First, to set the framework–the FCC has promoted a public policy for some time that all Americans have the right to telephone services.  Obviously, in rural areas, the cost to provide that service has historically been quite high.  For nearly 80 years, rural telephone companies have been subsidized in these “high cost” areas through low cost loans from the government to build plant.  In 1997, Congress mandated an additional funding mechanism known as the “universal service fund”, where customers of telecommunications providers (including wireline, wireless, and VoIP) in “low cost” areas would contribute a percentage of the interstate services on their bill to the fund, which aggregation was used to subsidize customers in “high cost” areas.  Since 1997, the percentage of contribution has steadily grown and sits presently at 15.5% of interstate and end user services.

There are arguments on both sides as to whether this fund has been effective (or not) in promoting the public policy initiatives of the US government, but what is undeniably clear is that the fund is an expensive “tax” for 96% of the voice services customers in the country.  There has been a sense for some time that things needed to change.

Enter the “Connect America Fund”.  With this Order issued last week, the FCC has effectively created a fund to subsidize broadband deployment in the rural parts of the US, and is effectively transitioning the existing funding framework of the Universal Service Fund for the CAF.  Said another way, subsidies for voice services in rural areas are being phased out over the course of the next 5 to 9 years (depending on the company), and those same funds will be made available for rural telcos to deploy broadband data services to their customer base.  The fund will be “budgeted” at the same level it is presently, with the idea that the CAF fund will not grow beyond current funding levels.  In the summary of the order, there was language to suggest that the USF cum CAF would see attrition as the public policy goals associated with broadband deployment were achieved, reducing effective “communications tax” burdens on customers of telephone, cable, and wireless companies over time.

There were many other changes dictated by the Order, including an entire revamp of the intercarrier compensation system (the way companies compensate one another to reach end users on another network), jurisdiction policy (will State public service commissions continue to regulate “intrastate traffic”, or has VoIP made jurisdiction a moot point?), Interconnection Agreement framework (the standard agreements carriers sign with one another to exchange traffic), and so on.  Arcane indeed.

What is clear is that our users will continue for an indeterminate time to subsidize FCC public policy initiatives as they have in the past, but the tide may be turning.  Technology is making it easier and less expensive for all companies to provide voice and data services.  Over the course of the next few years, I hope and expect that all communication companies will become independent and self sustaining, reducing the subsidy burden on the industry as a whole.

Until next time…

What this means for our customers is the availability of higher speed data connections, as well as more network availability during times of peak congestion.

Currently the maximum speed available is 15MPS down and 2MPS up with our Xtreme Turbo product–very fast by any standard, but by mid 4th quarter, two additional HSD tiers will be available in all markets.  They will feature download speeds of 30MPS and 50MPS, and upload speeds of 3MPS and 5MPS, respectively.  New modems will be required to support the DOCSIS 3.0 based products.

We have had a number of testers out there who have had the product for a while.  It has performed very well, and certainly is fast.  I spoke to one individual today though that offered some perspective on these upper speed tiers that is worth passing on to our readership.  Quote, “The way I use the internet, there isn’t much discernible difference between what I had (Xtreme Turbo) and what I have now.”  We discussed the “garden hose” metaphor of internet service, and that is that regardless of how large the opening is on the end of the hose, there is generally a narrower pipe on the far end server providing the requested data.

Now, lest I be accused of reducing the internet’s complexity down to a “series of tubes” as the late Senator Ted Stevens so infamously opined, there is, nonetheless, a component of truth to this “garden hose” analogy.  In practice, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and other video providers have practical limits on the stream they will send to any one customer, and all of these streams will fit very nicely into one of WOW!’s lower speed tiers, thank you very much.  Said another way, you may not see a lot of difference on most of the content downloads/streaming in the new superfast speed tiers, particularly at peak times when servers providing the requested content are sharing bandwidth to potentially thousands of customers.  It certainly will make a huge difference in non-peak times, or other types of traffic such as peer-to-peer, gaming, etc.  So it depends on how you use the internet, and how many users you have in your household that would be using the service simultaneously.

One thing is certain.  Bandwidth requirements will continue to rise as new services and applications become available through the internet.  DOCSIS 3.0 positions WOW! and our esteemed customers for the future.

Until next time….

Like many technology or product introductions, there are several definitions of TV Everywhere and in most cases; all loosely fall under the brief description provided above. Streaming NetFlix to an IPad is in effect TV Everywhere, as prior to having the capability to do this, NetFlix content was primarily viewed on the TV. Another example would be watching an episode of Family Guy on Hulu.com via a mobile app on your Smartphone. Again, by generic definition, this would fall under the category of TV Everywhere. For the purposes of this article, I will draw some unique distinctions on what I believe TV Everywhere really means and what some of the current challenges are with a wide scale deployment and adoption of it.

