[Durham INC] Google fiber, 5G, etc.

Sat Jul 30 23:06:44 EDT 2016

The 5G and the google fiber are alternative ways to supply our ever-expanding needs / wants for more internet coming to our homes and devices (since it is the Internet of Things, your "devices" are not just your phones, but also your fridge doing an inventory and finding what the specials are this week and nagging you about.  Personally, I just can't wait (-:).

Both will take a lot more infrastructure.

5G wireless would have 100 megabits to a gig, where today's 4G does 10-20 megs.  The FCC has allocated a big new block of spectrum for the 5G networks, but what I have seen is that the network will be lots and lots more short towers.  So however you feel about the health effects, you should start figuring where you want your neighborhood tower.

Just like electricity gets "stepped down" at the substation and the transformer on the power pole, communications fiber needs to get "stepped down" from the gazzilion bits running between cities to the gigabit to your house.  The huts are sort of like the electrical substation.  Based on what I have seen in our neighborhood, Google fiber has 2 stages of step down (like the transformers) in the neighborhoods, because there are big boxes and smaller boxes they have buried in the ground.  So in addition to the fiber, they are digging big holes for the electronics to step down and split off your stuff from your neighbor's.

BTW, you probably should not say "google fiber" to anyone in my neighborhood because of the multiple disasters (sewer lines cut, gas lines cut, the Time Warner cable lying along the curb in front of my house until TW can get out here to replace it -- which I am hoping will not mean a new set of disasters (-:).  I don't know how much is not knowing how to deal with NC clays, how much is expanding their operations too fast to hire good contractors and how much it is just the cost of doing new service.  AT&T also caused problems, but fewer, perhaps because their neighborhood boxes are about 1/2 the size of the smaller ones from google (with a really big box on a corner away from any houses).  I never heard about issues in the first city, Kansas City, but Austin has had issues as well.  http://www.mystatesman.com/news/business/google-fiber-install-process-draws-hundreds-of-com/nqS9n/

[http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2016/02/19/f8/78/Drains1.jpg]<http://www.mystatesman.com/news/business/google-fiber-install-process-draws-hundreds-of-com/nqS9n/>

Google Fiber install process draws hundreds of complaints ...<http://www.mystatesman.com/news/business/google-fiber-install-process-draws-hundreds-of-com/nqS9n/>
www.mystatesman.com
On Lambs Lane in Southeast Austin, the words “Google Fiber” can set neighbors off into a firestorm of anger, frustration and even tears.

________________________________
From: INC-list <inc-list-bounces at lists.deltaforce.net> on behalf of Debra Hawkins <dhawkins913311 at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2016 9:06 PM
To: 'Jesse Bikman'
Cc: inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Parents for Safe Technology call to action

Thanks, though that stops a little short of the question about the huts and the earlier posts about antennae etc.

From: Jesse Bikman [mailto:jessebikman at gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2016 4:56 PM
To: Debra Hawkins
Cc: inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Parents for Safe Technology call to action

Google Fiber is a service by Google that provides fiber optic cable-driven internet connections.

On Jul 30, 2016, at 16:34, Debra Hawkins <dhawkins913311 at gmail.com<mailto:dhawkins913311 at gmail.com>> wrote:

A clarification RQ: Isn't Google Fiber actually surface or in-ground cable from providing site to buildings? If so do the four Google huts have anything to do with the earlier posts in thread about powerful antennae on top of some structures and wifi concerns….seemingly the two things aren't directly related?

--D Hawkins

From: INC-list [mailto:inc-list-bounces at lists.deltaforce.net] On Behalf Of Joshua Allen
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2016 11:29 AM
To: Kevin Davis
Cc: <inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net<mailto:inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net>>; Ken Ray
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Parents for Safe Technology call to action

Hear! Hear!

Let's stop the anti fiber talk. I don't care if we paid Google for the fiber huts.  The benefits far outweigh the loss of a few trees.  Besides all this stuff was handled over the last couple of years.  It's a little late to poo poo the process now.

Thanks to everyone who put in the time and effort to make this happen.  Can't wait to get it!!

And I also look forward to the 5G upgrade which I also wholeheartedly support.  I have no desire to go live off the grid in a yurt.

--Joshua

-----

Sent from iPhone.  Please excuse brevity, typos, etc.

On Jul 30, 2016, at 8:09 AM, Kevin Davis <ksdavis at gmail.com<mailto:ksdavis at gmail.com>> wrote:

In recent years, our local universities and governments formed the North Carolina Next Generation Networks (NCNGN) coalition, a group intended to incentivize the entry of new competitive broadband providers to the region.  This was in the wake of Google Fiber selecting Kansas City KS/MO over Durham and thousands of other communities.

