This document is available online as a printable PDF at: Six Ways to Get High Speed Internet Access

For more information, contact the Vermont Telecommunications Authority at: info@telecomVT.org

For more information about the Vermont Telecommunications Authority visit our website at: www.telecomVT.org

Frequently Asked Questions

The Vermont Telecommunications Authority's Mission

1. Question: What are the VTA's primary objectives?

Answer: The Vermont legislature gave the VTA two main objectives to complete by the end of 2010:

a. Ensure that all Vermonters have access to affordable high speed internet access (HSIA).

b. Ensure that mobile voice and data services are available to all Vermonters.

2. Question: How does the VTA plan to meet the HSIA objective?

Answer: As of early 2009, service already exists or there are definitive plans in place to extend HSIA to over 95% of E911 addresses in Vermont by the end of 2010. The remaining addresses are not able to be economically served by high speed internet service providers without direct subsidies or other financial assistance. Consequently, the VTA will work with the Vermont Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery and new and existing service providers to help prepare state supported applications for Federal economic stimulus funds that will enable the extension of service to the remaining unserved areas.

3. Question: Will the HPIA objective be met by the end of 2010?

Answer: Yes, all areas of Vermont will have these HSIA services provided that sufficient Federal stimulus funds are allocated by Federal agencies for this purpose.

4. Question: How will the VTA ensure that mobile voice and data services are available in all areas of Vermont?

Answer: As of early 2009, mobile voice and data services are available to about 60% of all Vermonters. Traditional mobile service providers have been unable to extend service into the remaining unserved areas because there are too few potential customers in those areas to make the service economic using usual industry practices. In response to this situation, the VTA has developed a plan to extend mobile voice and data service into most of the unserved areas by developing an alternative model that significantly reduces costs for service providers. This model will make it possible for providers to economically serve most of these low population areas.

5. Question: What is the VTA's new plan?

Answer: After detailed examination of the costs and revenue of providing mobile service using standard practices, the VTA has found that there are various ways to reduce costs for service providers. These include reducing the costs of cell site acquisition, towers, new software defined mobile radios, network connections, and permitting. When all these cost reductions and revenue enhancements are combined, the VTA has found that it can be economic for service providers to extend service to over 90% of Vermonters.

6. Question: Why can't this plan include service to all Vermonters?

Answer: The VTA has determined that extending mobile voice and data service to much more that 90% of Vermonters can not be built economically because there would be too few customers per cell tower. The VTA plans to apply for Federal stimulus funds to help extend mobile voice and high speed data services to these remaining customers.

7. Will the VTA's plan be successful in extending mobile voice and data services to all Vermonters by the end of 2010?

Answer: Yes, again assuming Federal funding to reach the most difficult places, the VTA is confident that its mobile build-out strategy will enable mobile voice and data services to all Vermonters by the end of 2010.

Detailed Questions about High Speed Internet Access

8. How has the VTA measured High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) coverage today and at the end of 2010?

Answer: The VTA has worked with the Department of Public Service and the existing service providers to determine existing HSIA coverage. Expected coverage by the end of 2010 was determined by adding the new coverage that will be built during the next two years by Comcast and Fairpoint Communications - pursuant to regulatory requirements - to the additional coverage to be added by multiple providers resulting from Federal stimulus funding.

9. Question: What technology or technologies will be used to extend HSIA?

Answer: All of the existing HSIA technologies will be used. This will include cable modem service, DSL service, fiber to the home service (FTTH) and wireless internet service, both fixed and mobile.

10. Question: How do these technologies compare in terms of quality and speed?

Answer: All of these technologies will provide HSIA service that meets the data transmission speed level mandated by the legislature of 1.5 megabits per second in at least one direction. Most technologies are capable of significantly exceeding these speeds. While there has been some debate about quality comparisons between these technologies, all can provide reliable service that can meet the needs of residential customers.

11. Question: Should FTTH technologies be used to serve the remaining unserved areas of Vermont?

Answer: While FTTH can provide very large bandwidth capacities that will be able to accommodate all foreseeable data transmission needs, the costs of providing FTTH service to all of the remaining unserved areas of Vermont make this option uneconomic at this time. The VTA does support using some of Federal stimulus funds to assist the efforts of existing and planned FTTH projects to serve portions of the remaining unserved areas where such projects have additional sources of funding and can be shown to be economically viable.

