Tonight, Traverse City Light & Power took the bull by the horns to bring our city into the 21st century economy. TCLP decided to seek a $1 million federal stimulus grant to distribute broadband over its dark fiber system, and to write a business plan for lighting up downtown TC and the waterfront area with free wireless.
Most of the info in this post comes from Boardman Neighborhood resident Mike Coco, who is also the vice chair of TCLP and a citizen leader who has been out front of this from the beginning.
First some background. Every report you read about the “new” economy says that the future is knowledge-based businesses that can locate most anywhere. Traverse City has assets to attract businesses who have a choice about where they locate. But we also have liabilities, and one significant one is our weak broadband infrastructure.
What electricity did for economic development 100 years ago and the interstate highways did 50 years ago, the internet is doing today. Lightning-fast and reliable internet connectivity is necessary to make it possible for new home-based and small knowledge based businesses to move here. This was a big topic at TC Tomorrow http://planfortc.com/question-of-the-week/jan-24-31-tc-tomorrow/.
Large organizations and businesses can get and pay for fiber optic high-speed internet, but residents and small businesses can only get what is available from traditional phone and cable companies. Traverse City’s telecom providers are actively making investments in in other areas, but not here. See http://planfortc.com/2009/10/08/economic-development/#comments for more info. We need 25, 50 or 100 Mbps service available for homes and small businesses at a cost competitive price ($50-75/month).
A company named Merit is bringing high speed fiber up this way from a major hub in Chicago using a stimulus grant, but this will mainly benefit those large institutions. Merit’s press release does specify their fiber optic network being available to greater-than-886K homes, but it is not clear where this access will be offered.
Mike Coco sees a few key user groups we need to serve. For residents who are doing “light work” (i.e. in a coffee shop) or tourists, wifi service downtown and perhaps other areas such as the warehouse district and 8th St will boost activity there, help businesses draw and keep customers there, and enhance TC’s reputation as a modern place to be.
But downtown wi-fi won’t provide home-based and small businesses with what they need. Those users need video conferencing, streaming video, etc. As Mike puts it, “We are no longer a society that simply reviews content from the internet….we’re all content producers now (blogs, pictures, videos, etc.).”
Therefore, these home and small businesses need fiber connections to their premises, or significantly faster cable or DSL at better prices and higher upload speeds (not just download speeds).
Large organizations and businesses have higher needs that require fiber. TCLP is already connecting some of them with its dark fiber system. According to TCLP Executive Director Ed Rice, dark fiber means there is no connectivity built into the system. The user has to “light” the fiber by installing equipment at the two ends to create the connectivity. TCLP put in the dark fiber system in partnership with TCAPS. TCLP installed it to meet needs to send data between substations, and also offers the service to the city and county governments. The fiber is so powerful it is only being used to about 1% of its capacity now.
So tonight, the TCLP board authorized the preparation of a grant application for broadband stimulus funds. The grant recipients will be announced in September. If received, this grant would help TCLP build the distribution infrastructure between its dark fiber (and potentially a partnership with Merit) and those home based and small businesses that need to be served.
TCLP’s board also decided to prepare a business plan for wireless services downtown. Whether through ads or otherwise, the board rightfully understands that providing a free service like this nonetheless needs to financially support itself.
These two actions cost $40,000. TCLP would need to spend around $350,000 later to bring wireless downtown. TCLP would borrow from its internal utility account to fund it. This investment will only happen if the business plan supports a full pay back.
8 comments
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February 24, 2010 at 4:00 pm
thrashertm
I’m sorry but this has all of the hallmarks of a boondoggle-in-the-making. While many of us would like faster internet, few people are willing to pay for it. It’s unconscionable to foist the costs off onto the general city taxpayers, most of whom are satisfied with their existing internet connections, in order to benefit some power users.
If the city has dark fiber, it should spin it off to a private venture (could be a non-profit even) that will make the bandwidth available to paying customers. Do not burden the taxpayers with another mandate; in case you haven’t noticed, taxes are already too high.
