How do you use 1Gbps Internet links? Chattanooga residents find out

Google is bringing 1Gbps fiber connections to Kansas City, Kansas next year—but what can Kansans expect when the fiber arrives? Chattanooga, Tennesse provides a partial answer.

As the first US city to make 1Gbps fiber connections available to all, Chattanooga has been on the cutting edge of broadband deployment. Even fiber's backers admit there aren't many uses for a full 1Gbps connection at the moment, but they make a "build it and they will come" argument; provide the bandwidth and uses will materialize. Besides, once you've laid the fiber—why not roll out 1Gbps service?

Chattanooga's fiber network currently covers all 600 square miles serviced by the community-owned Electric Power Board (EPB), which has also provided electricity for decades. EPB rolled out a 1Gbps upgrade to the network last fall, but it "hasn't been flooded with calls" for the service, says David Wade, Chief Operating Officer of EPB.

Indeed, even this may be overstating current demand; only 6 or 7 Chattanooga residents and "several businesses" have ordered the high-end service, which launched with a $350 per month price tag.

David Wade Those who have ordered face challenges; if they want to experience the full 1Gbps speed they're paying for, standard WiFi connections aren't fast enough. Some customers have switched to wired gigabit routers in order to access their full bandwidth.

This doesn't particularly concern Wade. "We knew that the capacity had to be there before people could start creating applications that could utilize the capacity," he told me. "It's like bringing electricity to the Tennessee Valley" in the early twentieth century, he said. (EPB was founded in 1935.) Before power arrived, there were limited applications for it, but stringing power lines to every home and businesses provided a huge boost to the local economy and spurred all kinds of additional use. Just as with electrification, EPB has decided to run fiber to every home and business, including the third of its customers outside the city, because the benefits of fiber connections don't decline with population density.

This costs more, but EPB is a beneficiary. It uses the fiber to power its own "smart grid" electrical program, and deploying the program everywhere adds value to the electrical system. But once the fiber's in place, it can be used for TV, Internet, and phone service without digging any new trenches; indeed, even upgrading the entire network to support 1Gbps service was relatively inexpensive, since it only required an electronics upgrade at central locations. While few customers buy the 1Gbps tier, many use slower EPB Internet services, but at least the network is ready for the future at relatively minimal cost.

Cost drops over time, too. Wade noted that the optical network terminals—the boxes of homes and businesses that terminate a fiber connection and make it available to the home network—only supported 400Mbps speeds when Chattanooga began deploying them. Less than two years later, optical network terminals now reach gigabit speeds but cost less than the previous versions.

Network speeds are real—if you pay for 30Mbps, you get 30Mbps—and are symmetrical (the same speed in both directions). Chattanooga has also seen surprising use of its upstream connections, even though some question just how much uploading customers want to do. "If you're limiting upstream traffic, you're not going to see upstream traffic," Wade counters.

"A gig" has been good marketing for Chattanooga That attitude extends to all aspects of the network; build it for the future, not the present, and then encourage people to grow new applications that take advantage of abundance rather than conform to scarcity. (EPB has no caps on home Internet use.) To do this, EPB has signed on a sponsor of local business incubator Lamp Post Lab, which will bring undergrads to Chattanooga this summer in a coding competition designed to find the best uses for massive bandwidth. The winner gets $50,000 to turn their idea into a business.

The contest encourages people to "Come to Lamp Post Lab, build a company and maybe even change the world." That's exactly what Chattanooga wants to hear, and the city has been trumpeting its recent inclusion in a list of the world's "seven most intelligent communities." (Only two other US cities made the cut.)

"If we open the door to allow smart people to be smart, they usually take advantage of it," says Wade. He's in for a bit of competition; soon, Kansas City residents will be able to take advantage, too, and Google has already said it will work aggressively to develop new uses of its own for bigger bandwidth.

Fans of a particular show featuring three middle-aged men with an unhealthy penchant for cars, plus a fourth individual whose interests are rather more elusive, probably remember a 2008 episode in which the Top Gear crew lambasted the Tesla Roadster. (If not, a particularly low-quality recording is embedded below.) On that show, Jeremy Clarkson could be seen flogging one around the track, complaining about a range of only 55 miles before showing that car being pushed into the garage, supposedly out of charge. Not true, says Tesla, who has filed a lawsuit against the BBC for libel and malicious falsehood. Tesla claims that, among other things, two cars were provided and at all times at least one of them was ready and willing. Beyond that, Tesla knows that neither car ever dropped below 25 percent charge, meaning the whole pushing into the garage thing was, well, staged. It's hard to look at this as much more than a PR move, Tesla waiting over two years to file, but that doesn't mean the complaint isn't legit. Now it's time for the Beeb to roll out its crew of tame racing lawyers. Some say their suits are made of wool, and that their briefcases contain actual briefs. All we know is they're very well compensated.

Update: Well, the hornets' nest has been kicked, and it didn't take long for the swarm to arise. The BBC has dropped a bombshell, saying that it "stands by the programme and will be vigorously defending this claim."

Free Calls to Japan From AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and TWC

By Ben Popken on March 17, 2011 12:00 PM 0 views (B.Mayer)

Several telecommunications providers are giving US customers free long-distance calls and texts to Japan. AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and TWC are all waiving charges. AT&T is giving 60 minutes of free talk time between the US and Japan until the end of the month. Verizon is offering $0.00/minute rates between the two countries until April 15. Comcast is giving away free calls to voice customers through April 11. Time Warner Cable is giving digital phone customers free calls to Japan through April 15. A helping hand for those looking to connect with a friend, colleague or loved one over in Japan.

UPPER POTTSGROVE — An East Coventry man, formerly of Upper Pottsgrove, was arrested for five counts of sexual abuse of children for his alleged possession of child pornography, according to court papers.

Clifford Repotski, 24, of 1319 Ellis Woods Road, was arraigned on the charges Feb. 18 and his bail was set at $25,000, 10 percent, after he was taken into custody for the charges.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Detective Heather Long and Montgomery County Detective Mary Anders, Long began an investigation into the ownership of 15 electronic storage discs which apparently contained images of child pornography that were abandoned at 411 East Moyer Road. Long learned that Repotski lived at the address, where he rented a room for approximately two years.

Repotski allegedly abandoned property at the residence, the discs among items that were found after Repotski moved out of the residence at the end of 2010, court papers indicate. When Long viewed several of the 15 discs, she located "numerous" images that she believed to be child pornography.

Court records indicate Repotski has no prior criminal record in Pennsylvania.

A preliminary hearing for Repotski is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. March 1 before District Judge Thomas A. Palladino.