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National Broadband Standard – Should 25Mbps really be considered broadband in 2018?

Should 25Mbps really be considered broadband in 2018?

Its 2018 – the FCC thinks the US national broadband standard should still be 25Mbps.

FCC LogoWhilst some areas can get 1Gbps and 10Gbps services with companies like Yomura Fiber or Google Fiber; most of the US is still battling with asymmetric slow services.

This has to change. It starts by operators investing into their networks to improve performance and service quality.

Some homes are still without any broadband services. Many are have so-called ‘Broadband’ services which don’t come close to the needs of the modern day.

Yomura Fiber has been investing since the start in its network. We make gigabit and multi-gigabit services to the home and office easy.

The National Broadband Standard

We agree with Commissioner Rosenworcel and want to see 100Mbps as the new national broadband standard so that every American home can enjoy the benefit of high-speed access.

DISSENTING STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL Re: Inquiry Concerning Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, GN Docket No. 18-238. I believe the future belongs to the connected. No matter who you are or where you live in this country, you need access to modern communications to have a fair shot at 21st century success. This is why the annual Broadband Deployment Report from the Federal Communications Commission is so important. However, I fear that today’s inquiry sets the stage for an unfortunate repeat of last year’s Broadband Deployment Report. That report found—despite clear evidence of 24 million Americans without high-speed service—that broadband deployment nationwide is both reasonable and timely. It ignored too many people in too many places struggling to access high-speed service and dealing with connectivity that falls short of what is necessary for full participation in the digital age. Moreover, this inquiry fundamentally errs by proposing to keep our national broadband standard at 25 Megabits per second. I believe this goal is insufficiently audacious. It is time to be bold and move the national broadband standard from 25 Megabits to 100 Megabits per second. When you factor in price, at this speed the United States is not even close to leading the world. That is not where we should be and if in the future we want to change this we need both a more powerful goal and a plan to reach it. Our failure to commit to that course here is disappointing. I regretfully dissent.

FCC Docket 18-238 https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-18-119A2.pdf

 

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Bringing instant high-speed Internet to Atlanta

high-speed internet

We’ve been rolling out our broadband across Atlanta for some months and as fast as we roll out one building another dozen request service.

Many of these buildings have been waiting for companies like Google Fiber to materialise with their long overdue service. Where we have network, we’ve been able to get those buildings online in less than 30 days. For buildings that are not as well located on our network it requires some additional work to bring network.

This is where Yomura Air comes into play. Our Air product is a wireless service which is fed from our fibre connected buildings to deliver 100Mbps to 1Gbps to a small receiver placed at the customer’s premises.

These receivers enable us to bring same-day and in some cases self-install Internet access to you. Most Air customers opt for our symmetric 100Mbps broadband which costs $49/month.

Our services are unmetered, there are no usage penalties or charges – you get unfiltered, unmetered Internet access.

Contact us and we’ll confirm whether we have coverage in your area.

You can be online same day – how many broadband providers can say that!

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Exclusive Provider Agreements – the 21st Century Scam for tenants

Why are Exclusive Provider Agreements bad?

Despite the FCC making exclusive provider agreements illegal in 2008, many buildings continue this illegal practice.

FCC LogoIt would be one thing if these exclusive providers were providing a modern service; but locking buildings down whilst providing a service that was laughable in the 1990’s is just insulting.

Exclusivity is plain simple bad business – the building owner often picks up a percentage of your monthly invoice as payment to keep out the competition but the tenant suffers.

When the carrier or ISP is kept on their toes, they invest into their infrastructure and treat the customers with the courtesy they deserve. Allowing a provider to obtain exclusive access to a multi-tenant building in many cases dooms those tenants to yesteryears technology and provider than can just abuse its customers because they have no-where else to go.

Some buildings take a different tactic by leveraging ridiculous fees to providers to enter their building. This is done to make it exorbitantly expensive for other providers to enter the building and so will fail to be approved by the provider.

There is no reason for your building owner or management company to charge for provider. They are there to serve its tenants, picking up commission payments to stifle competition is directly working against the tenants interests.

What can be done?

If you are in a building that prevents you from choosing the providers that come to your building then you can start by telling your building owner/landlord that you want choice. You can also involved your residents association and also file complaints with the FCC and FTC:

FCC Complaints Office https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

FTC Complaints Office https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

You can refer to this copy of the FCC’s ruling on exclusive provider agreements FCC Exclusive Telecom Contracts Ban

What is Yomura Fiber doing about this?