February 15, 2010 at 8:15 am
Mike Coco
Below is an email I received from Matt Henley on 2/13, published here with his permission:
Dear Mr. Coco,
I just wanted to offer my support for the TCLP plan to bring wireless
and wimax to the area. It saddens me that this has not been a bigger
issue to the local residents but I can tell you among my demographic
(20-30 year-olds), we understand its importance and necessity to our
ability to live and work where we want to… in Traverse City. Right
now we cannot. After three years of working and going to school in
Silicon Valley, I’m going to have to find somewhere outside of TC for
work.
While many people are focused on “shovel ready” projects and “Buying
American,” providing IT infrastructure is the real path to economic
success.
While it would be great if a commercial service provider would bring
fiber to customers, that will not happen until consumers demand it by
choosing with their wallets. The TCLP has the opportunity to force
Charter and AT&T to innovate, which will benefit TC residents. I hope
that this start, even if it doesn’t pan out, will in some way enhance
the infrastructure for our creative and industrious neighbors.
Thanks for leading the charge.
Matt Hanley;
February 12, 2010 at 6:48 pm
John Hall
Exciting news about wifi! 40mbps is a lot faster than what I currently pay $$$ to Charter.
I’m glad to see some competition for Charter.
February 10, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Martin Dores
It’s not the wireless portion we need so badly. It’s the “band width” and increease in megabytes that is needed. Light and Power is missing the point. Didn’t anyone lsiten to Micheal Moore at the “town meeting” the other week? He hit the nail right on the head. Among other insightful and real topics we all have our heads in the sand on.
Get the broad band up and running now! Unique and growing businesses will come.
February 10, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Mike Coco
Martin, et. al.:
I agree that we need significantly more bandwidth in this region. In an effort to make sure we’re working from the same page, the ‘wireless’ that TCL&P is planning to launch downtown is WiMax (not cellular wireless). It is 4G with anticipated speeds of 40 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up.
The downtown complimentary Wifi is Phase I. Part of the business plan the TCL&P is having prepared will look at:
1) Expanding WiMax availability beyond downtown.
2) A possible paid service for homes/businesses (not just complimentary wifi) AND
3) A possible wired solution to connect businesses and homes directly to the fiber backbone.
More information on L&P’s activities are available page pages 15-23 and 31-41 here:
http://tclp.org/uploaded_files/PACKET_-_Regular_Meeting_02.09.10.PDF
I also agree with Martin, Michael Moore and others that faster, more reliable, less expensive broadband will attract the entrepreneurs and professionals we’re seeking in our economic development activities. I realize this cannot happen quick enough for many people (myself included)…but this amenity must make financial and operation sense. Add in the fact that what has been deemed “free” wifi downtown will actually cost ~$350K. We need to do this right, not just quick.
I would encourage people to stay tuned to TCL&P’s activities. If the public wants wired Fiber To The Premises or other specific solutions, please attend a L&P meeting and provide your feedback on 2/23 or 3/9 at 5:15 in the Commission Chambers.
You can also send a message to the entire TCL&P board here: http://tclp.org/contact_us.php
Please stay tuned and keep commenting!
Mike Coco
mjcoco@gmail.com
February 10, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Tammy Sauve
Offering free wireless down town and on the water front will bring in unbelievable business, boosting sales to the still remaining family owned businesses in the down town business district. This is greatly needed and the best thing about this is that these family owned businesses will reinvest their revenue back into our community. What a great idea!
February 16, 2010 at 11:25 pm
C.P.
some technical questions I have include:
- does TCLP want to commit to WiMax even though most of the industry, including AT&T and Verizon, are pursuing LTE? Some already see WiMax as obsolete and compare WiMax to Betamax.
- will it be explained to city residents and visitors that they will need special equipment to connect to the WiMax service since WiFi enabled devices like laptops and iPhones won’t work with WiMax?
- will TCLP be leasing or selling WiMax connection equipment so city residents can connect?
- who will assist city residents with technical issues?
- who will fix the system when it breaks?
- who will pay for antenna removal if this venture fails? Portland, OR recently tried offering free wireless Internet in the city and after the project failed there was no one left to pay to dismantle the system. See: http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2010/01/portland_set_to_dismantle_dona.html
February 17, 2010 at 10:47 am
chrisbzdok
CP, these are good questions and the short answer is they are going to be dealt with in the business plan, but we will get you a more specific response here as soon as we can.