12. How can mobile service provide HSIA?

Answer: Most mobile carriers in Vermont now (or will very shortly) provide a HSIA option at an additional cost to the customer. The additional mobile service sponsored by the VTA will include this HSIA option by the end of 2010. Consequently, most of the areas that do not have mobile service or HSIA today will have both in the future.

Detailed Questions about Mobile Voice and Data Services

13. Question: What are the specific details of the VTA's plan to extend mobile voice and data services?

Answer: The VTA has a plan to significantly reduce the current costs that mobile services providers have to find sell sites, obtain permits for new sites, construct cell towers, and operate the sites. To adequately provide service to the remaining unserved areas, about 200 new cell sites need to be located. These will be a combination of using existing structures such towers, farm silos and church steeples; construction of residential-scale wind turbine towers; and construction of some towers without turbines in areas without sufficient wind or where other technical demands require the installation of a standalone tower The VTA anticipates that most of the new sites will be residential-scale wind turbine towers.

14. Question: How will the VTA construct these residential-scale wind turbine towers?

Answer: The VTA has contracted with Earth Turbines, a Vermont company based in Williston, to finance and construct the 112 foot tall turbine towers. Cell antennas and related equipment will be added to the towers by the mobile service provider. The landowners will receive all of the net-metered electricity produced by the wind turbines, as well as monthly lease payments after the wind turbines and towers have been paid for. These towers are substantially less expensive than conventional cell towers.

15. Question: How will Earth Turbines and the VTA obtain permits for the wind turbine towers?

Answer: Earth Turbines will help the landowners obtain permits for the wind turbine, and the VTA will help the mobile service provider obtain permits to add the cellular equipment to the tower. Because these permit reviews are much less expensive and time consuming because of recent changes to Vermont's permitting statutes, permits for these facilities can be obtained in time to begin tower construction this summer.

16. Question: How will the VTA help reduce other costs for mobile service providers?

Answer: After site acquisition and tower construction costs, the costs to connect the cell sites to the telecommunications and data networks (known as backhaul costs) are the most significant for service providers. To help these providers reduce these costs, the VTA is able to offer mobile service providers favorable rates for backhaul for the short term under an existing state contract. For the longer term the VTA will offer even lower backhaul rates via a new proposed state-wide fiber backbone network.

Questions About The VTA's Proposed State-Wide Fiber Backbone Network

17. Question: What is the VTA's proposed state-wide fiber backbone network?

Answer: After examining the existing data transport backbone network in Vermont and the anticipated needs for a higher capacity and more reliable network in the future, the VTA determined, along with VELCO, some of the electric distribution utilities and Vermont Department of Information and Innovation, that creation of a new and enhanced high-capacity backbone data network is necessary for the economic future of Vermont. In addition to using available existing infrastructure where available, this network will involve construction of new or additional high-capacity fiber optic cables on the VELCO high voltage transmission system and on the electric utilities' transmission system to all electric distribution substations. From the substations, fiber optic cables will be added to the electric distribution system to reach the end-users premises subject to the availability of federal stimulus funding and interconnection agreements with other service providers.

18. Question: What are the benefits of this network?

Answer: This network will enable the electric utilities to begin deploying ÒSmart GridÓ technologies, it will significantly reduce the costs of data services for the state of Vermont, it will provide very reduced backhaul costs for all mobile service providers in Vermont, and it will be available for higher speed and lower-cost data services for local governments, public safety organizations, schools, colleges and universities, libraries, medical facilities, businesses, and other internet service providers. This network will give the state a coordinated, robust, high-capacity backhaul system that will meet the needs of Vermonters for the foreseeable future.

19, Question: How will this network be funded?

Answer: The distribution portion of this network will be funded by Federal stimulus grants. The remaining costs will be financed primarily with VTA revenue bonds to be repaid by user fees.

20. Question: When will this network be constructed?

Answer: Construction will begin this year after receipt of Federal stimulus funding, and it will continue for approximately the next three years.

21. Question: Will other data backhaul service providers be included in this network?

Answer: Yes, all existing and proposed service providers will be invited to participate in the network. The VTA will use all available existing and planned infrastructure, to the extent it is economic, in its overall open access network deployment.