[Info-vax] US Broadband

[JF Mezei]

Another aspect:

For CO-served DSL, distance is a limiting factor. For instance, if your
street is too far from CO to get 1mbps DSL download, it could be a
marketing decision to not sell a service that doesn't comply with
current broadband standards for instance.  (as well as support costs
since you are more likely to call in to report outages, problems with
line, slow downloads etc)

If on FTTN, then deploying a new DSLAM to serve your neighbourhood needs
a certain number of homes to cost justify deploying the DSLAM  (or VRAD
as AT&T calls them).  It isn't just the electronics, but also the
concrete base, building permits, digging, property rehabilitationm and
of course, not only bringing fibre to the DSLAM, but also bringing all
of the neighbourhood's copper pairs to the DSLAM as well.

If the telco is contemplating FTTP, then the cost of deploying an FTTN
DSLAM in your neighbourhood is very high for a short term "fill the gap"
purpose.


Municipalities can also be of great help with such projects to serve
unserved pockets. The mayor/"town council can put pressure on telco AND
make it a lot oeasier for the telco to get the necessary permits etc.

Not sure about New Engel Land, but after the 1998 ice storm, the
province of Ontario passed strict new telephone pole standards. Old
poles were grand-fathered until a new cable is strung.  And in many
towns, all the poles are non-standard.

So the cost of deploying a new strand of fibre is extremely high since
it entails the replacement of large number of telephone poles at roughly
$35,000 each.

And in Ontario if a competitor wants to lease space on a pole, the
competitor has to pay the pole replacement costs, but the original owner
of the pole remains the owner and then charges normal rent to the
competitor. After the upgrade is paid for by competitor, the incumbent
can then upgrade their own cables for free since the pole is up to
standards.

Some often, policies which on the surface appear to have good
intentions, end up having negative side effects for deployment of new tech.