[GRLUG] NOT LINUX - LUS

[Bob Kline]

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 9:25 AM, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 1:14 PM, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> http://blog.lafayetteprofiber.com/2009/06/nifty-new-intranet-speed-test.html
> > Note the graphs.  The LUSFiber system
> > delivers rock hard performance despite its
> > modest prices -  $58 a month for 50 Mbps
> > full duplex.  100 Mbps available, also full
> > duplex.
> > Verizon and AT&T sued to try to stop the
> > project.  Now, a precedent has been set,
> > and the bigger damage might be all the
> > attention LUSFiber is getting.  It's now the
> > reference point for what's possible.
> > And what's possible is a whole lot cheaper
> > than the big players are suggesting. Comcast
> > just came out with a 100 Mbps down, 10 Mbps
> > up service tier, and it's over $400 a month.
> > Hardly full duplex, and definitely not cheap.
> > Yes, T1 lines were over $1,000 a month not
> > so many years ago.  But technology has moved
> > on, and LUSFiber shows just how much.
> > For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LUSFiber
> >   -- Bob
>
> How many people have paid for that system, versus how many people get
> service? In other words, who's subsidizing it so who else can use it
> cheaply?
>
> WP page says LUSFiber is municipally owned. Normally, things which are
> funded by government entities can be explicitly regulated by those
> entities, and have those regulations backed by their police force. If
> I have no reasonable alternative for a given service level than
> LUSFiber, that puts me at the mercy of their regulations. What if they
> decided they wanted a network-backed morality system like
> Australia?[1]
>
> It also says that LUSFiber is a subsidiary of a local utility company.
> Can you say "municipally-granted monopoly"? You can blame *that* for
> why Comcast is so large; Comcast is built on a coax infrastructure
> built by dozens of cable companies which had municipally-granted
> monopolies in their local area.
>
> The combination of municipally-granted monopolies and utility
> companies reminds me of a recent story in West Michigan where a guy
> was {fined|evicted|home condemned} (I don't recall which) because he
> wasn't attached to municipal utilities in his area. It wasn't that his
> home was unsanitary, unsafe, or polluting nearby areas, he just wasn't
> attached to the grid, law required that he be attached to the grid,
> and so he got in trouble.
>
> Also, do you know why T1 lines are so expensive? They're regulated.
> You get a kickass SLA to go along with that 1.544Mb/s connection, and
> someone will be woken in the middle of the night to repair it for you
> if it goes down. *That* costs. Even if he wasn't unionized, the guy
> you woke at 2AM because your T1 went down wouldn't charge unskilled
> labor rates.
>
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia
>
> I have no good idea whether you're saying
the prices charged by AT&T, Comcast, etc.,
are reasonable or what.  As for censorship
and other concerns, I haven't the slightest
idea what the situation is with LUSFiber. I
sure do know that Comcast has been fiddling
with people's connections.  It might have
opened the new speed tiers only because
of its acquisition of Disney, but at current
prices there might not be a lot of takers.

I know one couple that lives in Lafayette.
He is an IT guy.  I got to talk to him off
and on for a few days when we were both
staying in Smithville, TX.  He raised none
of the concerns you express.  That's all I
really know.  It seems to be the case that
$58 a month covers the cost, and I presume
the town folks would know if there is a
massive subsidy at work somewhere.  And
further sure that Verizon, AT&T, and others,
would be quick to point that out.

A fiber costs no more to install than a
twisted pair. To first order, all of the cost
is in the labor.

I the blog I sent a point to indicates
a lot of happy campers using the LUSFiber
service.  If there are a lot of daemons and
smoke and mirrors involved, no one has
found them yet.  I see no reason why the
price is not reasonable.  Being a municipally
owned facility - someone or something has
to own the system - it's probably run on a
non profit basis.

Google hired one of the top people in
the LUSFiber system.  Not sure whether
that says it wants to emulate the system,
or just wanted the manpower.

Anyway, what I know says LSUFiber is the
game to beat, and I know of no verifiable
downsides to the system.  One could check
in to things like uptime.  The blog refers to
measurements that say the performance is
everything it's said to be.  I'll ask the person
I know about any byte limits, and see if he
has any other comments about the system.

Lafayette is a nice, medium size city:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette,_Louisiana

Almost the kind of town where you could
know most other folks.

   -- Bob

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