It is no mystery that Big Metal has had its way in the market for far too long.  The combination of money that can be used to lobby politicians and distort the perception of the public with disingenuous advertisements has been a strong deterrent to smaller and medium sized businesses that want to deploy FTTH (Fiber To The Home) solutions.  After all, the economic and political might wielded by Big Metal (telecoms and cable companies) is considerable, and easily capable of crushing smaller interests.

What happens when they face someone their own size?  This is a question that has only recently been answered, and only then by a few extremely large corporations such as Verizon and now Google.  With major companies capable of defending themselves legally and in the public eye, there are lots of questions for Big Metal and even for smaller companies.

Question Number One: What Will Big Metal Do?

The biggest question is probably that of the future of Big Metal.  Currently, Big Metal is being surrounded by different forces that look prime to pick it apart.  All this remains true despite the best efforts of telecoms to branch out into digital cable services and digital cable providers to offer VoIP services.  In fact, it might even be more true because of such diversification.

The problem is that slow broadband performance has not only been a method for receiving maximum return on investment, it has also been a tool to hold IPTV back.  The future of the Internet and perhaps media delivery in general depends upon lightning fast broadband, and thus companies with vested interest in delivering digital cable services (read as Big Metal) have done all they could to slow broadband progress.  After all, if broadband took off, what would stop studios from delivering content directly to the people?  The answer is: nothing.  Studios are already starting to do that, and the trend continues to take off.

In a world where VoIP costs only a fraction of the price of an old analog call and the entire digital cable paradigm is unstable at best, what is Big Metal to do?  There are no good answers here, but one solution might be found in an old expression: If you can’t beat ‘em, you should join ‘em.  In short, Big Metal needs to jump ship.  Those that jump first will be in the best position to re-market themselves as a fiber optic company.

Question Number Two:  Is There Room For Smaller Companies Now?

With the proverbial Genie being unleashed, there are numerous smaller companies that are starting to take advantage of unique situations that exist within smaller communities that have previously been suffering under the none-too-gentle care of exclusive arrangements made by governments and companies that staff smooth talking negotiators.  Examples of the inroads made by smaller fiber optic firms at the expensive of Big Metal include Utopia Net  and Bingham.net.

Question Number Three: Why did Big Metal Think That They Could Hold Out Forever?

The biggest unanswered question would seem to be: why did Big Metal think that they could hold out forever?  There are very few indications that Big Metal has adequately prepared to meet the future.  Instead, it seems that most cable companies and telecoms actually spent less energy and effort preparing for the inevitable deployment of fiber than they did against protecting their existing investment in copper wiring.  Was the plan to continually lobby and stall?  If so, then certainly the arrival of major players such as Google and Verizon threw Big Metal’s plans into utter chaos.  Despite this, FTTH deployments from Big Metal still seem unlikely in the near future, perhaps because fiber optic networks seem to be contained to a fairly small portion of the country.

One thing is certain, without big names like Verizon and Google throwing their weight around, the Big Metal stranglehold on broadband would have lasted a lot longer, perhaps long enough to cripple the country.

The lucky residents of Brigham have access to one of the nation’s fastest fiber optic broadband services.  Better yet, the same provider offers digital video and digital telephone services.  Not bad for a town of under 20,000 that got its first ISP in the mid-1990s.  There are a few downsides to this provider, and the big one might just be the unimaginative name: Brigham.net.  The next biggest downside is that this particular writer (And probably most readers) probably do not live in Brigham.net’s relatively modest service range.

Let’s Talk Turkey: How Fast is Brigham.Net?

Brigham.net offers four tiers of symmetrical fiber optic broadband services, starting at 10 Mbps, then jumping to 20 Mbps, 30 Mbps, and finally to a stunning 50 Mbps.  Remember that this is symmetrical speed, which means that uploads and downloads are equally fast.  Symmetrical speeds also mean that uploads do not unduly sacrifice download performance, unlike asymmetrical services.  Of course, fiber optics have ways to severely mitigate such loss even in asymmetrical configurations.  The bottom line is that even Brigham.net’s symmetrical 10 Mbps connecting might make a better choice for some users than a 15 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream DSL account that loses noticeable amounts of downstream performance even when minor uploads are occurring.

An amazing 50 Mbps of speed means that movies and other large files download and/or start streaming almost immediately.  YouTube’s HD videos stream almost instantly, even while one is uploading files to their website and/or handling online backups.  The fact of the matter is that 50 Mbps is ridiculously fast.

