since about 1979)
*is* required to provide competitive cablemodem access on their HFC plant?
(I can get RoadRunner, their own brand, or Earthlink, or the local provider
Internet Junction...)
Cheers,
-- jra
That's probably a local requirement. It's not a Federal requirement. Though, some cable companies do provide wholesale services even when not required.
Look at ATT and others trying to get state-wide franchise agreements. They are trying to avoid having smaller areas tell them what to do, if they want to serve an area.
--John
Bingo.
On the flip side of the equation, if you want to be an overbuilder (a
third communications infrastructure provider beyond the phone and
cable companies) the owner of the telephone poles is usually required
by the state to sell you an "attachment." An attachment is a
connection to a pole at a specific height, reserved for connecting
your cables. The power company is usually the owner, so they don't get
too bent out of shape about the fact that you're competing with the
ILEC. The last I checked, this ran about $5/year per pole.
See http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/mdrd/PoleAtt.html
There are similar rules for underground conduit on public
right-of-ways but I don't know what they are. On private land,
underground conduit becomes a fixture of the property. So even though
Verizon installed the conduit for their own cable, you as the property
owner have a right to use it as you see fit.
Regards,
Bill Herrin