 jc100
join:2002-04-10
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Goes to show That it can be done... even in rural America. Now other ISPS can get off their butts about the challenges and the impossibilities of serving said people. As for those that say it is less profitable, that is understood. However, innovation has to start somewhere and internet has the possibility to bring companies to rural areas. These are the places that often need them the most. | |
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 | Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX | Re: Goes to show Especially with a federal loan program!!!! | |
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| nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD | the incumbents could care less about rural areas - not a high enough return on investment.
and when you are a monopoly/oligopoly, you demand quite a high rate of return. | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by nasadude  :the incumbents could care less about rural areas - not a high enough return on investment. and when you are a monopoly/oligopoly, you demand quite a high rate of return. Then why doesn't phoenix have FTTH?
oh wait! we are a QWEST territory. . . . .
nevermind 
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| said by jc100 :That it can be done... even in rural America. I'll be more impressed if it can be done without taxpayer money.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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| | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH
| Re: Goes to show On one hand, I agree with you. On the other hand, Verizon charges me $15 a month for a phone line. With all of their fees, it comes to over $25/month, the extra money their sending out of state. At least with the Fed loan program, these folks are getting some of their money back. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: Goes to show said by Nuts :... Verizon charges me $15 a month for a phone line. With all of their fees, it comes to over $25/month ... Compared to what Verizon charges in other states, that's nothing. If I ever get a landline again, I would hope it could be that cheap.
said by Nuts :At least with the Fed loan program, these folks are getting some of their money back. I wouldn't say that a loan is a way of "getting money back!"
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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| | BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by pnh102 :said by jc100 :That it can be done... even in rural America. I'll be more impressed if it can be done without taxpayer money. It's not costing the taxpayers anything. It's a LOAN. Meaning they have to pay it back, with INTEREST. I suggest untying the knot in your panties. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: Goes to show said by BF69 :It's not costing the taxpayers anything. It's a LOAN. Meaning they have to pay it back, with INTEREST. Then why couldn't the phone company get a private loan?
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN | Re: Goes to show Whats wrong with the government providing low interest loans to help expand America's infrastructure? | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: Goes to show said by insomniac84 :Whats wrong with the government providing low interest loans to help expand America's infrastructure? Because government is not supposed to function like a bank, regardless of all the talk of bailing out everyone that is going around these days.
Why should I as a taxpayer have to hold the bag for some private company's financial risk-taking? Maybe I should call my Congressman and ask for my free house too.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN | Re: Goes to show It's to build infrastructure. I consider this no different than building roads. But in this case it's a loan so odds are tax payers end up paying nothing. | |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
·Optimum Online
| said by pnh102 :said by jc100 :That it can be done... even in rural America. I'll be more impressed if it can be done without taxpayer money. I'd be more impressed if Ma Bell never took any government $$ to build out their original deployment. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: Goes to show said by sporkme :I'd be more impressed if Ma Bell never took any government $$ to build out their original deployment. They never did. Any "tax money" that went to deployments was dutifully paid into the USF by customers of Ma Bell.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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| | | | BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Goes to show said by pnh102 :said by sporkme :I'd be more impressed if Ma Bell never took any government $$ to build out their original deployment. They never did. Any "tax money" that went to deployments was dutifully paid into the USF by customers of Ma Bell. boy you sure are ingorant. | |
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| | | | | hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | Re: Goes to show i thought the USF came well after Bell network. | |
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| | | | | | BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Goes to show said by hottboiinnc :i thought the USF came well after Bell network. the USF was created in 1997. How did Ma bell expand to everywhere from 1876-1996? With help form the government. | |
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| | | | | | | cptmiles
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Swayzee, IN