When purchased individually, a 10 Mbps plan will cost $34.50 with a two year contract, while a 20 Mbps plan costs 49.50 per month.  30 Mbps plans cost $59.50 and the 50 Mbps plans cost $74.50 per month, which is actually a great bargain for the amazing broadband speed one gets.

The Digital Television Offerings

The biggest flaw in Brigham.net’s offerings would have to be those related to the television offerings.  With only 65 channels on tap with the STANDARD VIDEO LINEUP (Yes, all caps), most other major digital cable service providers have a large advantage over Brigham.net.  Of course, not too many of those top tier vendors would be jumping at the opportunity to serve what amounts to a small community, and few of the top-tier vendors even offer fiber optics in larger markets.  The good news is that the broadband connections are so fast that anyone who knows how to find their media online will probably be doing so.

Of course, they could also opt for the SELECT channel lineup adds another 54 channels to the list, as well as many HD offerings.  There are a smattering of HD offerings in the STANDARD VIDEO LINEU plan, but the best channels always come in the premium channel groups.  On the subject of the premier channel lineup, the PREMIER package adds yet another 37 channels to the mix.  The PREMIER channel lineup costs an additional $63.95 per month while the select plan costs an additional $24.95 on top of whatever service plan one chooses.  The base TV plan starts at $34 with a two year contract, which might be a little on the pricey side considering the 65 channels one gets, but the set top box (STB) is included.

Additional STBs cost $6.95 to $8.95 per month, depending on whether one wants DVR functionality.  An additional $2 per month will be required to upgrade the included STB to a DVR model, which changes the value equation slightly.

Digital Telephone Services

Digital telephone services use a technology called VoIP, and VoIP is quickly becoming the de facto standard.  Starting at $29.50 per month (with a 2 year contract), the voice line includes free long distance within the U.S., caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and E-911 services.  There is really not anything unique or special about the digital telephone services offered by Brigham.net that makes them noteworthy, but that is a good thing.

Packages

While the individual components of Brigham’s services all being reasonably priced, with the possible exception of the basic television plan, the triple play plans that Brigham.net offers are very reasonable.  $90.50 nets one the basic digital television packs, the digital telephone service, and the 10 Mbps symmetrical broadband service, a package worth $98 if one were to purchase the components individually.  A $1 per bill savings can be added to this by setting up an automatic payment method, and a $49 setup fee applies to all packages.  For an additional $99, one can have a tech install a wireless router that comes with the package.

The best part of Brigham’s triple play package is that individual components can be upgraded, unlike many other vendors that require customers purchase packages or choose a la carte options.  For example, upgrading to 20 Mbps can be done for another $15 per month, while the 30 Mbps plan can be part of a triple play package for another $25 per month.  The same logic hold true for adding channel groups or the 50 Mbps package.

With news that Google’s fiber optic broadband service will offer a stunning 1 Gbps of performance, the entire nation has been in an uproar about fiber optics.  The FCC has even stepped in and established a program to reward broadband providers that can serve up 100 Mbps connections by the close of the decade, which is not that much faster than some of the fastest connections available today.  In fact, one utility company/city-owned ISP is about to offer residents and businesses alike a 150 Mbps connection.  Take 10 seconds and try to guess just where this service will be released…we can wait.

Did You Say…?

Did you say Chattanooga and Hamilton County, Tennessee?  If so, you seem to have a special gift, and so we will let you have a cookie if you e-mail us next week’s winning lottery numbers ahead of time.  For those of you who are not clairvoyant, the situation is worth looking at a bit closer.  It all starts with EPB Fiber Optics.

Who is EPB Fiber Optics?

EPB (Electric Power Board) Fiber Optics is a city-owned company that offers a very similar lineup of services to Verizon’s’ FiOS network minus a lot of the unique technological fusion technologies that make FiOS a true system.   Even lacking this functionality, EPB Fiber Optics still offers a combination of broadband, digital cable, and digital VoIP-powered telephone services.  All of this in an area that is not densely populated nor widely associated with being particularly wealthy makes one wonder: just what is going on here?  Is Chattanooga trying to get people to move in?  Possibly, but there are some facts worth mentioning.

Chattanooga is the seat of Hamilton County and it routinely ranks in or near the top 10 cities in the entire country for affordability.  Adding a subsidized broadband service that competes with top-notch services around the nation could very well be a bid to bring more high-tech businesses and minds to Chattanooga and surrounding areas, which seems to be a major goal of the local government bodies.  Some of these efforts have paid off, especially with the recent cooperation with Volkswagen to open a new plant in 2011.  Add to this upscale retail and residential waterfront investments and it is clear that Chattanooga is trying to make a break from the images most people hold of the southeastern Tennessee city.

