POSTPONED: Thune Hearing Friday Oct 5 on Fastest Internet in the World For Sioux Falls

  UPDATE: The Friday October 5 Hearing has been POSTPONED!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE FELLOW Rural Residents--we can't go to the hearing, so please flood John Thune's office with Emails asking for another hearing JUST ON RURAL BROADBAND OPTIONS that are available NOW!   Please copy and paste this entire article into an Email to your FRIENDS TOMORROW.  The hearing is Friday, October 5.

CONTACT JUNE THUNE at https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact


MY TAKE ON THIS:  As a Rural Broadband customer (if I still had SC, would by end of 2018 be a NON-customer as will be a number of neighbors in our township and county, when it pulls out of the rural area with no information on any other service prepared to step in at that time).

Mr Thune--this will be great for Sioux Falls, but are there not many more residents of rural SD than inside SIoux Falls that need some type of promise for the future.  Recent news of the Halo-net (sponsered through, I believe, Midco and NBS and supported by Microsoft--low orbit satellites but not for a couple of years) we are told will be limited to extreme SE South Dakota which is not in the SpeedConnect area being abandoned, some of which does have some alternatives, but again, like electric power--even if 80% countryside covered, how can the other 20% go back into the dark ages of kerosene lamps.

Telco's can't cover this effectively or economically for the customer--again $5000 to run CL COPPER (NOT FIBER NET) from a Fibernet Node 3/4 mile from us on roads with 6 to 9 customers at the north and south boundaries, and yet about 6 not included in their rollout  which right now requires $5000 for us to get now obsolete and very slow copper link to the Fibernet.

Taken from original article at
https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2018/09/28/john-thune-5-g-senate-commerce-committee-sioux-falls-could-get-fastest-internet-service-world/1455942002/

Jonathan Ellis, Sioux Falls Argus Leader Published 11:56 a.m. CT Sept. 28, 2018 | Updated 12:17 p.m. CT Sept. 30, 2018

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)

Sioux Falls could be a test case for how the country deploys a new network that promises the fastest Internet speeds in the world.

Sen. John Thune, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, will hold a Commerce Committee hearing in Sioux Falls next Friday that will include Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken, industry representatives and the president of Dakota State University, Thune announced Friday.

Known as 5G mobile broadband technology, the network is capable of delivering speeds that are 100 times faster than current networks. Communities with 5G technology would be poised for a big boost in economic development.

“It means more opportunities, more jobs, and more economic development,” Thune wrote in a weekly column. “According to some estimates, 5G could contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. economy.”

More: Privacy groups upset at not being invited to Thune hearing on data privacy

“As chairman of the Commerce Committee,” he added, “I want to help the United States win this race, and I want South Dakota to be at the forefront.”

Next week’s hearing will focus on the hurdles that states and local communities face. At a national level, Thune has introduced legislation to streamline 5G development. At a White House 5G summit on Friday, Thune identified a major hurdle: spectrum.

“But if America’s wireless carriers do not have enough of the right kinds of spectrum available, Americans simply won’t have the speed and connections we need,” Thune said at the summit.

Sioux Falls is already poised to be a laboratory for 5G. A couple of years ago, the city updated its ordinances on small cell service, said T.J. Nelson, a spokesman for TenHaken. The city currently has an internal task force working with industry providers to negotiate details, including policies regarding fees and easements.

“Our goal is to be one of the first, if not the first, mid-population cities in the U.S.,” Nelson said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Brendan Carr's title. He is a commissioner of the FCC. 

Midco launches its Xstream Gig internet service in Sioux Falls, its first market for the super-fast internet speed in South Dakota. The service is about 35 times as fast as regular internet speeds. Wochit

Third Wave of Cord Cutting: Home Internet Service

From Fortune magazine

Here Comes the Third Wave of Cord Cutting: Home Internet Service

People are increasingly relying on their phones to get online, and cutting the cord to home broadband Internet service. 

Aaron Pressman

October 2nd, 2018

 

The trend of people cutting their home Internet connections in favor of wireless online connectivity is accelerating, according to the latest survey from Pew Research. No doubt fed by falling prices for wireless service and the spread of unlimited data plans, Internet cord cutting has now reached one in five Americans, almost double the level of two years ago.

