tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78742592009-07-04T00:19:47.120-05:00Our rambunctious take on the play by play, day by day, events of the Lafayette Fiber to the Home fight. Supporting <a href="http://www.lafayetteprofiber.com/"> LafayetteProFiber.com</a>.FiberFolkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03931024146374854439noreply@blogger.comBlogger1687125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-17117503715362610352009-06-27T15:01:00.001-05:002009-06-27T23:37:07.348-05:00

WowLUS has launched a nifty new intranet speed test page. It tests the speed of the intranet portion of LUS' internet offering. (And you can only get to it if you are already on the network.) The decision to treat all of Lafayette as a "campus" to make the full speed of the local network available to all subscribers—regardless of what they pay—is probably the most unique and impressing aspect of

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-34169395322061634372009-06-19T19:10:00.000-05:002009-06-19T19:11:37.876-05:00

Apparently people in these hard times economize on other things...but broadband well, that's necessary:"the survey found that while only 9% of Americans said they had canceled or cut back on online service, 22% said they had canceled or cut back on cable TV, and 22% said they had canceled or cut back on cell phone service.""People are willing to shave premium services from their cable and

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-35178926499638007192009-06-11T17:20:00.002-05:002009-06-11T17:23:17.204-05:00

The headline is pretty much the story: "LUS Fiber's First Commercial Customer Goes Live." The Independent reports that Lafayette Convention and Visitors Center (LCVC) has taken a 50 meg symmetrical service for $119.50. They like it; Breaux, LCVC Director Breaux is reported as having said:"Unbelieveable,” he says. “It’s been a major difference [in speed] and the whole group at LUS has been

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-45123563705319398092009-06-03T21:39:00.000-05:002009-06-08T09:40:03.993-05:00

The set top box follies is turning into a long-running show. The latest show is back in Washington where the FCC has just issued a waiver to a cable company for their new set top box. The new waiver joins other recent decisions that mark a continued retreat on the part of the FCC from enforcing its long-standing "rule" that demanded that providers of cable services separate security from

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-60523462403616835802009-06-03T18:16:00.001-05:002009-06-03T18:18:28.100-05:00

Lost amid the stories of the Louisiana Legislature's most recent set of follies is the damage being done to those odd corners where people actually try and develop a better future. We're not talking here about the gauzy langauge that always envelops grabbing the state's cash for perfectly standard special-interest projects like funding I-49 South or giving money to some California company to help

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-36670809533510191812009-06-01T12:30:00.002-05:002009-06-01T12:39:01.037-05:00

Here's a link that's mostly just for smiles: The One Fiber Optic Cable No One on the Dig for Tysons Rail Wants to Hit.You may have heard of "dark" fiber—that's the miles of fiber that run across the country that has never been lit; fiber that has never been used. So it's common to talk about "dark" fiber and "lit" fiber and its differing costs and availability.But you've likely never heard of "

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-15834032243168010972009-05-22T23:47:00.004-05:002009-05-26T22:01:15.454-05:00

I posted earlier on the predictable objections of Cox to LUS' request for a waiver of FCC regulations that have been waved for everyone else for a long time. I complained that LUS wasn't being treated fairly and suggested that LUS' competition and the innovative services it has already offered are just what the FCC has been saying it wanted to accomplish through its regulation.I've snagged Jim

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-84931338817570145922009-05-21T01:30:00.002-05:002009-05-26T21:52:39.206-05:00

The executive summary: Cox is acting like Cox.The short version: LUS has asked for an exemption from an FCC rule mandating the use of cable cards in set top boxes. Cox, joined by the Consumer Electronics Association, objects.The essence: Cox would like to throw a kink, into, to again delay if possible (or to impose additional costs on LUS if it is not) Lafayette's FTTH project by using the FCC to

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-52794590639354790842009-05-17T15:34:00.001-05:002009-05-26T23:02:59.331-05:00

What's Being Said dept.Lafayette got some good press in the national broadband media* lately...not because of anything we did here but because Cox offered its 50/5 meg tier for the first time outside of Lafayette and Lafayette got mentioned as the first place it was offered. The new area is in Northern Virginia, a region which 1) has some of the nation's small areas of overbuilder competition,

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-53245578376826894852009-05-11T12:02:00.003-05:002009-05-11T14:09:14.480-05:00

There's going to be a "floor raising" for Lafayette Commons tomorrow at 6:00 PM in the new Southside Library. (6101 Johnston St—map) You're Invited!The event will be a floor raising in two senses:first, it will introduce a project that hopes to raise the floor for the people of Lafayette: to make a common set of sophisticated tools available to everyone free of charge;second, the meeting will be

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-69879383670033644852009-05-11T12:01:00.001-05:002009-05-11T12:02:10.743-05:00

The Advertiser has a very measured piece about the fiber project on its front page today. Titled "Fiber rollout continues" it reports that things mostly are proceeding as expected. New news, such as it is, consists of notes about the locations of some phase 2 areas that are getting built a little early and a new reason for the slow, "controlled" rollout.On phase 2:LUS Director Terry Huval said

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-40268707842887691742009-05-07T14:29:00.002-05:002009-05-07T14:34:54.974-05:00

The Independent covers the installation of fiber in the "Saint Streets and the [adjacent] Oaklawn neighborhoods." The news seem to be that mcuh these neighborhoods were not in "phase 1" of the build but are getting fiber a bit out of sequence due to a happy worker scheduling issue. But if you'll check the LUS online map (and LPF's possibly more easily navigated version) you'll see that most of

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-46067872857670725252009-05-05T06:37:00.003-05:002009-05-05T07:35:27.893-05:00