How Much Will 150 Mbps Cost?

At present, the fastest broadband plan offered by EPB Fiber Optics tops out at a very impressive symmetrical 100 Mbps for roughly $350 per month.  While $350 per month sounds very expensive, it is at least nice to have the high performance option that many simply cannot buy at any price due to the lack of fiber optic carriers in their region.  What will 150 Mbps cost?  Nobody is entire sure, but it is a good bet that it will either replace the current 100 Mbps plan at the ~$350 per month price point or cost more.

As always, bundling is a great way to save money when shopping for broadband services and digital cable and/or VoIP services.  EPB Fiber Optics offers over 300 channels (More than 50 in HD) of programming plus support for advanced IPTV-based DVR functionality.  Premium channel groups are also available, and the VoIP service comes complete with just about every feature anyone would want for $22.99 a month.

Why is EPB Involved With Fiber Optics?

Anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting Tennessee has probably already admired the natural splendor of the countryside, and fiber optics are a clear bid to keep the countryside looking pristine.  The substantially lower power utilization of fiber optic connections reduces strain on the public-owned power grid while simultaneously reducing the amount of emissions that could keep visitors from turning into residents of Hamilton County.  While this situation will be worth watching in the future, it is very interesting to note that when the people of Hamilton County get to choose, they make good decisions in terms of fiber optics and environmental friendliness.

Fiber optics are easily the next big thing, but there is a problem: Big Metal does not want fiber to be available to the general public.  Why?  The answer is simple: Big Metal has had it far too easy for far too long.  This is the story of Big Metal, and it explains why so many consumers simply cannot get fiber optic connections despite their interest.

Investment Means Everything

Businesses are designed to make money, and that is their key purpose; they make money and employ people.  Big Metal is no exception to this rule.  Big Metal has invested countless billions of dollars in deploying networks based on metal wires.  This money is accounted for in salaries, advertising budgets, leases, lobbying firms, lawyers, and so on, but all for one purpose: making money by selling data services.

It might be a little unfair to criticize Big Metal for trying to protect their investment, but only on the surface.  At some point one has to hold businesses of all kinds responsible for poor investments and shortsightedness.  Fiber optics have been the clear path of the future for almost 20 years, since before consumer broadband ever took off.  Even though the signs were clear, Big Metal continued to deploy, improve, and market broadband systems that required metal wires?

Why would anyone do this?

There might be many answers to this question, but one possible answer is shortsightedness.  Just as one might say that automakers producing insanely large SUVs in an era when fuel prices increase steadily and global markets seem to incapable of remaining stable for more than eight or nine years at a time.  At some point in time, large corporations must be held accountable for their lack of vision, even if that means that their employees and investors will suffer the consequences.  Thus, it seems only natural that Big Metal tries its best to protect its interests and investments.

How Far Big Metal Will Go

How far should a company or organization go to protect its interests?  Should there be a line drawn?  If so, does that line need to be drawn before or after said company/organization intentionally stifles broadband growth and development that would serve the populace of a country well?  This is a question for each person to answer for themselves, but the United States as a nation is currently being left in the collective dust of the broadband capabilities of other countries.  For a nation that primarily exports ideas and concepts in the form of intellectual property, this is a very dangerous trend that needs to be reversed.

Opposing this necessary rectification is Big Metal.  Big Metal may not be doing anything outright illegal, but they certainly invest in tactics that are uncompetitive and are ultimately hurting the nation as a whole.  By the time it becomes clear that Big Metal is holding Americans down, it might be too late.

Here is what Big Metal is doing in a nutshell: lobbying and advertising.  Neither lobbying nor advertising are illegal, but they are expensive ventures.  Lobbying could be considered buying access to politicians to get a corporate agenda turned into laws, permits, or obstructionist trials or referendums called.  Advertising is essentially a method to gain access to the people, but it shares one thing in common with lobbying: money, and lots of it.  That’s right; both of lobbying and advertising require incredible amounts of money.  This creates a situation whereby smaller startups, even those funded with millions of dollars of capital cannot compete.  For a reasonable analogy, just imagine putting a heavyweight boxer in the ring with a featherweight; the featherweight might dance around and land a few small hits that probably would not phase the heavyweight, but nearly every single blow from the heavyweight would be telling.