| Re: Goes to show Ma Bell was granted the most generous gift of all from the government in the 20s and 30s. It was called Monopoly. They didn't expand into rural territories. It was the farmers who created there own plants with no help from anyone and Ma Bell bought them up if it was profitable or strategic. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| said by BF69 :boy you sure are ingorant. Yawn. Can you prove me wrong.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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| | | | | | hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | Re: Goes to show Yes. Telephones were everywhere before 1997 when the USF was created  | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: Goes to show said by hottboiinnc :Yes. Telephones were everywhere before 1997 when the USF was created I never claimed that the USF existed prior to 1997, even though my use of the term "Ma Bell" may have been mistaken. It doesn't change the fact that the USF was paid for by ratepayers and not taxpayers.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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| | jc100
join:2002-04-10
·RoadRunner Cable
| Unfortunately, EVERYTHING in this country is paid for by taxes pnh. Roads, Schools, Hospitals, you name it. The problem isn't taxes being used but taxes being used inappropriately. When it comes to private ventures, I full well agree that no money should be given. However, when it comes to "overall" / "greater" good type items, I've got no problems. I love having roads, schools, hospitals. Unfortunately, internet isn't a requirement. Low interest loans are one thing. Outright giving startups the money is another. Maybe we are in agreement on some of this, and disagree on other parts. | |
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| | Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
 ·SONIC.NET
| said by pnh102 :said by jc100 :That it can be done... even in rural America. I'll be more impressed if it can be done without taxpayer money. No kidding. Some company ought to be able to serve those who choose to live in non-dense areas, and charge the commensurate rates. So, in other words, not tax-based, and not passed-over by cherry-pickers. | |
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Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Sarasota, FL
clubs: | $3100 per customer is a big investment I understand why the bigger telco's aren't interested at that price, without the USDA picking up a chunk of the bill anyway. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: $3100 per customer is a big investment said by Camelot One :I understand why the bigger telco's aren't interested at that price, without the USDA us picking up a chunk of the bill anyway. Fixed it for you.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! | |
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| Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | being a loan, it still needs to paid back. | |
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Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Sarasota, FL
clubs:
 ·VoicePulse
| Re: $3100 per customer is a big investment said by Nuts :being a loan, it still needs to paid back. Well sure. Someday. (long-term loan) Maybe. If the company makes it, and doesn't file bankruptcy, and if they don't blackmail their way into having the loan forgiven, etc, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see things progressing.
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Intel Quad Core QX6700 @3500Mhz/Asus P5N32-E SLI/4x 1024Mb Corsair/Seagate 750.10/PNY 7800GTs SLI/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler | |
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| | | Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH | Re: $3100 per customer is a big investment I understand your concerns and share them. | |
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ParkerWPS
@egix.net
| said by Camelot One :said by Nuts :being a loan, it still needs to paid back. Well sure. Someday. (long-term loan) Maybe. If the company makes it, and doesn't file bankruptcy, and if they don't blackmail their way into having the loan forgiven, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see things progressing. said by Camelot One :said by Nuts :being a loan, it still needs to paid back. Well sure. Someday. (long-term loan) Maybe. If the company makes it, and doesn't file bankruptcy, and if they don't blackmail their way into having the loan forgiven, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see things progressing. It's a ten-year fixed-rate...and the company has been around since 1922 and is the oldest private telco in Indiana. They aren't going anywhere. | |
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| | BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by Nuts :being a loan, it still needs to paid back. Oh don't bring up logic and FACTS to the whiners. | |
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| | plat2on1
join:2002-08-21
Hopewell Junction, NY
clubs:
| said by Nuts :being a loan, it still needs to paid back. i'm sure the banks said the same thing while giving away all those bad sub-prime loans.
"don't worry guys its a loan it has to be paid back!" | |
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| MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| It's not $3100 per customer. It's $3100 per POTENTIAL customer. I can bet you anything that 29,000 people in rural Indiana have NOT put down non-refundable deposits and signed commitment contracts for broadband.