The percentage of people who say they depend solely on their smartphones to connect to the Internet has risen steadily from 8% in 2013, to 12% in 2016, to 20% this year. Pew first highlighted the trend in 2015 when it recorded that the percentage of households with home Internet connections declined to 67% from 70% in 2013. That measure has since bounced around a bit, but stood at 65% in the latest survey from 2018, Pew reported.

[ HOWEVER, who knows how this survey was taken--to skew results to show what the Wireless TelCos need to justify their 40 million government grants???? 

I would say--look closer--aging Baby boomers are entering retirement--fixed incomes but more leisure time to stream 4K (eyesight fails--need larger crisper displays) at home and not on the go with small screens size of a smart phone or tablet--uh, uh.  

Yes, some have smartphone plans shared with their kids, but often for travel or emergency or economic self-budgeting on fixed incomes requiring uninstalling landlines which services are similar in price but not portable.  

And as the aging population increases--who not only have fixed retirement incomes but less disposable income due to continued health cost increases by Obama style premiums--limiting budget items such as smartphones with unlimited data plans--may give way to faster streaming bandwidth for leisure TV watching or hobbies needing a regular PC with large monitor....  Everybody gets older, wiser, blinder and home bound...

What about large families--6 people with their own smartphones sitting in corners somewhere vs family-oriented TV viewing????? Do the math on that one...]

The trend marks the third wave of cord cutting over the past few decades. In the first wave of cord cutting, people dropped their landline phone connections, starting around 2003, in favor of more convenient wireless connections. Almost 54% of households have only wireless phone service now, according to the most recent survey by National Center for Health Statistics.

Microsoft is rolling out a rural broadband plan — BUT

Microsoft is rolling out a rural broadband plan — but the Iowa counties that benefit aren't rural

 https://amp.desmoinesregister.com/amp/1284298002

Microsoft is partnering with Network Business Systems to expand internet service to some 126,700 people who do not have broadband service. But the three counties in Iowa that will benefit — Scott, Muscatine and Clinton — are urban.

"They’re not rural," said David Peters, an associate professor of sociology at Iowa State University.

Microsoft is partnering with the Geneseo, Illinois, company as part of its Airband initiative, which seeks to expand broadband service to 2 million people living in rural America by 2022.

Rural residents have long suffered from unequal access to high-speed internet. Providers often avoid the most remote areas because of unfavorable economics: They demand a high infrastructure investment, but smaller population bases offer limited potential.

FCC data show that about 98 percent of Iowans in urban areas have access to high-speed internet. Conversely, only 77.4 percent of rural residents have broadband access.

 

A Microsoft spokeswoman later said the tech giant is "investing in technology and expertise as well as digital literacy skills training." The agreement also allows Network Business Systems to leverage Microsoft’s suite of products including Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics.
Network Business Systems already was considering expanding its territory, but the Microsoft pact "kind of sealed the deal for us," Hoffman said.

The provider uses wireless towers to beam internet service across remote stretches of Iowa and Illinois. The company uses a mix of technology, including utilizing television white space, the unused portion of television airwaves. 

Network Business Systems operates 120 towers and frequently partners with farmers to place receivers on top of grain bins. Each tower can transmit five to seven miles, she said.

That avoids the high cost of laying fiberoptic wire to connect remote areas. But the technology is still unfamiliar to many, so having Microsoft's backing should help persuade customers, Hoffman said.

 

She said Network Business Systems works with farms, businesses and homeowners, specializing in connecting rural areas.

"We want to get it to the underserved, first and foremost," she said. "That's what our company started with."

 

⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫

[This is the same offer extended to Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota published in the Argus Leader a few days ago -- https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/business-journal/2018/09/13/microsoft-corporation-improve-internet-rural-south-dakota/1290942002/

The companies announced their partnership Thursday, with plans to expand broadband access in Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota. The improvements will help an estimated 126,700 get better internet.

The company is partnering with Microsoft is part of Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, a national effort to extend broadband access across the rural U.S.

Microsoft plans to improve coverage for 2 million people by July, 2022.

OUR PUC has further clarified that those in SD wil probably be the extreme SE corner of SD.

 Again: see the highlighted key words and what that REALLY means for you and your neighbors!

Looks good on paper in  some beaurocrat's office, but is 126,700 -- households or people--there could be 4-6 in a Rural household and so the actual farms getting the services might be 30,000+--????????