In this same fighting parlance, a lobbyist for Big Metal calling for a halt to digging permits or a referendum to measure citizen interest in an environmental impact study prior to granting a permit would be knock-down blows.  It might be possible to get up from such blows, but a few such shots in quick succession ends the fight.  Similarly, a few commercials and/or political favors and the doors of progress swing shut and are tightly bolted by those owing their success to Big Metal.

At the Same Time…

Consumers suffer horribly, often without even knowing that they are suffering thanks to the advertising prowess and muscle of Big Metal.  While some American businesses and households seem content with broadband speeds in the 5-10 Mbps range, European households and businesses are already using connections that are 10 to 20 times faster.  As that gap expands, it is only a matter of time until the people realize that Big Metal has been holding them back.  One key bandwidth intensive application might be all it takes, and then the fiber optic floodgates will be wide open.

While many companies deploying fiber optic solutions are doing so with a value added approach that includes digital cable and digital telephone services, some providers are sticking with what they do best: being an ISP.  While the value added approach is probably a long term goal of companies in this group, they may also hope to one day be acquired by firms with greater reach and scope.  One such firm that offers fiber optic broadband services to select parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts is Galaxy Internet Services.

A Whole Galaxy?  Not Quite

As previously mentioned, Galaxy Internet Services does not offer their own digital television services, but they do offer some triple play bundles that use DIRECTV’s services.  This combination makes Galaxy Internet fairly competitive, but it would be nice to see everything coming down a single fiber optic line.  Hopefully that will be something that Galaxy will offer in the future.

Fiber, It’s Techie For Ridiculously Fast

The best thing about Galaxy Internet Service’s broadband services is that they are incredibly fast.  The least expensive fiber-optic powered broadband plan starts with a 15 Mbps downstream speed and a 2 Mbps upstream speed.  This would be in the upper ranges of any DSL offerings or cable modem offerings, and this is only a starting point for Galaxy Internet Service’s fiber optic offerings.  While there may be less expensive broadband options than the $39.95 per month 15/2 plan, it is hard to argue with that price when one compares it to comparable DSL or cable modem offerings.

The mid-range offering from Galaxy Internet services is a symmetrical 25 Mbps connection.  25 Mbps of upstream and downstream means a fast connection no matter what one uses their broadband connection for.  Better yet, uploads do not dramatically affect download speeds with most fiber optic systems, especially those using symmetrical transmission technologies.  For $49.95 a month, there would seem to be almost no reason why anyone would save $10 a month and go for the lowest-priced plan considering the vast increase in upstream speed and the significant increase in downstream speeds offered by the middle of the road fiber optic broadband plan.

For those who just want pure, unadulterated speed, Galaxy Internet Services has a blazingly fast 50 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream connection available.  The only downside to this plan is that it does cost a fair amount more than the other connections, to the tune of $159.95 per month.  Keep in mind that all prices are subject to change, and all three plans require a one-time setup fee of $59.99.

Additional Features

Galaxy Internet Services offers free domain hosting services to go along with fiber optic connections, but that may or may not be an enticing option.  After all, there are those that tinker with the web and those that use it seriously, with very few in the middle.  Add to this 7 e-mail boxes, 20 MB of webspace on a domain owned by Galaxy, a free dial-up account for travelers, and unlimited tech support, and there is a lot to like about Galaxy’s fiber optic connections.  Broadband phone services (VoIP) are also available, as well as fiber optic connections for business customers.  The business plans tend to be significantly more expensive than their residential counterparts.  VoIP services cover all the regular features one would expect, and come in many different packages, including a free offering with up to 60 minutes per month.  An unlimited VoIP service only costs $19.95 per month and covers the U.S. plus up to 30 international destinations, which is quite a deal.

The Triple Play That Got Away

As previously mentioned, Galaxy does also offer triple play packages.  Unfortunately, those triple play packages do not come with fiber optic connections.  Hopefully Galaxy will realize this oversight in the wake of all the demand for fiber optic connections, and do so quickly.  The company’s speedy fiber optic connections really are the main attraction, and the DSL services that Galaxy bundles with its triple play plans are yesterday’s technology.

The Bottom Line

Galaxy Internet Services has some incredibly fast fiber optic connections available at great prices.  Unlimited tech support is also very nice, but customers looking for triple play packages will be left out in the cold unless they want to tolerate slower DSL-powered broadband services.

