Thought I would start a thread for AT&T and the fiber optic topic.
First I will post Dan Hamburg's reply from the listserve and add my two cents as the first reply.
Dan Hamburg wrote:
Terry Vaughn writes: "AT&T will never build a self-healing fiber ring
unless our county supervisors and mayors take this failure as a warning of
what can happen when we lose 1 small link to the outside world. Our leaders
need to work with the state and telecom companies to restore our confidence
in the network. The Mendocino Coast needs a diverse path for
telecommunications off the coast. What business or college would invest in
a place where a car accident can cause so much economic damage."
Terry is right on the mark. I do want to take note that the Broadband
Alliance of Mendocino County (BAMC) and its chair Jim Moorehead have been
warning about the precariousness of the network that serves the Mendocino
Coast, and much of the rest of rural Mendocino County, for several years.
In fact, BAMC sponsored a proposal to the CPUC (Golden Bear Broadband) that
would have created two redundant fiber rings on Route 1 (the Mendocino
County ring would have been: Laytonville/Westport/Fort
Bragg/Manchester/Ukiah) with the internet backbone interconnections at
Laytonville and Ukiah. ATT was instrumental in blocking that proposal.
According to Jim, ATT failed in two ways in this most recent incident:
1) ATT failed to have adequate material and personnel available locally to
respond to this emergency in a timely manner; and
2) ATT does not have a redundant network to route around problems like
this. This is a basic network design flaw that saves ATT money.
BAMC, which is the arm of the Board of Supervisors on broadband issues, is
collecting information for a full report to CPUC. Please share relevant
information with Brandon Merritt in the county Executive Office
(merrittb@co.mendocino.ca.us).
First I will post Dan Hamburg's reply from the listserve and add my two cents as the first reply.
Dan Hamburg wrote:
Terry Vaughn writes: "AT&T will never build a self-healing fiber ring
unless our county supervisors and mayors take this failure as a warning of
what can happen when we lose 1 small link to the outside world. Our leaders
need to work with the state and telecom companies to restore our confidence
in the network. The Mendocino Coast needs a diverse path for
telecommunications off the coast. What business or college would invest in
a place where a car accident can cause so much economic damage."
Terry is right on the mark. I do want to take note that the Broadband
Alliance of Mendocino County (BAMC) and its chair Jim Moorehead have been
warning about the precariousness of the network that serves the Mendocino
Coast, and much of the rest of rural Mendocino County, for several years.
In fact, BAMC sponsored a proposal to the CPUC (Golden Bear Broadband) that
would have created two redundant fiber rings on Route 1 (the Mendocino
County ring would have been: Laytonville/Westport/Fort
Bragg/Manchester/Ukiah) with the internet backbone interconnections at
Laytonville and Ukiah. ATT was instrumental in blocking that proposal.
According to Jim, ATT failed in two ways in this most recent incident:
1) ATT failed to have adequate material and personnel available locally to
respond to this emergency in a timely manner; and
2) ATT does not have a redundant network to route around problems like
this. This is a basic network design flaw that saves ATT money.
BAMC, which is the arm of the Board of Supervisors on broadband issues, is
collecting information for a full report to CPUC. Please share relevant
information with Brandon Merritt in the county Executive Office
(merrittb@co.mendocino.ca.us).