 

SPEEDCONNECT LEAVING SOUTH DAKOTA CONFIRMED

Confirmed via our PUC: Speed Connect leaving SD

Last week the FCC announced that Midco was the winning bidder to receive a subsidy for providing broadband in many of the very high cost rural CenturyLink areas in South Dakota.  A chunk of the Flandreau exchange is included in that coverage.  My understanding is that Midco will use a new generation fixed wireless product (up to 100 mbps) to meet their obligation.  It’s possible some of that coverage may serve part of your area but it is way too early in that process to know.  

This will NOT happen this year.

South Dakota Broadband Report Released August 2018

 SDN recently published a blog report on South Dakota "Rural S.D. “ahead of curve” in deploying broadband services"   Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2018 in Broadband Internet , Member CommunitiesBlog written by Rob Swenson

2018 report is titled, “Connecting South Dakota’s Future: A Report on the Deployment & Impact of Rural Broadband.” The South Dakota Dashboard, an online community information service, compiled the report for the South Dakota Telecommunications Association and SDN Communications.

To download and view the entire report, go to
https://sdncommunications.com/media/files/Docs/SD-Broadband-Report-2018.pdf

Outtakes:

"According to a recent study, South Dakota ranked 35th in the nation for average or mean download speeds at 17.38 MB, compared to number one Rhode Island with an average speed
of 36.69 MB and Maine in 50th place with an average of 11.73 MB. In practical terms, this means that it takes roughly twice as long (59 minutes) to download a large, high-definition movie (7.5 GB) in South Dakota than Rhode Island.23"


SPARSITY AND DISTANCE: THE CHALLENGES WE FACE
South Dakota is a big, geographically diverse state. In some areas, especially western South Dakota, companies have to traverse great distances with wirelines and signals to ensure that all citizens are served. Because the costs to serve rural customers are higher and the benefits of a telecommunications network that is able to reach everyone accrue to all customers, the federal
government collects fees from telecommunications companies and customers throughout the country to assist with network investments and provide affordable “universal service.”

This Universal Service Fund (USF) provides resources to help telecommunications companies deliver services to locations in high cost areas, reduce the cost of telecommunications services for low-income households, increase access to telemedicine and rural health programs, and connect schools and libraries to the internet.
Because non-metropolitan telecommunications providers serve a smaller and relatively more dispersed customer base, they also incur higher costs per line. Resources provided by USF help play a critical role in keeping telecommunications affordable in rural communities. Across the country, total expenditures for the four USF programs totaled $8.75 billion in 2016.31 Of this total, telecommunications companies in South Dakota received nearly $100 million. [What!  With all that $ and we have neighbors -- within a mile or two (7-8 households) who cannot get this service--we are told we need to pay $5000 to run a copper line from a node 3/4 mile up to the corner to get this "TELCO" service.  Why isn't this $ available to NON-Phone Internet services who can do it faster, cheaper and sooner!!!!!!]

Rural communities in South Dakota also receive support from the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS), which provides loans, loan guarantees, and grants to help build telecommunications infrastructure. Between 2010 and 2017, broadband infrastructure investments in service areas of SDTA member companies financed through the RUS totaled $122.5 million. This included $93.4 million in loans under the Telecommunications Infrastructure Program and another $26.2 million in grants and loans provided under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act’s Broadband Investment Program. South Dakota companies have been particularly enterprising in taking advantage of available RUS funding. In FY 2017, approved RUS loans to South Dakota’s rural telecommunications carriers totaled $116.7 million and accounted for 17 percent of all dollars allocated nationally under the related RUS programs.

Meeting the Challenges
In 2011, Venture Communications began upgrading infrastructure with fiber-optics-to-the-home technology. Areas that were addressed initially included the Wessington Springs, Faulkton, Highmore, and Harrold communities which had some of the most antiquated plants. Six years later, by the end of 2017, Venture had replaced old copper plant with fiber optics for more than 95 percent of its customers. [Takes time IF the Telco is even willing to take fiber directly to the home and not use older existing copper lines which dumbs down the speed significantly] According to Venture Communications spokesperson Rod Kusser, the company’s fiber-to-the-home program gives customers far more options when it comes to download speeds and
services. “In many areas customers can choose an offering that approaches gigabyte speeds,” says Kusser. For year-round rural customers, fiber-based broadband provides a vital connection for
information, entertainment, and communications. For customers who summer on the lakes in the northeastern part of the state or along the Missouri River, they can work remotely with broadband
service that often exceeds what they get in their offices in major metropolitan areas.95% of Venture
customers have been converted to fiber.