With the broadband doors flung open, the question is whether there is truly open competition between fiber optics and Big Metal.  There is certainly no doubt that fiber optics are faster and more future-proof than metal wiring, which is currently on its last leg, but this question has less to do with physics than it does with business and legal matters.  Simply put, will Big Metal being jumping ship to join the fiber optic future, or will they continue to impede progress as much as they are able?

A History Lesson

Fiber optic strands up close, thanks to PasuKaru76

In order to answer this question, one has to understand what has happened before.  While these are oversimplifications, they are not misrepresentations as Big Metal would probably have readers believe.  It all started long ago when telephone lines began connecting households and businesses to one another, and eventually to the rest of the world.  Make no mistake about it, this was a monumental undertaking that required serious financing on behalf of Big Metal.  Big Metal is, at its core, a collection of for-profit companies, and thus is only reasonable to expect them to seek the best return for their investments.

After all, Big Metal has to pay salaries, rent, and utility bills just like any other company.  This in turn drives the economy, but the line the Big Metal has inexcusably crossed (and more than once) is that of stifling competition.  Telecoms have been broken up over such accusations, and both telecoms and digital cable providers have seen their exclusivity arrangements made null and void in much the same way.  These actions were usually taken after large-scale consumer upheaval, and the country currently stands at just such a precipice.

Is Big Metal using their powerful lobbying and marketing muscle to stunt the growth of fiber?  There are cases where the answer is incredibly transparent, and sadly it is a ‘yes’ answer instead of the answer most people would want to hear.  If several transparent cases can be found, such as Big Metal vs. LUS Fiber, then how many situations happen behind closed doors, off the record?  Chances are good that there are dozens or hundreds of such cases for every case that shines brightly in the public eye.

Little Guys Can Make a Difference

Despite all of the obstacles thrown at smaller fiber optic organizations, Big Metal has not been able to keep everyone down.  There are some cases where fiber optic connections have been made available despite Big Metal’s efforts.  For example, LUS Fiber has suffered many setbacks on the way to providing Lafayette with high-performance fiber optics.  Another example of this would be the UTOPIA Net family of services that provide similar services to many smaller communities in Utah.  Both of these providers have elected to follow a model similar to Verizon, where customers can receive live IPTV streams over their blazing fast broadband connections.

Why Fiber Optics are Critical to the United States

While the little guys are not out of the woods yet, it would seem that it is only a matter of time.  The truth is that Europeans already have vastly superior broadband access in many countries, and are continuing to advance at a pace that makes the so-called progress of Big Metal look positively lethargic by comparison.  Video, IPTV, and online backup services are already available and capable of using that bandwidth, and the critical app that might require that bandwidth could be right around the corner.  As the disparity grows, the people continue to become increasingly agitated.  This will eventually be bad news for Big Metal, and this brings us back to our initial question: will elements of Big Metal start offering last mile connections made from fiber in the near future, or will they continue to be uniformly opposed to fiber optics despite the growing awareness of their customers?  Will this battle take so long that the bandwidth intensive critical apps start arriving before a resolution is reached?

Nobody can truly answer these questions, but there is a way to influence the answer.  Customers that truly see the value in fiber optics should call their digital cable and telephone service providers and ask when they plan on joining the 21^st century by offering fiber optic (FTTH) solutions.  It might also be a good idea to explore the various contracts and agreements that local Big Metal may have with political entities, and get involved in ensuring that these agreements are never renewed.  There are plenty of small companies with big dreams that involve fiber, but until the roadblocks are removed, they cannot move forward safely.  When they do start moving forward, expect Big Metal to start rusting at the seams.

For the longest time broadband has been more hype than fact.  Why?  The answer has a lot to do with business realities and physics.  While it is possible to tackle these subjects independently, it is easier to look at them collectively.  After all, these two realities collide rather frequently, and the reason for this will become clear after looking at the physics behind why fiber optics are so vastly superior to copper wiring.

The Physics

It has been covered many times before, but the bottom line is that fiber optics are the next big thing because fiber optics have an astonishing amount of untapped potential.  On the other hand, metal wiring is a technology that is old enough to be given a senior citizen’s discount card multiple times over.  The problem is that metal wires use electricity to send messages.  Unfortunately, electricity degrades over time and creates heat as a byproduct of the degradation.  Higher performance signals degrade faster and generate more heat.

Fiber optics send light, which generates negligible heat and suffers almost no degradation over incredible distances.  There are many different ways to boost signal output or overall bandwidth, but fiber optics manage to do this in an incredibly efficient way: using different portions of the color spectrum.  This method provides an amazing amount of untapped potential, while similar ideas in the DSL/cable modem circles meet heavy resistance due to the fact that multi-spectrum signals degrade rapidly and generate amazing amounts of heat.

