Universal Broadband for Otsego County

Hello Kathleen

I am writing to you because you are the chair of the Otsego County
Legislature's Telecommunications committee.

I live 4 miles out of Richfield Springs and I am supposed to work from
home. I do not receive wired broadband internet service in my home, so
I rent office space in town. Lately the issue of rural broadband
availability has become very important to me because I am concerned that
the small area of Richfield Springs/Springfield that does not receive
wired broadband will be overlooked when and if the county begins it's
universal broadband installation. I am even more concerned that my area
will be neglected because we receive Verizon Wireless service, and are
capable of getting wireless broadband internet. Unfortunately I cannot
viably perform my job using wireless broadband, and Verizon Wireless
imposes a cap on how much information I'm allowed to transfer every month.

I've been reading news articles that insinuate universal broadband will
decrease jobs instead of increase them. I have also read that one of
the Otsego County representatives wanted to hold off on applying for
stimulus funds for fiber optic cable, believing that wireless services
will render it obsolete. I would argue both of these ideas. Universal
broadband access would allow metropolitan corporations to out-source a
portion of their office work, not to another country, but to upstate
residents. My father and I both work from home for companies in New
York City. The reasonable cost of upstate living makes it
cost-efficient for a company to offer us lower salaries than our
city-dwelling counterparts.

As far as wireless technologies are concerned, it is unlikely that any
local wireless service will ever offer unlimited internet access until a
wired internet competitor enters their territory and makes it a
necessity. The upload and download speeds available to wireless users
currently can not match the efficiency of fiber optic based services.
Verizon Wireless is aware that it is currently the rural users only
option. Wireless companies are for-profit organizations that will only
be compelled to make high priced expansions when they are threatened
with loss of revenues.

I have begun noting when the telecommunications committee and full
legislature are scheduled to meet. Please let me know if there is
anything I can do to make my situation known, or to support the county's
work towards universal broadband access.

If you don't feel that this message is entirely pertinent to you, please
feel free to forward it to any persons to whom it may apply.

Thank you for your time,
Rachel Robinson
Richfield Springs, NY 13439

My second ION response

Hi Rachel:

We are certainly hoping to be able to provide better broadband coverage in
Otsego County if we are fortunate enough to receive stimulus funds. We are
expecting to hear some news in the near future. Feel free to check back in a
month or so, and we should have more information.

Thanks,

Derek

Derek A. Kaminsky
Director Carrier Sales and Marketing
ION
dkaminsky@I-O-N.com
518-689-4552

My answer from ION

Rachel:

ION's middle mile grant request if approved, would lead to greater coverage
in Cooperstown, NY.

Thank you,
Joe Calzone

My email to ION

Hello,

I live at the top of Otsego County, and do not receive broadband
internet service in my home. I saw your company's name on the
application list for Federal Stimulus funds. I am wondering if the
receipt of those funds would lead to greater broadband coverage in
Otsego County, more specifically the towns between Richfield Springs,
Springfield and Cooperstown.

Thanks for your time!
Rachel Robinson
Richfield Springs, NY 13439

List of NY State applications for federal stimulus funds

This link will bring up the list of New York State businesses and agencies that applied for Federal Stimulus funds for the expansion of rural broadband:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/applications/results.cfm?org=&keywords=&state=NY

This searchable list can be found on the Federal Broadband homepage.

Don't see any local organizations on the list? I found two that apply to me (I think)

Applicant: County of Otsego -Oneonta, NY
Contact: Carolyn Lewis
607-432-8871
lewisc@otsegocounty.com
Project title: Otsego County Open Access Telecommunications Backbone
Program: BIP/BTOP
Proposed Project Area NY
Project type: Middle Mile
Grant request* $ 3,588,368
Status: Application Received
Description: Installation of a County-wide fiber optic backbone ring, designed to connect all areas of the community together thus enabling the deployment of affordable, high bandwidth capabilities for residents, businesses municipalities, educational entities, healthcare institutions and public safety entities
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.


Applicant: Research Foundation of SUNY for SUNYIT - Utica, NY
Contact: Deborah Tyksinski
315-792-7151
deborah.tyksinski@sunyit.edu
Project title: The Digital Towpath Broadband Stimulus Project
Program: BTOP
Proposed Project Area: NY
Project type: Sustainable Broadband Adoption
Grant request: $ 2,515,320
Status: Application Received
Description: The Digital Towpath Broadband Stimulus Project will grow demand for broadband in rural New York; increase access to government; and encourage citizen participation. It will expand the Digital Towpath Project, a cost-effective shared service of small and rural local governments, which has successfully assisted rural broadband adopters in their sustained use of e-government for over ten years.