Progress is certainly being made to make video content easily accessible on nontraditional devices. Search the internet for “online video content” and you will be overwhelmed with both the amount of content and technology solutions to make this accessible on devices other than the TV. One key, and arguably simple, distinction with what is available today versus what I believe most of us will come to expect of a TV Everywhere experience is access to the content of your choosing whenever and wherever you want it. It is great to have last week’s episode of Mad Men available on the internet, but a better experience is to have the initial airing directly streamed to your internet enabled tablet while waiting for the delayed flight out of Chicago (this happens often). While this might not seem like much of a distinction, premium content (as defined by each of us differently) is what drives us to subscribe to cable or satellite services to begin with. While there are some that would say you don’t need either, the reality is that current “over the top” internet based content providers are not that rich in high value content, nor do they have the ability to provide the content in real time.

Without question this will change, but the providers (owners) of the content are in the driver’s seat on this one. The technology to make this happen is rapidly being developed, and in many cases is already available. The long pole in this tent is the owners of the content aren’t real eager to make the premium content available everywhere, whenever, and however due to concerns over commoditizing what in today’s distribution model demands a hefty price tag.

There are certainly some legitimate concerns that need to be addressed, and most content owners and video providers are aggressively working on solutions that satisfy all. Some of these concerns center around digital rights management (DRM), copyright and licensing restrictions, and agreement on a robust process for customer entitlement/authentication. While most of these are legal in nature, there are also a handful of technology issues that still need to be sorted out. These include the need to transcode content for different display formats and bit rates, differences across tablet/Smartphone operating systems, screen sizes, method of delivery, etc.

These are significant obstacles to overcome, but I am confident most will be solved in due time. We will keep you posted on overall industry progress and some of the specific things we are doing in this space. I look forward to any of your comments or questions.

Unfortunately, most of these ideas ignore some very specific aspects of what is, by any standard, a pretty complex problem.  It is, fundamentally, a supply and demand issue, although speculators in the petroleum markets complicate matters greatly.  But, at the end of the day, the question remains, “What can I do about this?”

Perhaps our individual sphere of influence will not make a difference on a complex global situation .   Sometimes the best we can do is to mitigate the issue as much as possible in our own life, and hope that contributes, at least in a small way, toward a global resolution.

Several years ago, in response to lean staffing and the need for our engineering team to be “on call” 24/7 on a rotating basis, we asked members of our team to be sure they had working “high speed data” service available in their residences.  This allowed our engineering team access to all critical systems from their homes for troubleshooting/maintenance/upgrade activities.  We set up “virtual private networks” (VPN) to allow rock solid security for our internal systems as they were accessed from outside the company LAN.  Using SIP technologies, we also created “virtual telephone circuits” which would link our team together such that, regardless of where they were, they could answer 3rd tier support calls from external and internal customers.  As the plan evolved, additional elements of disaster recovery were introduced such that our team can be involved in an emergency regardless of personal location or circumstances.

I want to emphasize that this involved the creative use of existing, thoroughly tried and proven technologies.  Many companies have access to and have implemented these same technologies to one extent or another.

A couple of years ago when the price of fuel spiked to nearly $4.00/gallon, we counseled as a team and determined that, with planning and forethought, most staff members could work remotely at least one day a week and remain completely effective in their tasks.  So I gave my staff that option, and  I’m happy to report that this has worked very well for our team.

It may not seem like much, but our staff members who invoke this option save 20% of their commuting costs every month.  It also amounts to a significant reduction in fuel consumed.  That’s the small way our team has helped to solve a global problem.

Here’s the thing:  For roughly the same price of a tank of fuel per month, HSD services from WOW! can save miles in the car and the associated costs:

• If your employer supports telecommuting or “partial” telecommuting, HSD services effectively make that possible, with the associated savings in fuel and time.
• HSD (and WOW! phone, for that matter) allows research into purchases such that shopping trips can be focused on a single location, saving the time and miles required to hop from place to place, looking for that “perfect something”.  While it may not save anything in the global scheme of things (because of delivery) purchasing on line can save the personal expenditure that even that single trip would require.
• Within the context of small or home based business, using Skype® , Facetime®, or Go To Meeting® to hold meetings with remote staff or clients can save big travel dollars.

These are just three of many ideas that technology can be brought to bear on this problem.  If you have other ideas, please post a comment for the benefit of all.