The Business

The rapid degradation and performance limitations of metal wires can be circumvented by installing sub-stations that strengthen and clarify signals.  Fiber optic networks do not need as many of these stations, which significantly reduces the amount of capital required to deploy a network; Permits, construction crews, and ongoing utility and maintenance concerns can be serious obstacles to contend with.

One should not gloss over the utility and maintenance needs associated with maintaining these substations.  While the initial costs of establishing a network of any kind are likely to be substantial, the maintenance and utility needs of these substations will constantly acts as a force that drives up prices for broadband service while simultaneously acting as a force against releasing faster services; upgrades often entail sweeping changes, and larger and/or more complex networks will theoretically require significant refitting.  In the end, customers end up footing the bill for such upgrades.

If the high bill for low performance was not as a serious issue in and of itself, there are other concerns that work against frequent upgrades of wired-networks.  One of the key factors is that upgrading or changing anything complex requires ample planning; more complex systems require additional planning.  Fiber optic networks also require upgrades, but the inherent nature of sending light keeps those upgrades cost effective.  The reduced number of substations in a fiber optic network result in quicker upgrades that are easier to plan, and that results in more frequent upgrades that are more affordable for all parties involved.

The Culmination of Business and Physics

Is it any wonder that Big Metal is trying its hardest to keep fiber optics away from consumers?  Big Metal current accomplishes this with incredibly large advertising campaigns that are so expensive that smaller fiber optic startups cannot really compete.  For that matter, smaller fiber optic startups typically share fiber optic connectivity with major network carriers also tend to categorically lack the political clout and weight that cable companies and telecoms have.  As a result, fiber optics are an excellent choice to replace metal wires, but Big Metal is unlikely to sit by and see that happen without a fight.

A few major corporations, such as Verizon and Google, have now thrown their respective hats into the ring against Big Metal.  Verizon has done so for years with its FiOS network, and almost everyone has heard about Google’s fiber optic plans.  Some smaller regions are fortunate enough to be close enough to major fiber optic nodes while simultaneously being underserved by non-competitive Big Metal.  In these cases, Big Metal usually has existing exclusivity arrangements in such areas, but there are many cities in Utah that are shining examples of what can happen when fiber optics disrupt this balance: Utopia Net is a great example of this in action, especially when one compares prices for cable/television services in cities not serviced by Utopia’s fiber optics.

A Call to Action

Readers would be well served to investigate the situation in their own cities, starting with the following questions: How many broadband/cable/telephone service providers are in the city?  What happens if a new provider were to arrive?  Are there provisions protecting the infrastructure investment of the existing companies?  If so, when (or if) does Big Metal’s exclusive arrangement end?  Who supervises contract extensions?  Find these people and tell them how important fiber is to the future of the city, and do not stop telling them.  Big Metal has stymied growth for too long while simultaneously claiming to deliver ‘cutting edge’ broadband services.  Power to the people!

NuVu might not have the fastest fiber optic broadband connections available, but they certainly know how to use their systems to good effect.  Not only does NuVu offer fairly fast fiber-optic broadband services, the company also delivers IPTV-based digital cable and digital telephone services over a fiber optic connection.  The bad news is that NuVu does not offer world-class fiber optic speed, at least not yet.  Part of that might be the allocation of bandwidth to data-intensive tasks such as IPTV and, to a lesser degree, VoIP technology.

Broadband With Attitude

NuvU makes things simple, and this is a theme that customers of NuVu will soon become acquainted with?  For example, a broadband plan comes with a symmetrical 8 Mbps of bandwidth for a bargain basement price of $29.95 per month.  At prices like this, there really are not too many decisions to make.  After all, symmetrical services are vastly superior to asymmetrical broadband offerings in almost all usage patterns.  There are some usage patterns that virtually demand symmetrical performance, but even putting that aside for a moment, there are very few providers offering comparable speed for one’s buying dollar.

While 8 Mbps of symmetrical speed is certainly fast enough for most people, it will not set any speed records.  Fortunately, fiber optics are comparatively easy to upgrade and thus it is entirely possible that the 8 Mbps of fiber optic fueled speed will dramatically increase over time.  Even with future upgrades aside, the 8 Mbps of symmetrical broadband performance are reasonable by today’s standards, especially at the price point they are offered at.

