Ultraband is coming here!

[steve]

Headline article in today's Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colorado) - UCS is a newly formed subsidiary of UtiliCorp United, the parent company of WestPlains Energy. The company has also gotten permission to become a telephone provider. It will have a capacity of 40 megabits but will start out around 5 megabits, similar to the @Home system.

Because of capacity issues, UCS has contracted with Austin based Advent Networks to use the company's Ultraband platform.

They say initially there will be 150 customers per node...and the system
deals with the "firewall issues and bandwidth hogs". There are also plans to split the nodes later, trimming the number of customers down to 40 each.

I'm a little concerned about the bandwidth hogs comment. I figure if you pay 40 to 50 dollars a month, you should be entitled to download as you desire, not on a 24 hour a day basis, but as necessary.

I've been stoked about Ultraband ever since I first heard about it, and now AT&T will be facing direct competition here. Should be very very interesting. One of the main players is a good friend of mine, and I will contact him early this week to find out how soon this will all come together. They are stringing 1200 miles of lines along existing easements, on poles and underground. Thiry miles will be fiber & the rest coax.

[the_mp3_refuge]

Woo Hoo http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif!!! Finally a better option for broadband in CO rather then at @Home. I'm to far for dsl, and cable will be rollin' out in about 2 years lol so this is prob my best option. I love the thought of DVD streaming multimedia. Hopefully the'll have speed packages so you don't have to pay like 150 a month for 40Megabits but hey if they don't i'll consider it. I'm not concerned about the 24hr download limit. @Home has one but they don't enforce it. Its 500Mega Bytes a day. But with a 40MegaBit connection I can do all my downloading in about 5 min. Horray for Ultraband, Horray for colorado!!! http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by the_mp3_refuge (edited 11-26-2000).]

[steve]

I'm kind of bothered by the fact they want to roll out the network at 5 megabits instead of 40, when the Advent network (Ultraband) advertises 40 megabits. Can't wait till Monday so I can call my friend to find out the inside scoop. It will still be better speeds than I can get from @Home, even with the best tweaks. The question that remains is how good will their customer service and infrastructure be? Stay tuned, folks.

[the_mp3_refuge]

Steve can ya do me a favor? Once you get the inside scoop can ya e-mail me the details? punkjeebs@cs.com. Yea it's dissapointing that there only gonna role out with 5Mbs but i'm sure thats just to test the network.. Once they've gotten all the bugs worked out the'll prob bump it up to 40Mbs. Hello 5MBs people http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

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There's a new movie comin' out... It's called miracle in palm beach! - the_mp3_refuge

[John]

Come on, lets get some Ultraband in Delaware!

I'm a little concerned about the bandwidth hogs comment. I figure if you pay 40 to 50 dollars a month, you should be entitled to download as you desire, not on a 24 hour a day basis, but as necessary.



yea, I don't want stuff going on in the states like what is happening down in Australia with all the wierd limits they are being put under.

[donald_k]

My telco is going to be testing 50Mbps DSL in my area but they still have a lot to do. It is the only way they'll be able to compete with Shaw@Home. Right now I am on cable and it is pretty good.

[glc1]

Originally posted by donald_k:
My telco is going to be testing 50Mbps DSL in my area but they still have a lot to do. It is the only way they'll be able to compete with Shaw@Home. Right now I am on cable and it is pretty good.You realize how close you have to be to your CO to get speeds like that? Most people aren't any where near that close.

[HalfLifer]

Glc1, Exactly.

Youd have to be next door to them in order to get it!

[JL Sparks]

steve - that's great news! i'm looking forward to @home competition too.. if you wouldn't mind posting what you find out monday, including any rollout schedule or a contact for the rest of us, i'd truly appreciate it. alternatively you could email me: jlsparks4@home.com if you get the chance.

Thanks for the info!

