Re: How will this help? in http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r18953232 en Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:59:33 EDT Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:59:33 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18955610 Goldman :
said by rradina See Profile :

...my fundamental question remains. Is there a correlation between economic growth and consumer-based, high-speed network access?
The correlation is assumed here at DSLR. There is no thought given to education, taxes, bone-headed politicians, and the overall poor state of affairs in Arkansas.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18955610 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:04:21 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18954308 mtroup : I am a Technology Coordinator at Hermitage, AR and we have 2 T1 lines going to DIS (Dept. of Info Sys) but no fiber so I do believe you are very incorrect.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18954308 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:11:44 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953680 Kiwi : Really! Show me :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953680 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:08:21 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953635 Lance2008 : All Arkansas Schools are already connected an Internet live via fiber covering the entire state. This project was completed over 7 years ago.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953635 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:00:50 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953232 NormanS : Having lived in a similarly populated region of California, I know that there is more to it than adding a DSLAM. Line conditioning is no small part of the process. AT&T just strung a new 25 pair bundle on our poles within the last two months; part of conditioning the neighborhood for U-Verse. A new VRAD went in, maybe six weeks ago. But the houses in this neighborhood are 42 years old, or more; who knows how old the copper was before this conditioning took place.

The CO where I used to live served, perhaps, 2500 people within the city limits of Wheatland, California; and probably 5,000 more in the surrounding region of southeastern Yuba county, and western Placer county. They could probably reach 2,000 (80% of 2,500) of those within the city limits of Wheatland, and 0 (0%) of those outside the city limits. Probably no more than 25% of the total population of the region. It wouldn't surprise me that they have DSL in Wheatland, now. But certainly not in Sheridan, California, where I used to live on ten acres of flat plains.

OTOH, I don't see how increasing broadband penetration will help the economy. I think somebody has sold the state legislators a "bill of goods".
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953232 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:45:26 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953003 rradina : Granted. I wasn't claiming 100% penetration.

If we assume an average small town has a population density of 400 people/square mile, a town of less than 2500 people easily fits in under 6 square miles. This means a DSLAM equipped CO should be able to serve most of the folks in the town.

I'm using 2500 since the census data I reviewed listed Arkansas as 48% rural and 2500 seems to be an accepted urban threshold. This means 48% of Arkansas lives in towns 2500. Looking at the quantity of dots on the DSL Reports CO map, many of the small towns seem to have their own CO.

Nothing truly scientific. Just a few cursory observations that lead me to believe AT&T could do a lot to increase high speed access within the state. If the back haul between COs is already there, it doesn't seem like it would be terribly expensive to equip the existing COs with DSLAMs. Obviously if these COs barely have the capacity to carry their voice traffic, then AT&T will have to run fiber to all the COs. This would be quite expensive.

Still wondering what effect this will have on their economy since they are ready to spend public money on consumer broadband with the intent it will help them grow.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18953003 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:00:42 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18952943 bigskank : I think it does help. Although you don't see the immediate benefits of this (such as businesses rolling into the state), you do begin to see longer term benefits.

For example even after the judicial decision imposing school consolidation, most Arkansas schools, especially in the eastern and southern portions of the state, are very, very rural. They have fairly low budgets. They can't afford good teachers. Having fiber/high speed data connections could allow these schools to set up "video classrooms" with the better funded schools around little rock and northwest arkansas (which is wal-mart country and one of the fastest growing regions in the US). Setting up several video systems like that is far cheaper than paying for more teachers to go to these smaller, rural schools, and represents a chance for kids to get an education.

Second, the construction and maintenance of the network itself creates jobs. It also creates a pool of expertise within the state which can be harvested when, in the hopefully near future, surrounding states (like TN, Ala, Miss, La., etc...) start to expand their networks.

The problem with thinking this will bring in business in the short-term to foster much economic development within arkansas is likely incorrect. WalMart requires all of their vendors to have a base of operations within 50 miles of the walmart home office. This has meant the area surrounding Bentonville (NW Arkansas) has grown like crazy. Odds are, any business moving into the state would go to that area b/c of walmart and because the infrastructure already exists. A fiber network won't cause them to move to the more rural parts of the state.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18952943 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:49:15 EDT Re: How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18952882 NormanS :
said by rradina See Profile :

I looked at the CO map here on DSL Reports and indeed, there aren't many COs in Arkansas equipped for DSL. There are, however, a lot of COs in the state and it seems logical if all were properly equipped, high speed network access could be made available to a lot of the state. Of course that assumes the COs have enough back haul bandwidth.
That also assumes that DSLAM equipped COs can reach a lot of the rural customers. Alas, AT&T (which was formerly known as SBC) has recently changed the maximum loop length for which they will provision DSL; to 14,000 feet. Too many truck rolls to support marginal DSL lines.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18952882 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:36:23 EDT How will this help? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18952721 rradina : How will consumer-based, high-speed network access help their economy?

Looking at the population data, Arkansas is 52% urban and 48% rural. I'm not sure what the definition of rural is but I found a site that claimed 75% of the U.S. is urban vs. rural. Frankly I thought this was low but the definition used was cities > 2500 = urban.

I looked at the CO map here on DSL Reports and indeed, there aren't many COs in Arkansas equipped for DSL. There are, however, a lot of COs in the state and it seems logical if all were properly equipped, high speed network access could be made available to a lot of the state. Of course that assumes the COs have enough back haul bandwidth.

Of course Arkansas was part of the former SBC territory (now AT&T) and as a company, I think SBC did not make aggressive moves to rollout DSL, much less fiber.

But again -- my fundamental question remains. Is there a correlation between economic growth and consumer-based, high-speed network access?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18952721 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 11:57:56 EDT