Our obligatory support call was promptly answered, and we took the opportunity to ask a very pertinent question: on NuVu’s site is a little blurb about custom fiber optic packages.  What we discovered was that NuVu uses a world-class business grade fiber optic backbone, and can essentially supply as much bandwidth as a customer could want.  When asked if there were upper limits to this, the support agent told our reviewer that the backbone is a full 10 Gbps, so nothing higher than that…at least for the moment.  Still, the idea that one could order as much broadband performance as they would want is very enticing.

Digital Cable Rides The Light Waves

Those thousands of beautiful fiber optic strands also carry digital television data, which is not unlike Verizon’s FiOS network.  The Basic Cable plan starts with 71 standard definition channels plus another 10 high definition channels.  NuVu adds HD channels to this lineup fairly regularly, but the HD Gateway Package for an additional $9.95 adds an HD receiver, remote, guide, video on demand, pay per view, and dozens of channels in glorious HD.  Another $6 gets on a DVR, which is really a must have item these days.

The Digital Plus package costs an additional $19.95 per month and consists of a standard def receiver, remote ,guide, video on demand, pay per view, and collection of music channels.  The HD Plus package is essentially the HD gateway plan plus the music channels for $29.95 per month, but the extra $6 for a DVR steps on up to the HD/DVR Plus Package.  Why NuVu did not just keep the DVR as an a la carte option is something of a mystery considering the firm’s insistence that everything be kept simple.

HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Showtime/The Movie Channel/Flix, Playboy TV/Director’s Cut, and various international channels are also all available a la carte.  Also available a la carte are additional receivers and remotes of all kinds.

Simple Voice Plan

The NuVu voice plan is just as simple as their Internet offering, which is certainly a nice thing for those who do not want to get bogged down in making too many choices.  For $30 per month, one gets to keep their own number or get an existing number, and can make unlimited local and long distance calls.  The only downside to the otherwise simple plan is that NuVu customers will need to buy their own phone, but that should not be a serious problem.

The Bottom Line

With easy to understand plans that are very affordable and turnkey high-performance options, there are really no reasons not to like NuVu’s offerings.  The symmetrical 8 Mbps connection is not going to set any speed records, but the custom options just might.

UTOPIA is a network based in Utah and connects 16 diverse cities in the state that would otherwise be underserved by broadband, cable, and telecom providers.  UTOPIA Net does not just stop there, it actually has taken on the challenge of building a world-class fiber optic network to serve consumers who live in a geographically challenging area.  After all, who would want to be laying cable in the ruggedly beautiful mountains and passes of Utah if there were any other jobs available?  This kind of dedication costs money, and UTOPIA Net has funneled a lot of money into making their network one that is second to none.

Fiber Frees the Masses

In most cases, large companies that offer broadband, digital cable, and/or telecom services know that they have customers in small towns in what amounts to a monopoly.  This means that they are only checked by the local and state government when it comes to pricing, and it would not be unfair to suggest that most politicians know the difference between pandering to the public and putting enough money in the re-election war chest to fight big companies.

A medium sized firm like UTOPIA NET has completely changed these dynamics in most areas, by used fiber optics, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and advanced IPTV technology to deliver a big-city class entertainment and communication experience to areas that are anything but densely populated.  Dense population and higher per capita income is what makes major cities so attractive to major carriers, so it is surprising to see UTOPIA Net so heavily invested in bringing these technologies and services to what amounts of sparsely populated regions.

Sharing is Good

UTOPIA Net began as a cooperative between many smaller providers who were all offering fiber optic services.  Over time, that collective evolved into a more coherent force with greater bargaining power.  This bargaining power is the basis for the acquisition of Utopia’s strongest assets, and what enables it to have enough volume to even be considered by networks for licenses.  After all, providers of digital cable programming do not want to deal with small cable providers with only a few thousand sales leads, and when they do, it is rarely to the advantage of those small cable providers and their customers.  By combining forces, the constituent components of UTOPIA Net have managed to present a much stronger collective that has far more bargaining power.

The results are clear: UTOPIA Net’s customers have affordable access to hundreds of channels including some of the latest and greatest HD content, which was something unheard of even in big cities only a few years ago.  Just how affordable and how many channels will vary slightly depending upon where one lives in UTOPIA Net’s coverage, but the simple fact is that sharing is good.

