The state of Oregon earlier this week awarded its contract for broadband mapping under the stimulus law. The news in the announcement is that the winner was not Connected Nation. Instead, the winner was a consortium headed by One Economy, including New America Foundation, BroadMap, Navteq, and BCT Partners.
It doesn’t appear as if Connected Nation even bid on this one. The One Economy’s $1.6 million bid won out over six other competitors. So far, the One Economy group has won in Hawaii, Guam and Samoa, in addition to Oregon. The bid will combine New America’s new crowd-sourcing technology with One Economy’s Digital Connectors youth corps while aiming to be more transparent than Connected Nation. The group promised a heavy emphasis on demand-side mapping, along with a live and updateable data base.
The consortium promised in its response to the state RFP: “Importantly, broadband mapping is a public resource and must be treated as such. The user interface must be easily accessible and useful to business ventures, non-profits, policymakers, academic researchers and the public. It must be transparent with data sources flagged and holes in the data understood. It is critical to utilize the best in class companies to provide the best user experience in accessing this data for both decision makers and consumers.”
In addition, the group said in its proposal that it wouldn’t be dependent on data from telecom carriers: “Finally, while it would be easier to rely primarily on data from broadband providers, this information can be incomplete and limited in scope. Carrier-provided data is an essential starting point, but needs to be verified and supplemented with other sources. We emphasize data collection from a state’s consumers themselves. Broadband user experience and short-form survey data can be “crowd-sourced” in large numbers online, producing useful feedback to citizens’ in the process. More in-depth supply- and demand-side data is collected as well through longer-form surveys, such as by One Economy’s Digital Connectors.”
Meanwhile, Kentucky is about ready to issue a Request for Proposals for stimulus-funded broadband mapping. The new RFP will not be a gift to Connect Kentucky, the original organization from which Connected Nation developed. Greg Haskamp, executive policy advisor for the Finance and Administration Cabinet, told us that the state will be the primary agency for the stimulus funds, and that a “competitive RFP” will be issued for the mapping. Haskamp said the bidding will be “open to anyone. We would welcome an open process.” Haskamp said the state will look closely to make certain that anchor institutions, such as schools and libraries, have good broadband connections.
Despite those assurances, however, some sources in the state said that Connect Kentucky is not out of the picture, and indeed is working hard using political connections to get the mapping contract. Giving CK a contract would be a dramatic reversal, because Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed CK’s $2 million appropriation in April, and the legislature didn’t override it.
In addition, Kentucky state government will work with its universities to review the data originally collected by Connect Kentucky, Haskamp said. That job will involve reviewing maps and perhaps some field testing, he added. As is becoming normal, telecom carriers are resisting calls for more specific data to be reported. Haskamp said he was told by carriers in the state that collection of carrier-specific data was “the first step toward regulation.”
Connected Nation’s mapping is now causing a controversy in West Virginia. According to the Charleston Daily Mail, there is some concern that Connected Nation’s earlier maps may keep the state from receiving broadband stimulus funds. The story quoted Dave Armentrout of FiberNet as saying that Connect West Virginia’s maps show few remote areas in the state that aren’t served with broadband.
According to the newspaper, “The way ‘remote area’ has been defined by the federal agencies overseeing the program has eliminated most of West Virginia, ‘which we all know is ridiculous because West Virginia ranks in the top 47 or 48 states un-served by broadband,’ Armentrout said.” The story quoted Connect West Virginia as saying broadband is available to 81 percent of state residents.
The next state to make an announcement on a broadband mapping contract could be Iowa, which received three bids for its mapping project. One agency in the state originally wanted to award the contract to Connected Nation on a sole-source basis, but the staff of Gov. Chet Culver (D) made the bidding competitive instead.
Don't blame Connected Nation for the lack of unserved areas
Conected Nation has nothing to do with the fact that few areas — even very rural ones — are really unserved.
Anyone with a cell phone tower within 10 miles or so can likely get high speed Internet — not just 768Kbps but usually up to about 3 Mbps — by at most pointing a good Yagi antenna at a cell site. Also, WISPs (terrestrial wireless ISPs) cover huge areas of the country — more, in fact, than either cable or DSL alone.
Our nation is not as “unserved” as some people apparently think. As Pew discovered in its poll, the majority of adults who do not have Internet do not have it because they do not want it.
ISP, define "unserved" please
“Anyone with a cell phone tower within 10 miles can get high speed Internet up to about 3 Mbps, and WISPs cover huge areas of the country”.
Really? Well, so there’s no broadband access problem then?
Funny, just like Connected Nations tell us in about every state they work on…
Sounds to me you may not know what you’re talking about, ISP. Maybe CN don’t either, given what they produce, hum…
(BTW: “ISP” as I am sure you have a real name, I am wondering why you dont dare using it to express your opinions?)
The truth about broadband coverage
It’s funny how those who aren’t in the business (most often lobbyists) like to make things up, and then try to gainsay those of us who actually know the facts. And, yes, Connected Nation has a lot of actual broadband providers involved in it and therefore truly does understand the facts about rural broadband. (I’m not involved in Connected Nation — in fact, I compete with some of the companies who are — but I respect what they do.)
As an ISP who serves rural areas, I can tell you with authority that very few areas are actually completely unserved. Some folks don’t like the number of options they have, or the price, but that’s another matter. It’s expensive to deploy to sparsely populated areas. (I know; it’s been my personal mission for 17 years.)
