Construction and Expansion

��۴�ý Meets On-Going Demand for Affordable, High Speed Internet

walt.grayson — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 20:00:00 +0000

��۴�ý Meets On-Going Demand for Affordable, High Speed Internet

walt.grayson Thu, 03/07/2019 - 12:00

Written by Dane Jasper
March 7, 2019 | 2 min read

We’ve talked about 2019 being the year of fiber expansion, and ��۴�ý has kicked it off with its biggest fiber rollout to date. In addition to our growing reach in San Francisco and the East Bay, our high speed Gigabit Fiber service will soon be available in the Peninsula for the first time ever! I’m also really excited about our first big fiber to the home project in the North Bay, in Petaluma.

The expansion will reach 19 new Bay Area cities and neighborhoods including Burlingame, San Mateo, Hillsborough, South San Francisco and portions of Cow Hollow, parts of Pacific Heights, Lower Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Chinatown, North Beach, San Carlos, Belmont, San Bruno, Millbrae, Redwood City, North Fair Oaks, Emerald Hills and Petaluma. See the Chronicle today for more details.

Current ��۴�ý Fusion customers in these areas will receive an early installation invitation automatically, so just keep an eye on your email for updates as construction progresses.

For those of you who are not yet ��۴�ý members, fiber pre-orders for these new locations are now available on the ��۴�ý website. You will get your installation invitation shortly after our current members. Installations will begin this spring. So please, tell a neighbor what we’re up to!

Our massive expansion shows the demand in the Bay Area for affordable, very high-speed internet service and our ongoing determination to bring it to you. Together, we can fix what’s broken with internet access in America.

As interest in Cable continues to decline and streaming services gain more traction, having high-speed, reliable internet is no longer a luxury. It’s a must-have. For those looking to escape cable’s monopoly, ��۴�ý provides a fast and affordable alternative that can power everything from streaming entertainment services to laptops and tablets to smart home devices. We intend to continue keeping up with evolving technologies and household broadband and WiFi needs, and by kicking off 2019 with our broadest fiber expansion yet, we’re doing just that.

This year not only marks our biggest expansion ever–it’s also the year of ��۴�ý’s 25th anniversary. Since 1994, we have been committed to supplying our shared local communities with fast, affordable connectivity. We look forward to many more years of continuing the momentum toward our ultimate goal of building a better, faster and more affordable internet in the Bay Area and far beyond.

Go, Monopoly! Go! Go!

walt.grayson — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 20:00:00 +0000

Go, Monopoly! Go! Go!

walt.grayson Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:00

Written by Dane Jasper
November 17, 2015 | 2 min read

I’m flying across the US today, enjoying in-flight Internet access along the way. Internet access in the sky changes the equation for travellers, particularly for business users, allowing them to stay in touch and productive, despite zipping along at 550mph.

While I’m feeling a bit spoiled by this handy access (and a bit disloyal to GoGo as I post this), the in-flight monopoly reminds me of some of America’s issues with terrestrial Internet access. Up here in the sky, I’ve got one choice, just as most Americans have just one choice for fast Internet access in their homes.

And just as consumers on the ground do by switching providers frequently, or calling for a better price every year, I’ve got to game the billing system in order to get a fair price. In my case, by connecting via VPN in order to buy a flight pass using the ��۴�ý IP, yielding a much lower price than is offered onboard. (Is charging me more once I’m on the plane fair? Maybe @GoGo will respond with a comment below. Tip: If you forget to pre-purchase before your flight and are feeling gouged, buy 30 minutes of access, then use the ��۴�ý VPN to connect to gogoair.com and buy more time or a segment pass at a lower cost than is offered onboard.)

At ��۴�ý, our goal is to deliver more and more value for our members, at a fair and simple price. While we do from time to time run specials (like a month free, or a free Roku, or a monthly discount, or $5 off with a television bundle, etc) for new members, we don’t do the routine “call the cable company every year to threaten to cancel, fight, renew/re-negotiate” with our customers. No matter how you come in, you end up in the same place in the long run. That’s fair.

Why? Because we’ve got a mission: fixing the state of Internet access in America.

We want to partner with our members in that mission, and part of that is the financial support which you provide every month by being a member. Every dollar supports building a better product for you, our ��۴�ý members.

