Getting Real about fixing Coastside Telecommunications

We said we have serious problems with telecommunications in the Midcoast in Part 1 of this series. Now let’s discuss what we can do to fix them, and the progress and approaches we’re considering.

The slide show below is the bulk of this article, so I’m not going to repeat it.  I presented it to HMB at Council on 4/18/23.  Here are the key points, starting with what are our options [<< slide, Left]:   I’m not a big fan of waiting for a profit-seeking oligopoly and complicit/captured regulators to solve our communications vulnerabilities for us, in any reasonable timeframe, at any reasonable cost.  Though I appreciate that Supv. Mueller is trying.  Just emailing our most recent (it keeps evolving!) report on Coastside Communications vulnerabilities to the vendors involved has already triggered some actions, as Leo reports below.  But we feel that exploring “rolling our own” Community Fiber Network might make a lot of sense, so that is why I proposed it to HMB.  The benefits are tangible [slide at Right >>], and importantly PROVEN IN HUNDREDS OF COMMUNITIES across the U.S.  Heck, if Woodstock, VT (pop. 3,000) can offer “Wicked Fast” internet at 1 GIGABIT per second both UPLOAD and download, then why not here?^[1]
And they started in 2011 and have been modestly profitable since 2013.  So this isn’t some perpetual cost center asset with an infinite cost, like a memorial bench or a storm drain system – this thing might pay for itself!  Maybe.  Which is why we have to examine this in detail, including controls on all aspects of the money.

The featured graphic for this article shows how fiber networks are used in modern communities to support communications networks for: Public Safety, Education, Traffic Controls, Public Works [SCADA], Smart Grid, as well as commercial content providers (ISP’s = Internet Service Providers) who compete to sell their services on the shared network.  IMHO, if HMB hopes to realize the Business Development goals it has described, it MUST have First World internet services, and right now, we do not.   [If you’d rather watch video than read, a 4 min. Vision of a Community Fiber Network is below.]

An additional reason for hope is that California already announced it’s Middle Mile program for underserved communities.  I never thought they’d consider us for the program, but there are maps showing that, under certain criteria, a fiber cable down Hwy 1 is being considered, and other maps showing Hwy 92 as well. [<<Slide Left] In fact, HMB reported in their agenda packet that they think this is going to happen^[2].  I’ll be attending the Middle Mile Advisory Council tomorrow, and talking with an administrator for our region (who is from Pacifica!) next week, so it just might be that the first major obstacle –

laying a fiber backbone right through the middle of our area – will be done by 2025 or 26.^[3]  Matt Chidester and I had seen that concept in a forward-planning Caltrans presentation about a year ago, so that increases my faith.Our slide presentation includes a more generous vision of expanded connectivity [Slide Right>>], extending down to Pescadero and up to La Honda, but economic and population considerations might mean the State would not fund that backbone.  We have reached out to PMAC and others to see if they want to be involved in the dialog.

Short term efforts

We’ve formed an MCC work group, starting with Leo and friends, and I expect to be adding members from CERT, HMB, and local residents with expertise in networks and fundraising.  Of course, we may get actual staff help if the County and HMB get involved more fully.  The first major step is to agree on the Vision, meaning that Coastside Communications are inadequate, are a shared priority, and that this type of network is worth exploring as a solution.  To that end, I expect to ask all local agencies to review our report, concur with or refine our findings (in writing), and endorse the problem statement.  I don’t expect to ask for endorsement of solutions, because they are not yet fully explained an analyzed.

Following that, we’ll need to form a legal entity to fund, build, and operate this network, and the other steps flow logically from there [Slide at Right>>].  Thought has already been given to other items on this list, as you can read in the report and/or slide show, but it’s premature to get ahead until we have a decision on where the backbone is going to come from.  If not the State, perhaps AT&T, as theirs is way underutilized.