[glc1]

From whatis.com:

VDSL

12.9 to 52.8 Mbps downstream
1.5 to 2.3 Mbps upstream
1.6 Mbps to 2.3 Mbps downstream

4,500 feet at 12.96 Mbps
3,000 feet at 25.82 Mbps
1,000 feet at 51.84 Mbps

[Kip Patterson]

The VDSL protocol is intended for connections from the pole or curb to the house, not from the CO. Based upon the idea of replacing the last mile with fiber except for the drop to the house.

Folks really interested in this may wish to read "Telecosm" by George Gilder. Brand new, 150 on the best seller list, with both favorable and critical reviews.

[Snowman]

Originally posted by Kip Patterson:
[B]The VDSL protocol is intended for connections from the pole or curb to the house, not from the CO. Based upon the idea of replacing the last mile with fiber except for the drop to the house.[B]

Given that most existing "Fiber to the Curb" systems use an OC3 CO/RT System, I find it really hard to see telco's achieve 51 Mbit/sec speeds at the customer's premise unless they upgrade to either OC12 or better yet OC48 which is expensive as hell. An OC3 system will max out at 155Mb/sec, so you wouldnt be having too many people crusin'too quick after the first few...

[steve]

Heading to work, but will call my contacts and try posting to the board about what I find out. Should be a very interesting morning. Does anyone know of anywhere else besides Austin where Advent Networks has rolled out Ultraband already?

[steve]

Just checked something out, and UCS (Utilicorp) has already begun rolling this service out in 7 other cities (I'll find out which ones later). Gotta dash for now.

[Kip Patterson]

I'd be interested in seeing anything about rollouts. The Advent web site does a good job of making this whole thing look like vaporware, it's good to see that perhaps it is not.

[steve]

Forgot to mention that with Utilicorp rolling this out, they will be "bundling" the price packaging. So if you sign up for high speed internet, you may get a slight 5 percent discount, but the more service you sign up for, such as telephony, digital cable (high speed & capable of supporting 2 HDTV video streams simultaneously), etc. Apparently the package discount at the high end will be approximately 15 to 20 percent. I was told they intend to be very price competitive in this market. Stay tuned!

[steve]

Another thing I forgot was movies on demand through their system, something like 1000 movies in a jukebox you could order at any time & download very rapidly. Last post on this for a while. Hate posting to myself, lol!

[JL Sparks]

Thanks for the info steve.. maybe I'll move from Lakewood to Pueblo =)

If you hear anything else about other Colorado rollouts, or have a public information source relative to rollout schedule, I'd appreciate the info.

Thanks again.

[This message has been edited by JL Sparks (edited 11-27-2000).]

[This message has been edited by JL Sparks (edited 11-27-2000).]

[steve]

Will do!

[steve]

I've been on the phone this morning, doing a lot of fact checking. The next deployment of the Ultraband technology by Utilicorp will be in Kansas City, followed by Pueblo Colorado. The company's goal is to serve tier 3 and smaller communities with high speed computer & video access.

They are looking at running HFC today and for about the next 10 years, then fiber to the home solutions eventually.

The setup is 150 customers per node, which can be reduced to 37.5 customers per node, splitting the nodes to future proof the system. This is a dug fiber system, and offers benefits well beyond conventional offerings. This company is already running point to point dedicated fiber pairs, with people running 100 meg VLANS off them.

Apparently the computer department at Utilicorp brought up Ultraband to the senior management level (it was the "Geek Dept" that brought it up), and the company was seriously enough interested in the technology that they decided to implement it. I believe the parent company has even invested in Advent Networks stock now.

The capital expenditures for this type of system are very high, for Pueblo alone the cost is estimated to be around 75 million dollars. They have already advertised for several positions within the local company, including assistant GM, director of ops, and director of sales.

Apparently, they want to run only one amplifier within the system, since multi amps downstream will degrade their video solution.
I will be beta testing their service when it does roll out here (at least I got that accomplished). Now I'm sitting here looking at my 5 pages of notes.

Hope this helps those that wanted the info. Will post more when I know more.