Sharing is Bad Too…

Sharing can also be a bad thing, especially when it comes to sharing bandwidth.  Unlike DSL and cable modem systems, all customers of UTOPIA Net receive their own dedicated bandwidth that is completely independent of what their neighbors are doing.  No more slow-downs when everyone gets home and starts downloading files, uploading pictures, and watching YouTube videos.  Everyone’s bandwidth is 100% protected to their local node, and each node has more than enough bandwidth to serve entire cities; most nodes on the UTOPIA Net are 10 Gbps components, which actually makes them faster than current home and small/medium office networking technology.  The fastest internet connections available in most regions certainly high this problem, unless they are fiber optic in nature and well planned out.  Luckily, UTOPIA Net’s offerings are both.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that UTOPIA Net offers a lot of interesting services at prices that keep the major players in many of Utah’s sparsely populated regions at least somewhat close to honest.  This is not UTOPIA Net’s only appeal, but it is one that virtually anyone living in the areas serviced by a UTOPIA Net provider can appreciate on their monthly bill.  Property owners may be able to charge higher rent and/or close a real estate transaction at a higher price when fiber optics are available, and there are countless other possibilities enabled by a provider-agnostic network such as UTOPIA’s network.

It is no secret that broadband service providers have traditionally talked out of both sides of their mouths, using terms like blazing fast or ultra-quick while selling services that delivered data via copper wires.  The future is fiber, and fiber is already being piped to residences and businesses all over the country.  So, why is it then that LUSFIBER is beset on all sides by what appears to be political shenanigans that one could only assume are being perpetrated by big metal.  Before covering those problems, it is worth taking a look at LUSFIBER and what they have to offer.

Introducing the Apparent Victim, LUSFIBER

LUSFIBER providers Lafayette with advanced FTTH (Fiber To The Home) services as well as digital telephone and digital cable options.  All of LUSFIBER ‘s advanced fiber optic offerings are symmetrical, and one can buy a staggering 50 Mbps of fiber-fueled performance for only %57.95 a month.  Prices like this are ridiculously low when compared side by side with DSL or cable modem services that come in flavors starting at around half as much for around 1/50^th the performance and topping out at far higher costs for nearly 60% of the performance.  Of course, these performance metrics only look at downstream speed, and the situation would look very different if one were to measure performance based on upstream performance; in fact, the situation would favor LUSFIBER several fold more when evaluating performance based on upstream performance.

While the broadband performance is great in and of itself, it is far from all that LUSFIBER has to offer.  Advanced digital cable with over 250 channels available before even getting into premium blocks, on-demand or pay per view content, and HD/DVR features are all top-notch.   Add to this full-fledged VoIP offerings that are very competitive with local telecoms…perhaps too competitive.

Fiber Proves Its Worth

The problem is that LUSFIBER’s FTTH offerings might be too competitive, because it appears that the local telecoms and cable organizations have been doing anything they can to stop or slow FTTH deployment.  Before outlining these actions, remember that the entire state bore the brunt of Mother Nature’s fury  barely half a decade ago, and thus an interesting situation exists whereby virtually every broadband provider was being forced to make significant infrastructure investments.  These unique conditions may have caused the local competition to be even more fierce than usual, and to take measures that they normally would not take.

What kind of measures did local telecoms and cable companies take?  Well, it is difficult to directly attribute their actions due to backroom political wrangling and lobbying, but some of the more transparent moments came in the form of lawsuits, bad PR in the papers, and general mudslinging.  Things heated up when the city itself decided to take over the fiber optic build-out.  That move sparked open lawsuits, challenges that were heard up to the supreme court of Louisiana, and more.

Why?  Because the bottom line is that Big Metal is starting to realize that their investments in infrastructure were not as forward thinking as they initially believed.  This is doubly so in a market that required significant reinvestment following a chain of natural disasters that left many wondering about the future of the region.

The Argument

The argument essentially boils down to a number of failures.  It is possible to point fingers at BellSouth, COX, and even Time Warner for not being flexible and considering fiber optics at the time.  Verizon was already deploying the initial stages of their FiOS network, so it would be disingenuous for any of these companies to assert that nobody had made a successful case for a FTTH deployment.  The federal government certainly dropped the ball in any number of ways following (and before) the chain of disasters devastated the region, and broadband was probably low on the priority of agencies who were having a hard time keeping people safe.

That being said, there seems to be little excuse for the constant harassment and legal hurdles thrown in front of fiber optic deployments in a region that is sorely in need of any advantage it can get.  The question that should be asked is not one of what can be done to stop Big Metal from constantly standing in the way of progress.  Law suits, challenges, calls for referendums slow progress and ultimately result in delayed FTTH services at higher price points.  So, why do we not see anyone calling on the government to protect businesses and citizens from the likes of Big Metal?