In the buildings we bring service, we don’t request exclusivity, you’re the customer – we want you to choose. We’ll keep your service fast and optimal whilst our customer service team will treat you with dignity and courtesy.

Yomura Fiber works on month-to-month contracts, if you’re not happy with our service you are free to cancel without being stung for a termination fee.

We view exclusive contracts as destructive to providers and customers. We’ll do our best to provide you with the best service on the market but there are going to be times when we are not the best fit for you. If you were forced to buy service from us and we could not satisfy your needs then that wouldn’t benefit you or us. By giving you choice, you have the right to move to a provider that meets your needs.

How can I get real broadband?

First if you are within a Yomura Fiber area, register your community with us – we’ll reach out to your building owner to see if we can help.

Second talk to your building owner/landlord try to get them see reason. Some will just see the paltry commission cheque they’ll get from you buying services from their exclusive provider and decide the few dollars from them is worth more than your satisfaction.

Third talk to your residents association and garner support to get this exclusive agreement recinded.

Nanostation

Fourth file complaints with the FCC and FTC.

If all else fails

If all else fails and you’re within a Yomura Fiber area then there are chances we can reach you by radio. We have a small window mounted receiver that just attaches to the inside of your window and will provide high-speed access (100-500Mbps).

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The Failure of Open Broadband in Tennessee

Tennessee House Bill 1045

Tennessee State FlagTennessee House Bill 1045 was torpedoed by Tennessee Senate Committee. This Bill proposed to allow counties and municipalities to make use of their infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet access to surrounding cities where only low performance services are available.

Read the full bill here: TN 2018-03-SB1045

Why is this important?

When network operators fail to bring modern services to an municipality then that area loses out to areas with high speed services. This Bill proposed to allow cities to address these failures by working amongst themselves for the benefit of their communities.

Greenlight NCIf network operators fail to address the needs of the community it serves, then the onus falls onto the community to find its own solutions. There are many examples of successful deployments like Greenlight Networks in NC. They are a city owned network that rolled out gigabit across the city of Wilson and Pinetops. They asked commercial operators to modernise existing services but when they were ignored. The city raised funding via bonds and took the matter into their own hands. Today these two rural cities have gigabit broadband, cable TV and phone service from a city owned company.

What is Yomura Fiber’s Position?

Despite being a commercial network operator, Yomura Fiber believes that community owned networks have a critical role. They fill the void where commercial operators have failed to deploy or have decided that the market is not lucrative enough to invest further funds.

We are actively supporting cities who are stuck with low speed, legacy networks and want a modern gigabit service in their city.

We are working with cities to deploy a fresh build or taking over existing infrastructure and modernising it. We can also partner to expand your network beyond your current boundaries with a public-private partnership.

If your city is in this position then make contact with us.

 

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Net Neutrality to end on 23rd April

Ajit Pai FCCThe FCC has published their order in the Federal Register ordering that Net Neutrality will end on 23rd April 2018:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/22/2018-03464/restoring-internet-freedom

At Yomura Fiber, this does not change anything. Our position on Net Neutrality remains the same:

  • We will not throttle content
  • We will not prioritise content
  • We will not block content (except where required by law) but will be noted on our Transparency Report
  • We won’t mine your traffic
  • We won’t modify traffic passing through our network

If you are not a Yomura Fiber customer, ask your ISP for their position on Net Neutrality and whether they make these commitments to treating your traffic professionally.

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Hello Boston – We’re coming to your city

Yomura Fiber coming to Boston

With Google Fiber / Webpass closing in Boston, we’ve had many anxious customers contact us to get us to come to Boston.

We’ve heard you – we’re coming!

We have network already in Boston which connects diversely back to our network in New York. We’re starting the build around the city and we need to know where you are located.

Yomura Fiber Network

Are you an existing Google Fiber / Webpass building that will lose service? Or a building that wants high-speed internet delivered to your apartments.

Tell us where you are and we’ll be in touch to tell you how we’ll reach your building.

  • About you

    We will only contact you in relation to this enquiry. We will not sell or make your contact information available to anyone outside of Yomura Fiber.

  • About your community/building

  • Property Contacts

    We need to have contact with the building or estate manager to get an access agreement signed. If you have this information to hand, please provide it.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
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Picking up the pieces

Picking up the Pieces

When we started building Yomura Fiber, there were very few gigabit providers on the market. Some have delivered on their promises others started and then failed to deliver.

If your provider’s gigabit deployment has stalled or failed to be completed, then reach out and we’ll look at options to pickup the pieces.