Until next time…

Until recently, we had a singular focus on delighting customers in the original 42 communities we began to serve in the mid and late 1990’s.  I believe we made a very wise decision to first deliver existing customers the possible service and meet all of our business objectives before we considering expanding into new areas.  After attaining our initial business goals last year, our leadership team uniformly agreed that our organization was prepared to continue delivering our award winning service to current customers while simultaneously bringing the WOW! experience to new communities.

How did we determine where to go? Well, we have the great fortune of being surrounded by so many communities that want our service.  In order to make the best business possible decision we established a set of criteria to rate the opportunities.  We identified a myriad of important success factors that included the ability to market our service, the cost of construction, the proximity of the community to our existing network, the density of homes located within a community and the overall ease of construction.  After months of intense research, analysis and debate, for Michigan, we selected Beverly Hills, Birmingham, and Grosse Pointe Woods as our first three expansion communities.

Once the selection process was completed, the tedious and intricate work of constructing a brand new, fiber rich network throughout the community began.  The expansion process is extremely detailed and most of it is invisible to residents.  The portion customers do see is the physical installation of our network most often onto existing utility poles located in the public easements that border a home.  Over a period of several weeks, we install our advanced fiber network on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis.  As each area is completed, we provide information and education about how residents can make a change for the better.

Here is a summary of the status of our efforts in the three initial expansion areas:

Beverly Hills: The great news is we completed construction of our network in January 2011 and you can now make a change for the better.   Installation in Beverly Hills has surpassed our expectations and the response from customers is awesome.  I have received notes and emails from numerous customers expressing thanks for enabling them to join the WOW! family.

Birmingham: Today over 6000 residents have access to our service and construction is expected to be completed by March 1, 2011.   When we are finished, customers in the residential community will have access to our service except for those located in condominium and apartment complexes.  These developments have private easements that require us to obtain a separate contract with the association or apartment complex owner.  As contracts are obtained to access these private easements, service will then be made available.

Grosse Pointe Woods (GPW): Network construction crews started hanging fiber optic cable last month.  We expect to begin performing in-home installations on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis beginning in April or May of this year.  Residents will find it quick and easy to make the change to our awarding winning service.  At this point, GPW is the only one of the five Grosse Pointe communities we will serve due to local ordinances strictly prohibiting our ability to sell service directly to residents.

If you don’t live in one of these areas, that doesn’t mean you are not on our radar screen.  We have a desire to grow and the required financial resources.  Future expansion decisions will be predicated on the same operational philosophies that enabled us to attain past success.  My hope is that one day I will have the immense pleasure of reading your note describing how WOW! team members are consistently delighted you though their actions while supporting a service that is enhancing your quality of life.

Keep checking our blog or our Coming Soon page from the WOW! website to learn more about future expansion projects though out the communities WOW! operates.

WOW! Business Solutions is the commercial arm of our business.  This team of experts can develop a customized service plan to meet the unique needs of your business whether your own a large business, small business, or home-based business.  In terms of post-sale service delivery, WOW Business Solutions also has a team of highly skilled, experienced field techicians and service support staff, to keep your business up and running smoothly.  So, if your livelihood depends upon internet, cable, or phone, it may be worth your while to at least go check out the WOW! Business Solutions  website, give them a call, and see what they can do to meet your business needs.

So what is ESPN3?  It is a broadband network for live sports programming through an interactive environment.  Most of the content is exclusive to ESPN 3 and the other programming is from one of ESPN’s TV networks.  You’ll now have access to College Football and Basketball games, NBA, MLB, UEFA Champions League Soccer, The Masters, US Open Golf, all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and much more.  In addition, you’ll get a full interactive experience that has real time in-game stats, scoreboards and live chat.

You’re probably wondering how you access the ESPN3 content.  Well, if you are on the WOW! network, you are automatically authorized to view the content.  Yes, it is that simple!

And, for those users wondering if their computer has the appropriate system requirements, here is what ESPN3 suggests for the best viewing experience:

PC

Processor Speed: Single Core CPU @ 2.4GHz or Dual Core CPU
Memory: 512 MB of RAM (minimum of 256 MB)
Video Memory: 128 MB of Video RAM
Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Linux
Recommended Browsers: Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Safari 4, Chrome 3
Flash Player: Adobe Flash Player 10
Screen Resolution: 1024×768 or higher with 32-bit color
Connection Speed: 768 Kbps (minimum of 450 Kbps)

Mac

Processor Speed: 1.5 Ghz
Memory: 512 MB of RAM
Operating System:OS X 10.4+
Recommended Browsers: Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Safari 4.0+, Chrome 3
Flash Player: Adobe Flash Player 10
Screen Resolution: 1024×768 or higher with 32-bit color
Connection Speed: 768 Kbps (minimum of 450 Kbps)