Fixing the Internet will take a huge movement, which is why we work so hard to recruit new members to our mission. That’s is why we love seeing our members referring their friends, family, and workplace to ��۴�ý. Thank you very much for spreading the word about our mission.

Together we can build a new Internet access model for America, beyond just one choice, beyond cable. One without artificial tiers and usage caps, with $40 gigabit fiber, while protecting the privacy of our lawful customers. It’s going to take time, and a lot of money. But it is possible, and I look forward to doing it, with the support of our members.

Moving Outside: From ISP to OSP

walt.grayson — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Moving Outside: From ISP to OSP

walt.grayson Sun, 07/31/2011 - 12:00

Written by Dane Jasper
July 31, 2011 | 2 min read

Placing duct for Fiber-to-the-Home

This month ��۴�ý celebrates seventeen years of providing Internet access, and we celebrate a major milestone: our first step outside.

An an Internet Service Provider (ISP), beginning in 1994 with dialup Linux shell access, we used conventional phone lines from Pacific Bell and 16.8kbps modems to provide access. When “X2” 56kbps dialup arrived in 1997, these lines upgraded to digital ISDN BRI and then later large PRI lines.

Then, with the launch of DSL at 1.5Mbps in 1998, we switched to large Pacific Bell T3 ATM circuits for customer aggregation, and over the years DSL gradually evolved from 1.5Mbps up to 6.0Mbps, and from the Central Offices whice serve 60% to 80% of premises to Remote Terminals which allowed nearly everyone to obtain DSL.

The circuits got larger and larger, and our reach grew across California. In 2005 we opened our DSL aggregation network to serve other ISPs, and today there are seventy Internet Service Providers that utilize our Open DSL Network to deliver AT&T ADSL1 broadband to consumers in California and beyond.

But back then all of the ��۴�ý.net infrastructure was ensconced in our datacenters in Santa Rosa, San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles. We relied upon AT&T (formerly known as SBC California, and before that Pacific Bell) to connect us to from there to the customer premise, using their ATM backhaul network and DSL Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs). It has been a good partnership for us, for them, and for our mutual customers.

In 2006 we took the next step and became a telephone company ourselves, and began to build our own “Inside Plant”, in the carrier business known as “ISP”, not to be confused with “Internet Service Provider”. Inside Plant (ISP) is the electronics in the Central Office, the DSLAMs, Ethernet aggregation and voice switching. Inside plant equipment connects to the outside plant copper loops, which are a shared resource for all telephone companies under the 1996 Telecom Act, the law which created competition in local telephone service.

This brought us from being a conventional ISP (Internet Service Provider), to a carrier ourselves, building our own “ISP” (InSide Plant), and a big step closer to customers. With the construction of this next-generation facilities-based carrier network, in 2008 we launched our enterprise FlexLink Carrier Ethernet products, and in 2010 the innovative Fusion Broadband+Phone service. This brought us out of the isolated datacenters, instead building new equipment into every telephone central office, and it has delivered fast, exciting broadband products at great prices, plus our own voice telephone services too.

Now we have taken the next step, building our first OSP: OutSide Plant. The outside plant is the part of the network which is on the poles and in the ground; the cables, splices, cabinets and terminals. And, just as we built the newest DSL and Ethernet technology into our inside plant, we are building a cutting-edge OSP network: Fiber-optic cable to every home we pass.

This has been an interesting process for me, and our amazing team over the years. While many early-days ISPs have consolidated, sold, ceased business or simply shifted away from the business of providing access, we are committed to continued innovation as an Internet Access Provider.

With our continued partnership with AT&T, plus our facilities as a CLEC, and new construction of Fiber outside plant, we are moving onward and upward.

Construction and Expansion

���۴�ý Meets On-Going Demand for Affordable, High Speed Internet

���۴�ý Meets On-Going Demand for Affordable, High Speed Internet

Go, Monopoly! Go! Go!

Go, Monopoly! Go! Go!

Moving Outside: From ISP to OSP

Moving Outside: From ISP to OSP

��۴�ý Meets On-Going Demand for Affordable, High Speed Internet

��۴�ý Meets On-Going Demand for Affordable, High Speed Internet