The true cost per customer will be a lot higher than $3100. | |
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See 12 replies to this post |
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Shack
join:2002-01-17
Bloomington, IN
·Insight Communicat..
| Holy Carp! This is the greatest news ever posted int he history of the internet!!!! I never thought I would see FTTH. Smithville is a pretty good small telco, had there DSL service ( through bluemarble) and it was great, though slow compared to cable. i looke forward to being there customer again. yay for Me!! | |
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| Radeon2006
join:2000-05-16
Terre Haute, IN
edit:
April 8th, @11:55AM
| Re: Holy Carp! Tell me about it. I live in Terre Haute which is Verizon territory. Im keeping my fingers crossed that we get FiOS sometime soon. I grew up in Hymera which is Smithville territory. Might consider moving back to have the small town environment and FTTH. Hymera has a population of around 400 people and they have access to wireless, cable, dsl and soon to be fiber. Broadband is alive and kicking in some rural areas here in Indiana. I hope the speeds they offer will be more than 10-15mbps though.
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I've never made a mistake. Once I thought I did, but I was wrong... | |
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Lineage
join:2006-10-19
USA
·EarthLink
 ·1and1
 ·PeoplePC
| In my experience My experience with private local telcos has been generally good, and they seem to provide services like DSL where no Verizon or AT&T would dare to put them.
Take for instance the company I had while I lived in Florida for 15 years, NefCom. They went out and put DSL all over their service area, which was mostly extremely rural. When they put it where I was, it had stability problems at first (kept going out repeatedly, but after about 3 weeks they fixed the problem and it was rock solid stable from then on), but those were no biggie, because boy did they jump right on it when you called them:
Me: "My DSL has gone out"
Phone Rep: "Ok sir, we'll have someone out to fix it in 20 minutes"
And it was fixed, within 20 minutes. You don't get that with the huge telcos(at least I've never seen that happen with large telcos, and I've had AT&T, Verizon and Sprint). That's the kind of service you got with just about any problem, fast fixing.
Then I moved up here where I am now and had experience with a company called Shentel. They had DSL out on top of a mountain in an extremely rural area, that remote couldn't have been servicing more than 50 people.
Now for the past year I've had to be with Verizon and I absolutely hate their guts. They take forever to do anything and only serve hand-picked areas with anything better than dialup. As I write this I am surfing on a glorious 26k link. | |
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| Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO | Re: In my experience Because smaller companies generally appreciate and value their customers because everyone is very important to them. | |
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Luker3
join:2004-10-09
Blacksburg, VA
| Shentel is a little more evil than you might think.
They still charge $20 for unlimited dial up. They are really just part of Sprint, and if you live in Shenandoah county, Virginia, they are the only cell(Sprint), POTS, internet service available. | |
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powerhog
Stinkin' up the joint
Premium
join:2000-12-14
Owasso, OK
| Really? quote:
The telco says the deployment covers large rural chunks of the central, south central and southern parts of the State, including Hendricks County in the greater Indianapolis area.
The greater Indianopolis area is rural? | |
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| cptmiles
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Swayzee, IN | Re: Really? They own one tiny exchange in the greater metro area called Lizton. It is in the north central part of Hendricks county and is very small. | |
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nobody
join:2001-01-30
Mayer, MN
| Why is this news? Because they got federal money to supplant the buildout? Hancock Telecom has been providing FTTH to their service area since 2003.
»teamhancock.com/?q=node/5
They are using it to deliver video, voice and data to their customers and aggressively migrating from copper to a fiber infrastructure. Not too sure how many people are being serviced via FTTH but they do have 8 counties that they service.
--
Westley: Give us the gate key.
Yellin: I have no gate key.
Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, tear his arms off.
Yellin: Oh, you mean *this* gate key. | |
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nitzan
join:2008-02-27
·Comcast
·ViaTalk
| You say potato, I say.. taxpayer money! While I am very happy for Indiana folks who will be able to enjoy the benefits of fiber, let's think about this realistically.
$90mil investment in 29k potential customers. Let's assume 80% (high estimate) of them will actually use the service, so we're talking 23.2k customers, or $3879 per customer. Add loan servicing fees, interest, etc. and you're up and beyond $5000 per customer.