Here's the entire News Conference regarding that report :


South Dakota Broadband Report News Conference

My take on this is that it's great there is some media attention to a problem that has existed for quite awhile and most of the solutions aren't going to be available in the next few months--lucky if in the next few years.  

BUT, like electricity -- if 25% of rural SD did not have electricity????

Rural water--there IS an alternative--called wells (so if there were a similar alternative for broadband, we could survive until Rural water became affordable and available to all). 

AND it's about choice--if you carve up certain areas so that --- sure there is broadband available, so check that off for a certain township, but what is the cost, what are the data limits, what is the "outage" history?  We don't just want what someone in DC "thinks" we need or want.  We want the same choices our urban neighbors have.

See post from DesMoines Register on a new system that was announced a year ago about Microsoft and low orbit satellites, TV air waves.  Sounds good, but when?  Not this year, when SpeedConnect abandons thousands of customers, not just in SD but everywhere but Michigan! 

SPEEDCONNECT to DROP ALL Internet Service (except in Michigan) by end of 2018

A SpeedConnect Employee emailed me yesterday (will be confirming via other reliable sources) that SC will only be offering ViaSat Satellite Internet in Michigan for Michigan only customers.  All other customers in the rest of the US will lose all types of Internet service from SC by end of 2018.

This is a change from what customers were told in their bills that ViaSat service would be provided via SC.  

BIG question as to who will pick up the customers?????

What Is Net Neutrality?

WATCH THIS 5 Minute VIDEO on Net Neutrality

CLICK to WATCH




 What Is Net Neutrality?

 https://www.prageru.com/videos/what-net-neutrality

Jon Gabriel

48.7K Views

Sep 10, 2018

For months, it seemed nearly every media figure was in hysterics over the impending repeal of net neutrality. Then, net neutrality was repealed… and nothing much changed. So what exactly is net neutrality, and why do so many people have such strong opinions about something they don’t understand? Jon Gabriel, editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com cuts through the hysteria to bring you the facts.

SOMETHING More Alarming and Critical than having slow Internet is having NO INTERNET--EMP in our FUTURE

Here's a very professional interview from Fox News with Peter Pry about the Threat of an EMP -- not just from an enemy (and we have plenty of them) cyberattack in the atmosphere which we would HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO WARNING OF WHEN IT HAPPENS--except the immediate and long-term effects which could disable or kill 90% of our population, not directly but by the effect on infrastructure, communication (internet), transportation.  

I have heard from my geek sons that it could be quite isolated and not widespread, but listen to this interview to see how an EMP could be MADE more widespread. It talks of a combination of attacks that could disable that 90% very easily.

EMP doesn't just come from man but also from the SUN!

See this Youtube replay of the interview Sunday night: https://youtu.be/vjB_ECh37Cs

• Time to take stock of what's important to you to preserve, stock up and protect. 

• Your cars have computers--do you know anyone with an old klunker that does NOT use a computer--Be friends of them real quick.

• Do you know a Ham Operator as how else will you communicate--what do cell towers use? Or where do Landlines get their feeds?

• Your internet provider or source?

• Your water supply? Your waste system?

• Your heat supply?

• You can't depend on your survivalist neighbor as you may not be able to get to him and be sure he will have defense (guns) ready if he thinks you DON'T have the same set up he does.

• What about your family who lives in the city and you are in a rural area?

 

UPDATE on SPEEDCONNECT....sort of

We understand SpeedConnect has some new comments on the FCC website to this effect:

"SpeedConnect will continue to provide high speed internet service to  its subscribers after  the sale of its 2.5  GHz  spectrum to Clearwire Spectrum Holdings III LLC through Viasat, Inc., a  satellite provider of which SpeedConnect is a registered dealer. Once the parties have determined  a closing date, SpeedConnect will contact its customers  with first notice by mail at least thirty  days prior to the switch over, followed up by contact

 through telephone and electronic mail to  best reach each customer.  

 SpeedConnect will offer the Viasat service as an alternative to its  current service at the best possible rate.

 Thereafter, SpeedConnect’s customers will have the option of continuing their relationship with SpeedConnect or

 may transition  to other providers in  their respective markets  for their internet services

  
This means that the FCC has approved sale of SC's 2.5 Spectrum to Clearwire for use of Sprint's cell system, NOT FIXED WIRELESS--that will be GONE!  

