[Hidden-tech] Try Crocker (instead of Verizon)!

[Matthew Crocker]

>> no matter which provider you go with, the phone company still
>> owns/controls the wire from your house to the local phone company
>> switching office.
>
> For telco solutions, yes. For cable/fiber solutions, no. Pole space 
> can be
> leased.

Pole attachments are about $9/pole/year,  20-30 poles/mile (roughly). 
The expense is the make-ready work and the survey.  Stringing the fiber 
is pretty cheap once you get the make-ready work done.  You don't need 
to be a CLEC to do pole attachments, you just need to sign a contract 
with Verizon and Northeast Utilities.  As a CLEC I could string fiber 
to my own pole mounted DSLAMs and lease copper last mile from Verizon 
to deliver 24mbps DSL (12,000 feet).  FITL (Fiber in the loop) is a 
normal first step and is what Comcast has already completed.  The next 
step is to replace the copper last mile with fiber and build a Passive 
Optical Network (PON).  The equipment we are using in the COs and what 
I'm looking at for pole mount stuff has upgrade options for PON.

In order to make any grass roots fiber build work you'll need to offer 
the 'triple-play' of services. IP is pretty easy, Voice is as well. 
Video is a bit more difficult, getting video content is tough,  studios 
are reluctant to release films for Video-On-Demand because it is 
eroding their DVD rental income.

I wonder how many IPTV video streams I can fit on a GigE? ;)

We will look at a case by case basis, if you have 10-15 neighbors 
willing to sign up for service I can make something work.  It most 
likely be a T1 to a house with a 2.4/5.7 Ghz wireless setup.    If you 
want to do it yourself you can buy your own wireless setup and get a T1 
from my network.  The more T1s I  get, the more I can build the 
network, the lower the cost.  That is the whole idea behind the Pioneer 
Valley Connect.   Enough business in Amherst allows me to build a CO in 
Amherst.  A CO in Amherst makes T1s into Shutesbury/Levrett cheap.  I'm 
paying $17/mile for T1s and currently Shutesbury/Levrett would be 
served from Northampton. Lighting up a CO takes $35k and 6 months.  
Keeping it lit takes $2k/month for a GigE fiber link.

I do this because I'm a geek and I love what I do.  I need to make a 
living but I'm not going to overcharge and pull the money out of the 
area.  It all gets re-invested back into the network.  I have $1Million 
invested in the network already, I just signed a $1M lease for fiber 
over the next 10 years.  We are not your typical local ISP.