Our civic and university leaders -- including some very forward-thinking CIOs, city/county staff, elected officials, and NGO folks like TJCOG -- recognized that next-generation gigabit connectivity would be a significant asset for quality of life, economic development, and crossing the digital divide.  NCNGN was importantly part of a broader coalition of university communities called Gig.U, helmed by Blair Levin, who had served as a former FCC chair's chief of staff and as the lead of the Obama administration initiative to develop a National Broadband Plan early in the President's first term.

When NCNGN and Gig.U were forming, the incumbent telecommunication industry was dead-set against any kind of massive capital investment to improve broadband networks, even though the US was badly lagging developed and even developing nations.  At the same time, lobbyists were pushing back against municipally-run broadband networks, ignoring successes like Wilson, NC and Chattanooga and getting some states, including our own, to ban them.  Finally, even disruptive new entrants were clear in noting that there were significant cost barriers to building gigabit networks.

NCNGN's RFP, which can be publicly viewed online (http://www.tjcog.org/Data/Sites/1/media/regional-planning/econdev/next-generation/NCNGN_RFP_02012013.pdf), saw participating communities, including Durham, offer a public-private partnership opportunity: municipalities would work to reduce barriers to entry for next generation networks, if carriers would provide gigabit connectivity to homes as well as other underprovided public goods -- free/heavily discounted broadband for high-need public housing and community centers among them. The vision was to make available contracted use of land, conduits, poles, colocation spaces, etc.

The NCNGN effort led to an agreement with AT&T by which the Triangle would be, I think, the third area in the US to receive AT&T's Gigapower (gigabit to the home) speeds.  There are some neighborhoods in Durham that already have gigabit fiber service as a result. Soon after, other carriers including Frontier, Ting, CenturyLink and others -- including Google Fiber -- announced their entry to the market. (Durham also, interestingly, moved to the front of the line for Time Warner Cable's free speed upgrades; other, less competitive broadband markets still haven't "got their upgrade.")

As is the norm for these buildouts, Google and many other carriers seek partnerships to make these networks feasible.  The City Council reviewed a network hut license agreement back in 2014 (http://www.durhamnc.gov/agendas_new/2014/cws20140505/9826_MEMO_GOOGLE_FIBER_HUT_LICENSE__349890_576686.PDF). Here is the City Council memo on the AT&T agreement: http://www.durhamnc.gov/agendas_new/2014/cma20140505/9822_MEMO_ATT_MASTER_NETWORK_DEVEL_349726_576489.PDF

I would push back against the notion here that these providers are getting some kind of sweetheart deal.  Indeed, if there is anything that communities learned in the wake of Kansas City, it was that the creative levering of existing assets to build gigabit networks is the only way to overcome the deep, deep capital barrier that otherwise gives telecom companies and cable companies a de facto monopoly on providing services.

Indeed, both Chattanooga and Wilson were able to be early to the gig party because they had (a) municipally-owned utilities that (b) owned their own poles and (c) had a separate business case for deploying fiber for smart grid management; the ability to leverage that smart grid investment for broadband has been gamechanging, especially for Chattanooga.  And, the NCNGN model is being adopted by Greensboro-Burlington-High Point for their TriGIG efforts; a similar effort in Asheville is under way, I believe.

As Ken notes, there are thousands of acres of parkland in Durham and, as a Durham resident, they are vitally important to me. So, too, is having broadband options to provide a better quality of life, new job opportunities, and -- for the many public housing residents who will be getting free or low cost Internet service and associated support -- a major opportunity to bridge the digital divide.  To say nothing of creating market pressure that will help to keep broadband rates low and avoid things like data caps.

When I quickly searched my 10-year archive of my own neighborhood listserv email, I found literally hundreds of threads, translating to thousands of emails, with complaints, questions, irritation and frustration with incumbent Internet services in our area.  Anyone who is connected to their neighborhood likely hears similar services.  Internet services are a luxury no more; they are critical to participation in economic, civic and social spheres.

We are looking here not at a carefree, easy sloughing of public assets, but instead at a deep, systemic, well-known, much-discussed, much-studied effort to finally improve home Internet service.  I am proud of not just Durham's elected officials and government, but the broader region's, which worked together in a way most citizens rarely see, and which have done a boon to our community.

-- Kevin

(full disclosure -- I worked on the NCNGN effort and am proud to have do so. I am speaking on my own behalf, not of my employer.)

--
Kevin Davis
ksdavis at gmail.com<mailto:ksdavis at gmail.com>
919-599-8194

On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 10:21 AM, John Dagenhart <jdag at clappresearch.com<mailto:jdag at clappresearch.com>> wrote:

How much did they pay? Companies such as Duke Energy, Pioneer (formerly Central Telephone, formerly GTE, formerly Verizon, etc) have located facilities on property they have most likely purchased.

If these facilities are being located on public property, does this set a precedent for others in the future?