Customer's ONLY choice will then be Satellite unless a new Provider pops up.  We have at least one neighbor close by who seems to have already made that transition and hope to catch him and see how it's working. If the prices on this site are the best we can do, good luck!  https://www.speedconnect.com/plans/

GOP Internet Tax and Kristi Noem

BEWARE...the Taxman cometh....and cometh...and cometh

WSJ Article from March 15, 2018 on the GOP Internet Tax Proposal by Kristi Noem at https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-gops-internet-tax-1521153858

Appeared in the March 16, 2018, print edition Op Ed as 'The GOP’s Internet Tax.' 

Excerpts:

Republicans have spent the last year cutting taxes and regulations, which hasn’t been easy. But now some Members of Congress want to blunt their handiwork by passing an online sales tax. Yes, they actually believe this would be good policy and politics.

A large faction of House Republicans are pressing GOP leaders to attach legislation to the omnibus spending bill that would let states collect sales tax from remote online retailers. South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem’s legislation, which has 50 co-sponsors, would let some 12,000 jurisdictions conscript out-of-state retailers into collecting sales and use taxes from their customers. A bipartisan companion bill in the Senate has 27 co-sponsors.

The Supreme Court’s 1992 Quill decision forbids state and local governments from requiring businesses without a “physical nexus”—that is, property or employees—to collect sales tax...

But online purchases make up less than 10% of all retail sales, and only a sliver is untaxed. Seventeen of the 18 largest retailers on the web by 2016 had already begun collecting sales taxes on all of their customers’ purchases. The exception was home-goods retailer Wayfair.

...Contrary to political lore, sales tax revenues have been increasing steadily in states with healthy economies. Over the past five years, Florida’s sales tax revenues have grown 27%. South Dakota’s are up by nearly 30% since 2013. This is noteworthy since politicians from states without income taxes complain that Quill could impel them to pass one to raise revenue.

...Twenty or so states have adopted “click-through” taxes to hit remote retailers that have contracts with local businesses. In 2016 South Dakota invited the High Court to revisit Quill by extending its sales tax to out-of-state sellers. Other states have followed. The Court will hear that case, Wayfair v. South Dakota, next month, and most expect Justice Kennedy to join the liberal majority to overturn Quill. 

 

...many Republicans say Congress must intervene. Yet the legislation that they want to add to the omnibus spending bill next week won’t necessarily moot the case or rein in errant Justices.

If the status quo is doomed, then a better alternative is House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s compromise with California Democrat Anna Eshoo, which would establish a mechanism for states to collect taxes from out-of-state retailers through a national clearinghouse. His bill would simplify compliance for small retailers and prevent states from harassing out-of-state businesses—thus preserving the constitutional principle of no regulation without representation.

The real reason some Republicans in Congress are now rushing to pass their kill Quill bill is that they want to get credit for axing the Court’s 1992 decision with retailers at home. But stuffing such an important policy change inside a huge spending bill with little debate would be a political scam. Raising taxes on small business and consumers won’t be a good look for Republicans in November, nor an inducement for investment and growth.

 

SpeedConnect Customers in our Twp given offers to switch to Satellite Internet

Customers calling for support now being offered Satellite Internet per their website!

If you go to https://www.speedconnect.com/plans/ 
you will see the page below

Plans & Pricing

Platinum 100 Satellite Internet

• Up to 100 Mbps (not available in all locations)
• Unlimited data
• Features upload speeds of 3 Mpbs on all residential packages

Order Now

---

Gold 30 Satellite Internet

• Up to 30 Mbps (50 Mbps available in some locations)
• Unlimited data
• Features upload speeds of 3 Mpbs on all residential packages

Order Now

---

Silver 25 Satellite Internet

• Up to 25 Mbps
• Unlimited data
• Features upload speeds of 3 Mpbs on all residential packages

Order Now

---

Bronze 12 Satellite Internet

• Up to 12 Mbps
• Unlimited data
• Features upload speeds of 3 Mpbs on all residential packages

Order Now

---

*All plans will have a $9.95 additional equipment rental fee.