Lafayette has emerged as something of a regional epicenter of the swine flu outbreak. Five parochial schools have been closed, final exams for seniors have been canceled, and local media types are in high dungeon over the fact that our fair community has been targeted by this disease. First, Stanford; now swine flu. Man, it's been a rough spring for the geaux-geaux crowd in this part of the

Mike Stagghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11487046644375429855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-36428707294151418442009-04-30T16:29:00.000-05:002009-04-30T16:30:09.925-05:00

Ok, so the fine print reads: "With qualifying new 2-year AT&T agreement on rate plans $60/mo. or more. $349.99 unactivated."Still, you get a real computer with connectivity built in. On the downside you're tied to AT&T and I don't see any other connectivity option listed in the specs on the Radio Shack page...an otherwise very similar Acer machine is an Aspire which you can find for as little

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-87601447687388870062009-04-29T15:21:00.003-05:002009-04-29T15:27:48.843-05:00

I'm not sure what the title, "Occupational Hazard," to this IND story is supposed to refer to other than the fact that sensationalized media stories are a mainstay and thus it's an "occupational hazard" for public efforts to receive breathless coverage. (I've complained about this with the Advertiser before. And, when deserved, occasionally praised a media outlet.)The story is that LUS rented a

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-28082204742034072852009-04-26T15:15:00.003-05:002009-04-26T22:16:08.120-05:00

It'd be funny if it weren't so overburdened with irony.Those of us who still get a daily newspaper will have been amused by Cox's latest attempt to "me-too" ("fiber is nothing new" cough, cough) the LUS network's offerings. As my wife was going through our morning ritual of removing the 3/4 of the paper that is glossy ad inserts and sections we never open out slipped an 8 1/2 x 11 Cox flyer with

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-58380178430303374202009-04-09T23:29:00.000-05:002009-04-09T23:58:23.359-05:00

What's Being Said DepartmentBenoît Felten, of the French Blog Fiberevolution interviewed Terry Huval (in English) at Freedom To Connect and has posted the video to his blog. Terry roles out the history of the project, the hurdles it has overome, and brags on its qualities for an international audience.Note particularly the remarks from about the 4:25 mark on the video when Benoit asks about "the

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-48073905934209131362009-04-09T14:56:00.002-05:002009-04-09T21:09:20.034-05:00

Broadband advocates here in the good old US of A have been getting a little giddy at the sight of the federal government's machinery groaning into low gear to actually start the process of formulating a National Broadband Plan. (Yes, that explains why we haven't appeared to have a plan. We haven't.) Why just yesterday we started the planning process. First, in the distantly snide tone only the

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-6122584044782254732009-04-07T18:40:00.002-05:002009-04-07T18:50:38.703-05:00

Cox has announced that it is combining its New Orleans operations with "Greater Louisiana" Market — Greater Louisiana is made up of the former Baton Rouge and Lafayette divisions which were combined three years ago.The new division has half a million customers and will be Cox's 3rd largest market.But Cox the spokesperson is careful to note:Ann Ruble said the move would not affect rates.Now that

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-72504450772460297062009-04-07T13:10:00.002-05:002009-04-07T13:19:57.277-05:00

What's Being Said Department.Geoff Daily over at Apps-Rising has put up a post whose title says it all: "Municipal Fiber Competition Benefits All Lafayette Citizens." Daily too thinks that Cox's competition is good for Lafayette—and he can see it from D.C.What this says is that municipal fiber deployment doesn't just bring the best broadband to citizens, it also introduces competition that spurs

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-20842903653299660332009-04-07T11:18:00.001-05:002009-04-07T11:19:38.548-05:00

This morning's Advocate weighs in with an interesting view of Cox's new 5o mbps down/5 mbps up service. The report focuses on the reactions from most of the principals including Cox, EATel and AT&T but oddly excluding a direct reaction from LUS.The article makes it clear that while Cox denies any direct influence, (apparently the local folks are making that mistake after all) knowing that LUS

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-45459484567817067602009-04-04T19:28:00.001-05:002009-04-04T19:28:51.957-05:00

LUS Fiber sent out another email to folks on their list recently. It is reproduced below. This one gives some detail about the areas within phase one in which it is possible to order services. There are three elipses in north Lafayette (2 around Louisiana and one east of Pinhook) and two in south Lafyette (near the mall).Call 'em!LUS Fiber is now serving customers throughout the City of Lafayette

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-86550064491403414212009-04-02T03:29:00.005-05:002009-04-03T14:28:03.629-05:00

Cox announced yesterday that it is launching its first DOCSIS 3 product, a 50 meg down "ultimate" tier in, of all places, Lafayette, LA. That's a huge feather in the cap of Lafayette and is certain to get Lafayette press across the country.Despite the fact that yesterday was April fools this appears to be no joke even though it has yet to make it onto the official Cox page... Cox really is

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-23167802363846861822009-03-30T07:52:00.008-05:002009-04-02T01:29:43.954-05:00

A quick note from the F2C conference. You can watch the live stream—and it looks very good. The conference this year is highly recommended: the speakers are amazing ranging from Pulitzer Prize winning authors to absolutely top notch fiber partisans to the guys who actually build the networks. Some, like Lafayette's own Terry Huval qualify on multiple grounds.Tim Nulty, the force behind Vermont's

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-3127877736668816532009-03-27T23:47:00.002-05:002009-03-27T23:54:21.240-05:00

Well, I'm about to take off for the Freedom to Connect conference in Washington DC. That'll explain any upcoming odd missives posted from D.C. :-)The agenda is great—and the conversations in the lobby even better. (Organizer David Isenberg-—yes, that Isenberg—explains the theme of this year's conference quite nicely.) If you have an interest in the internet and public policy and ever get a chance

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0