Assuming an average monthly revenue per customer of $100, minus operating costs - let's assume $30 for argument sake - we're talking $70 profit per month. So, to return the original $5000 investment would take almost 6 years.
One of three things will happen:
1. The company will go bankrupt.
2. The company will go bankrupt and "saved" by taxpayer money.
3. The loan will be "forgiven".
Either way, Indiana's FTTH will be paid for by taxpayer money. Not necessarily a bad thing - but call it what it is.
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Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation | |
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See 6 replies to this post |
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MySay
join:2008-04-08
Arlington, TX
| Smart move! Rural today, Metroplex tomorrow! Any company laying assests into rural US today, could be playing their cards right... especially in selected areas across the nation! Fifteen years ago, Mansfield, TX where I live (for instance) was a little bitty town ten-fifteen miles from nowhere! Now, we're one of the fastest growing communities in Texas, w/ four High Schools and another being built (over 25,615 students in our district).
»www.city-data.com/city/Mansfield-Texas.html
There's no doubt, back then this town would have been considered rural, and had anybody took the time and money to implement this then, they'd of had the stage set for what was to come (while the others were all playing catch-up)! | |
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ydoucare
join:2003-03-12
Rensselaer, IN | ... Would like to see some of that up here on the northern side of Indiana.  | |
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anonomous
@comcast.net | My Question is this: What does the USDA have to do with FTTH? Shouldn't they be inspecting beef and doing stuff agricultural related? FTTH, while good, is not related to agriculture. | |
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| ILpt4U
Premium
join:2006-11-12
Lisle, IL
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T U-Verse
·magicjack.com
| Re: My Question is this: I am not a farmer, but I would guess there are farming resources out there on the net, from planting information and tips to trends in the markets for prices of potential crops, general crop outlooks, livestock information, etc. I think a farmer/agriculture worker could find some uses for a modern broadband connection. How about instead of taking your livestock to auction at the market, you simply set up a streaming video on an eBay page streaming straight from the barn? Just some silly ideas. I am sure farmers can find uses for bandwidth. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| That's like $3200 a customer.... Long term investment... Will take awhile to recoup... but permits growth and expansion. Very forward thinking of them.
To imagine someplace well off the beaten track with FTTH while most of the USA is stuck at 6mbits is somewhat sad, eh?
Good luck to them!
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
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gmoney_indy
join:2004-01-29
Fishers, IN
·Insight Communicat..
| Future growth will factor in Hendricks County, immediately to the west of Marion County (Indianapolis) is growing rapidly. The 2nd fastest growth rate in the State, I believe. The city of Brownsburg in particular is rapidly growing.
I believe Smithville is doing this as a strategic move to tap into the future growth of Hendricks Cty, as much as anything else. Much of the financial center of greater Indy is in the north suburbs, and as a result it has become congested and real estate prices are inflated compared to the rest of the Indy area. A lot of generally well-to-do people who previously would have only considered north Indy are now looking at places like Hendricks Cty to live (and commute to their high paying jobs on the northside). | |
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| 
a333
A hot cup of integrals please
join:2007-06-12
Corona, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
| YAWN!!! Isn't this what burstable T1 lines are for? If you absolutely must have broadband for livelihood, go shell out the cash for a T1 line. Can't afford it? You still have no excuse. Right now, you can at LEAST get 144K ISDN-ish speeads ANYWHERE you get a cell signal, for like $50/month. And that's not even counting the fact that Verizon and sprint have both upgraded close to 95% of their network to at least EVDO rev 0, with many areas enjoying Rev A speeds. Even if you live if a complete cellphone black hole, chances are that there's a good LOS-based or non-LOS WISP somewhere around. Would I like to see large-scale fiber? Sure!! But, when it comes to managing ISP's, we have seen numerous times that the gov't is never good at it. Most projects like these end up as epic failures. | |
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Indiana Telco To Deploy Rural FTTH