June 2017 Comparison of SpeedConnect and other NationWide Fixed Wireless Providers

 [My Comments]

4G LTE Leveraged for Fixed Wireless Broadband in Rural Communities – RCR Wireless News 

For entire article go to https://www.risebroadband.com/2017/06/4g-lte-leveraged-fixed-wireless-broadband-rural-communities-rcr-wireless-news/

Posted on June 7, 2017 by rbbadmin

Analyst Angle: 4G LTE leveraged for fixed wireless broadband in rural communities

Approximately 30% of U.S. households in remote and rural communities still lack access to high speed broadband, and availability of fixed terrestrial broadband services in rural America continues to lag behind urban and suburban areas at all speeds. High speed internet access via DSL, cable and fiber is still cost prohibitive in rural and remote areas, and is available is only where providers can deploy these networks profitably. [Some providers CAN deploy profitably--and still offer GREAT PRICES]

Approximately 2,000 WISPs currently fill this gap by providing fixed wireless broadband services to more than 4 million households in small towns and rural communities in all 50 US states. Although the WISP industry is still highly fragmented, consolidation among WISP has been accelerating.  [Is consolidation always good?]

• Rise Broadband has leveraged private equity investments by Antares Capital and LStar Capital to acquire 100+ smaller operators since its founding in 2006, and is now the largest U.S. WISP with approximately 200,000 subscribers in 16 western states.

 [Bigger isn't always better]

The next largest WISP, SpeedConnect, now serves 50,000 subscribers in 10 mid-west and southern states, having leveraged funding from NewSpring Capital and a Kemper Corp. subsidiary to acquire CommSpeed and Sioux Valley Wireless. Although the majority of these subscribers are being served using proprietary technologies in unlicensed 5GHz spectrum, we have seen a significant uptick in investment in the use of 4G LTE technologies using licensed spectrum as a key technology enabler of fixed wireless broadband in rural areas where communities are small and housing density is low.
Rise Broadband continues to expand its fixed LTE wireless coverage area in more than 20 small-to-mid-sized markets, increasing peak Internet speeds up to 50 Mbps to allow its rural and suburban subscribers to receive faster Internet access, streaming, shopping and other online activities. Rise currently uses LTE spectrum in the 3.65 GHz “lightly licensed” band and has 16 licenses in the 2.5 GHz band. Rise plans to continue acquiring more 2.5 GHz spectrum to expand its fixed LTE wireless coverage.

SpeedConnect recently began using FCC-licensed 2.5 GHz EBS and BRS spectrum to launch LTEXtreme Internet, with 5, 15, 25 and 50 Mbps speeds to meet subscriber needs for streaming video services.   ......   [Hmmm what happened in past 9 months????]

Operator	LTE Fixed Wireless Coverage	Brand	Broadband Speed
Rise Broadband	20 small-to-mid-sized markets	Fixed LTE Wireless	up to 50 Mbps
SpeedConnect	1.1 million HH and businesses	LTEXtreme	5, 15, 25 & 50 Mbps
Redzone Wireless	Statewide in Maine	5Gx	50 Mbps down & 10 Mbps up

Until recently, the largest U.S. telecom and wireless network operators had not shown much interest in using fixed wireless technology to deliver fixed broadband to rural communities. But six of the leading telcos accepted more than $1.4 billion in funding in the second phase of the FCC Connect America Fund (CAF-II) to bring broadband to an estimated 3.5 million households and businesses in rural uncovered areas. The FCC has deemed high speed broadband service as a necessity in today’s technology environment, and has established a minimum standard of 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. That standard may be raised to 25/3 Mbps for the third wave of CAF funding in 2017.   CAF II funding was accepted by CenturyLink, AT&T, Frontier, Windstream, FairPoint and Consolidated Communications, while Verizon opted out of the high-cost broadband program.

Operator	CAF II Rural Location Coverage	Geographic Coverage	CAF II Funding
CenturyLink	1.174 million	33 states	$505.7 million
AT&T	1.1 million	18 States	$427.7 million
Frontier	660,000	28 states	$283.4 million
Windstream	404,626	17 states	$174.9 million
Fairpoint	105,220	14 states	$37.4 million
Consolidated	24,700 rural locations	7 states	$13.9 million
Total	3.469 million HH and businesses		$1.443 billion

A recent Wireless 20/20 study demonstrates that fixed wireless could reduce capital expenditures by more than 50% for many low-density CAF II funded high-cost rural broadband deployments. Now that mobile broadband service is available to nearly the entire US population, some of the largest operators have begun to focus on fixed wireless as the most cost-effective technology to deliver broadband to rural and remote households.