Again, if you have a cell phone tower within 10 miles, or can get even one bar on your cell phone’s signal strength display, odds are that you have access to broadband. It might cost $60 or $80 per month rather than the $30 you’d pay in an urban area, and you might have to buy an antenna that costs between $100 and $200 and perhaps a small amplifier, but you do have access. Simple as that. And the odds are better than 50/50 that cellular is not your only choice. WISPs (non-cellular, fixed, terrestrial wireless ISPs) cover substantially more than half of the US population. WISPs can deliver service which is not mobile but is substantially faster than cellular, with lower latencies.
As for my real name: It’s well known to commenters on this blog. I’m Brett Glass, and I was the world’s first WISP.
contracts..
I wonder if Oregon’s contract award has anything to do with One Economy’s current Board members…but their bid is ridiculous for 3 year contract. How can they provide any high level of service to OR? From early reports out of OR broadband providers have very little or no support for any type of mapping project and will take some political will. With the little amount of resources…how will the project be completed and with high accurcy. Then they severely undercut private business because of there nontax status loop hole. Just for comparison..Alabama’s mapping project was 1.9 million for 2 years! Tennessee’s project was over 6 million for 3 years… FYI…wireless broadband is at best 80% reliable…would you want the hospital broadband connection to the rest of the world at 80% or would you prefer a wiredline broadband at almost 99% reliabilty and twice the bandwidth…
Wireless is more reliable than fiber.
Wireless broadband service is far more than “80% reliable.” In fact, it is more reliable than cable or fiber, because there is nothing to be cut by a backhoe during construction (a common occurrence with fiber) or washed out by a storm. WISPs were heavily involved in the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, when neither landline nor cellular telephone companies were able to restore service as quickly as WISPs were able to bring in broadband.
Your not correct wireless
Your not correct wireless networks operate off those same fiber wired networks…and WISP’s n ISP’s are RESELLERS of bandwidth. There are far more constraints to wireless than to wireline…look it up weather, topography, vegitation, back hoes, construction crews, technology costs…and many more to name thus the low reliabilty of wireless! The only bonus of wireless is its cheap intial start up costs.
Spoken like a city boy
Wrong. “…the majority of adults who do not have Internet do not have it because they do not want it.”
First of all, in Wyoming, there are a LOT of places that are not within 10 miles of a cell tower. Or 20 miles of a cell tower. Or try 50 miles of a cell tower. I’m sure we’re not the only state that is topography- and population- challenged.
Go for satellite you say? Good luck. Even Wild Blue, who purports to “rural America’s satellite provider” has its limits…and those limits are increasingly narrow. They can’t afford to install and maintain equipment in many areas. Or so they say.
Commercial satellite company? Ridiculous limits on bandwidth and out of the price range of many residential internet users, and also many small businesses in rural America.
Believe me…we are underserved.
My WISP operates in Wyoming...
…and I have served on the Wyoming State Telecommunications Council, so I can say with authority that more than 98% of our population is already served. (And that’s based on broadband maps that were prepared several years ago and are now out of date.)
As for the reliability of wireless: It’s superb. Just try to cut it with a backhoe.
Saying it does not make it so
98% of Wyoming is served by braodband? Don’t suppose you have any FACTS to back up your claim? And, gee, I’m impressed you served on the Council. That’s some wowee-zow credentials. Lying WISPS like you are why we need a PUBLIC mapping project.
Wyoming's broadband coverage
Hey, Anonymous, do you actually live in Wyoming? And why are you so disparaging and nasty (not to mention anonymous)? That’s not the Wyoming way, so I very much doubt that you’re a genuine Wyomingite.
Wyoming’s broadband coverage was recently documented by CostQuest; the results are online. And even when the figures were published they understated the total coverage; I know, because my firm wasn’t the only one that refused to submit data. (They could not guarantee that our coverage data would remain proprietary.) Even without our data, they found that 98% of our population was covered. And that was quite some time ago. A lot more broadband has been built out since.
But of course, what do I know? I only founded the first WISP (right here in Wyoming).
98%
Gee, a number. Pray tell, 98% of who had what? This kind of over-the-top propaganda is why we need full-disclosure mapping.
Its the same old Bush era tactics - “just trust us”. Sorry, you lost the last election. Face up to reality.
Wyoming CostQuest Study Shows Big Holes
Just for the record, folks. WISP is wrong.
The CostQuest study results clearly show huge coverage gaps, mostly due to terrain challenges.
Wyoming's population is 98%+ covered.
“Anonymous,” it appears that you’re remaining anonymous because it’d embarrass you to be so intentionally misleading. A large portion of Wyoming is Federal land — national parks and BLM land — where no one lives. So, naturally, there are gaps on the map in those areas. But there are also no people there — just “prairie chickens.” And they have no use for broadband.
contracted...
It appears One Economy has won another bid in Mississippi once again undercutting private business with this 501c3 status nonsense! It appears and looks nothing different from Connected Nation other than Connected Nation has the expertise in broadband mapping and planning…1Economy does have experience in telecom planning for urban or intercity communities but not at this scale. I wonder how a very conservative state such as Mississippi will deal with an activist and liberal org such as One Economy..can and will they coexist?