John Dagenhart, PE

President

Dagenhart Consulting Services,PC

1058 W. Club Blvd., Suite 220B

Durham, NC 27701

Office: 919-908-0227<tel:919-908-0227>

Cell: 919-247-4236<tel:919-247-4236>

jdag at dagenhartconsulting.com<mailto:jdag at dagenhartconsulting.com>

or

j.b.dagenhart at ieee.org<mailto:j.b.dagenhart at ieee.org>

From: INC-list [mailto:inc-list-bounces at lists.deltaforce.net<mailto:inc-list-bounces at lists.deltaforce.net>] On Behalf Of Ken Ray
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2016 8:14 AM
To: Josie McNeil <riojosie at gmail.com<mailto:riojosie at gmail.com>>
Cc: inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net<mailto:inc-list at lists.deltaforce.net>
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Parents for Safe Technology call to action

Hi,

I'd just like everyone receiving this not to know that I am one of the tens of thousands of people who lobbied both Google and our local government to bring Google Fiber to Raleigh/Durham. It is a great honor and opportunity to be chosen as one of the first US localities to be chosen for this infrastructure.

The Google Fiber Hut is a 10×30 foot structure with negligible environmental impact (compare: most tractor trailers are 13x50 or greater). The benefit to the citizenry in gaining 1,000 megabits per second internet speed is completely worth the investment of these minuscule portions of parkland (Eno River State Park is a 4,200 acres). At least, it is to me and my family, friends, business associates, church members and children, and especially those impoverished neighbors of ours who will get free internet access.

I voted for Tom Wheeler, and I am glad he is working to bring the world standard of internet connectivity to my home, as I urged him to do in my name, as my representative.

I hope all recipients of this note will note that there is no scholarly article or study from any reputable American university supporting the concept that wireless technology is dangerous (choose the search engine of your preference and enter the term "wireless technology is dangerous .edu").

I have a lot of faith in - and hope for - my children and their generation. Any leg up they can get is an opportunity I want them to have. Access to Google Fiber will be - for them - just as uplifting as being one of the first cities to have electricity back in the 1890's.

I hope this information gives you pause,

Ken Ray

On Thu, Jul 28, 2016 at 7:25 PM, Josie McNeil <riojosie at gmail.com<mailto:riojosie at gmail.com>> wrote:

All being placed on park land:

"See .gov site in earlier post above..."This request seeks approval of four additional hut sites required by Google: on the parcel of the City’s Birchwood Park located at 3105 Hursey Street, on the parcel of the City’s Solite Park located at 4704 Fayetteville Road, on the parcel of the City’s West Point on the Eno Park located at 135 Latta Road, and on the parcel of the City’s Rock Quarry Park located at 701 Stadium Drive.”

It was approved by Council.  I do not follow the Council agenda regularly, so I was very surprised and upset to see the trees downed on West Point on the Eno Durham City Park that adjoins Latta Road.  I have expressed my dismay to City Council, more about the loss of parkland than this health issue, but I am also very  concerned about Ellen’s point.

Josie McNeil

VP, Friends of West Point Park

Lochaven Hills Neighborhood

On Jul 28, 2016, at 4:07 PM, Ellen Whitaker <whitaker.guitar at gmail.com<mailto:whitaker.guitar at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dear neighbors,

If Tom Wheeler has his way, our neighborhoods could soon be carpeted with small powerful antennas broadcasting frequencies well above anything we’ve been using thus far with no consideration of possible health consequences.

Please see the email below to learn how to help protect your health and privacy.  Money is being considered before health, as the FCC is fast-tracking the roll-out of “5G” wireless technology —despite knowing that wireless technology is dangerous. The current head of the FCC, Tom Wheeler has ties to the telecommunications industry.  He seems only concerned with $, not the public health or privacy.

Ellen Whitaker

Morehead Hill Neighborhood

Durham, NC

____________________________

Ellen S. Whitaker

www.EllenWhitakerGuitar.com<http://www.ellenwhitakerguitar.com/>

—Sent from a cable-connected computer with the WiFi turned OFF

—Please visit https://www.emfanalysis.com/research/

Begin forwarded message:

From: Andrew McAfee <andrewmcafee1 at mac.com<mailto:andrewmcafee1 at mac.com>>

Subject: stop 5 G

Date: July 28, 2016 at 9:07:46 AM EDT

To: Undisclosed recipients: ;

Please take a moment today to send some emails, make some calls, forward this information.

http://www.parentsforsafetechnology.org/stop-5g-spectrum-frontiers.html

Thank you!

Andrew McAfee

andrew at RaleighES.info<mailto:andrew at RaleighES.info>

919.787.3022<tel:919.787.3022>

www.RaleighES.info<http://www.raleighes.info/>

Sent from a cabled computer with the WiFi turned off.

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