AT&T recently announced plans to use a fixed wireless network to reach these CAF households when the cost to serve subscribers with DSL is too high. AT&T has a CAF II commitment to deliver high-speed broadband service to more than 400,000 locations in 18 states by the end of 2017 and over 1.1 million households and businesses by 2020. AT&T’s Fixed Wireless Internet (FWI) will meet the FCC’s CAF-II requirement to deliver a home internet connection with download speeds of at least 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. The fixed wireless connection comes from a tower to an antenna on customers’ homes or businesses. Fixed Wireless Internet service will be provided using standard LTE base stations, but runs over a largely separate network from AT&T’s current mobility infrastructure. The use of separate base stations, tower antennas and spectrum will keep the fixed wireless service from interfering with mobility services.

Operator	LTE Fixed Wireless Coverage	Brand	Broadband Speed
AT&T	67,000 locations in Georgia 400K locations by the end of the year 1.1 million locations nationwide in 17 more states by 2020	Fixed LTE Wireless	10 Mbps downstream 1 Mbps upstream

AT&T has proven this hybrid of terrestrial and wireless broadband products newly combined to be a more cost-effective approach to delivering high-quality, high-speed internet to customers living in hard-to-reach rural and sparsely populated underserved areas. AT&T recently completed a first wave of fixed wireless internet availability for rural and underserved locations in Georgia, with plans to reach over 67,000 locations with fixed wireless technology across Georgia by 2020.  AT&T plans to expand its Fixed Wireless Internet to 1.1 million locations nationwide in 17 more states later in 2017. The AT&T fixed wireless service will be priced at $60 per month for the broadband only service and this price rises to $70 with no contract.
AT&T also intends to offer fixed wireless broadband service bundled with DIRECTV, lowering the monthly cost to $50, with a one-year contract. The fixed wireless service will have broadband usage caps of 160 GB per month, with additional 50 GB increments of data charged at $10 per month.

Wireless 20/20 has learned that AT&T will be using its licensed 2.3GHz WCS spectrum (Band 30) to deploy this rural fixed wireless service. AT&T acquired WCS spectrum from NextWave and Sprint in a series of transactions beginning in 2012. After resolving interference with Sirius XM satellite radio the wireless carrier began deploying its 2.3 GHz WCS spectrum, initially as a “capacity layer” for LTE mobile broadband service on top of its nationwide 700 MHz in a handful of dense urban markets during 2015.

AT&T Spectrum Block	Capacity	Coverage	Percent of Continental US Pops
WCS A and B	10-20 MHz	473 CMAs	70%
WCS C and D	5-10 MHz	344 CMAs	54%

AT&T has not disclosed any vendors for either the fixed wireless LTE base stations or outdoor antennas, but will use the same AT&T Wi-Fi gateways used for DSL service.   The dedicated outdoor antenna will be professionally installed on the chimney or roof, somewhat like a satellite dish today. Instead of aiming at the satellite, the outdoor antenna will be aimed towards a cell tower. An Ethernet cable will run from the outside antenna to an AT&T Wi-Fi gateway inside the house which will support up to 4 Ethernet-connected devices and multiple Wi-Fi enabled devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets, similar to how many wired home internet customers are connected today. AT&T will charge a $99 installation fee for FWI when purchased either standalone or with a wireless plan, and this installation fee will be waived if bundled with DIRECTV.

Wireless 20/20 expects this AT&T initiative to be of interest to other telcos that have accepted CAF-II funding and plan to apply for additional funds for rural broadband, such as CenturyLink, Frontier, Windstream, FairPoint and Consolidated Communications. Even Rise Broadband recently announced plans to expand its Fixed LTE Wireless network in 10 market areas in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas, leveraging the $16.9 million funding received through the Rural Broadband Experiment (RBE) program, part of the overall FCC CAF program for broadband expansion in rural markets.

There has been a distinct shift in FCC policy in favor of wireless broadband, as Chairman Ajit Pai recently announced the formation of the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force to oversee both the upcoming Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF-II) and the “reverse auctions” for Mobility Fund II. The upcoming FCC CAF-II reverse auction will make nearly $2 billion available for bidders to connect unserved and underserved census blocks in 20 states over the next decade. The FCC MF-II reverse auction will make more than $4.5 billion in new funding available over ten years for expanding 4G LTE mobile broadband coverage across rural America and Tribal lands.  

T-Mobile recently asked the FCC to lower the speed and latency thresholds for Mobility Fund II, reducing the broadband downlink benchmark from 10 Mbps to 5 Mbps.  [Yep!  Our T Mobile Hot Spot DLS often goes to less than 10!]