How exciting! There was also a broadband provider called ION whom I contacted just now. ION applied for about $39 million to increase NY state coverage. They already provide service in Herkimer and Utica so there's always a chance they would make it down to me.

Hey, what's the BDDC?

NYS Council for Universal Broadband becomes the Broadband Development and Deployment Council via Governor Paterson's Executive Order #22!

This is as press release regarding the dissolution of the NYS Council for Universal Broadband, and how its efforts will continue through the work of the Broadband Development and Deployment Council.

Here is the the list of links provided at the bottle of the article:

For more information regarding Executive Order 22, please visit
http://www.ny.gov/governor/executive_orders/exeorders/eo_22.html

For information regarding New York State's Broadband stimulus activities, please visit
http://www.nysbroadband.ny.gov/

For more information regarding the NYSTAR Innovation Grants Program, please visit
http://www.nystar.state.ny.us/matching/

For more information regarding the Federal broadband grant programs, please visit http://broadbandusa.sc.egov.usda.gov/

Please copy and save these resources so that you can forward them to businesses and politicians alike when lobbying for more rural broadband coverage.

My email to Time Warner

I live in a rural area of upstate New York but work for a company online. Your company services the town of Richfield Springs, but I am 4 miles out of the service zone. I currently rent office space in town. I recently read an article about Time Warner's unwillingness to apply for stimulus money to expand your services to rural users (http://blog.timesunion.com/advocate/5000-cable-internet-installation-keeps-worker-from-telecommuting/1841/).

I am writing to inquire if you are collaborating with any local governments in Otsego county to expand your broadband coverage. It would benefit me greatly to have high speed internet available to me in my home. It would benefit everyone in our region. I am aware that it is not financially viable for your company to install the cabling to our area, but I am hoping that these new government initiatives will compel Time Warner to expand.

Please let me know of any broadband advances in Otsego County.

Frontier inquiry #2

Hello Juliana,

Thank you so much for your informative response! I am encouraged to hear about collaborative efforts being made to advance broadband internet to rural areas of New York. My only other question would be about whether your territory falls near any part of Otsego county, or if that county of the state is covered by a different broadband service provider.

Thanks once again,
Rachel Robinson

Re: Inquiry via Frontier.com

From: Janson, Juliana <juliana.janson@frontiercorp.com>

Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Subject: FW: Inquiry via Frontier.com
To: "rachelmercy@gmail.com" <rachelmercy@gmail.com>
Cc: "Schifano, Stephanie" <Stephanie.Schifano@frontiercorp.com>

Dear Rachel-

 

Thank you for your inquiry on frontier.com.  As you probably know, broadband is a key product in our service offerings, and Frontier is constantly looking for ways to expand its broadband deployment, including working with local and state governments.  We were recipients of grant money from New York State in 2007 and 2008 to deploy wireless broadband in several areas of our territory.   In addition, we have a person on staff whose main function is to manage and maximize funding through a variety of sources.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions that I can help with. 

 

Best Regards,

-Juliana

 

Juliana Janson

Director of Government & External Affairs - East Region

Frontier Communications

180 South Clinton Avenue

Rochester, NY  14646

---

Inquiry via Frontier.com

Hello Stephanie,

I live in a rural area of upstate New York.  The local cable service here is provided by Time Warner, but it does not reach my house in the country.  Recently an article in the Albany Times Union uncovered the fact that Time Warner has not shown any initiative in applying for stimulus funds to expand broadband internet service to rural areas (http://blog.timesunion.com/advocate/5000-cable-internet-installation-keeps-worker-from-telecommuting/1841/).  
Is Frontier is working with any local governments in New York to advance the rural broadband agenda?

Thank you for your time,
Rachel Robinson

Rural Broadband Article

This article in the Albany Times Union on September 3 lays out completely my issue with not receiving broadband internet. When the report questioned why Time Warner Cable had not applied for stimulus funds, they simply replied that “We continue to follow the process as an interested party."

Here is the link to the full article, and I've met this reporter before! She wrote about my job!
http://blog.timesunion.com/advocate/5000-cable-internet-installation-keeps-worker-from-telecommuting/1841/

I recently found the site where entities could apply to receive the stimulus funds - but the due date for that application has passed. I wonder how successfully one can lobby Time Warner Cable. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to look into what other companies or counties have applied for funds and lobby Time Warner competitors to take on providing service to the poor, rural New Yorkers. Hopefully the competition would cause them to become more than just interested parties.

Confirmation of subscription to New York State Senate mailing lists

You have successfully subscribed to the following New York State Senate
mailing lists:

James-L-Seward-Signups

Thanks,
The New York State Senate Team