So it’s been a few weeks since the COB council passed their pretend “fiber plan” to compliment their intentionally worthless “conduit ordinance.” We thought that we might see a ray of hope when ultra-corrupt Public Works Director Johnston was fired by the current mayor. You might remember him as the guy who created a big telecom filled BAG (Broadband Advisory Group, also known as BAW (Broadband Advisory Workgroup) with voting members from big telecom on it.

Knowing that the COB is lying to the public by claiming that they are moving forward with their pretend fiber plan and intentionally worthless conduit ordinance, I decided to write to Public Works and the Mayor’s Office to see if there was any progress.  Note: I’ll give you the numbers at the end of this article that show us again that they are elaborately lying to us.

Here are the questions I asked them recently. They are, of course, refusing to provide a response. Remember, zero transparency is the norm at the COB. They probably figure we’re used to it by now.

"Title: Public Fiber Progress?

Hello, I am writing to see what progress has been made since the, and I can only bring myself to refer to them with double quotes since they were written by WAVE reps. that were on the BAG (aka BAW), "COB Fiber Plan" and "COB Conduit Ordinance" were passed. Of course, since they can be overridden by the public works director, city council or mayor for any reason at any point it's obvious that you don't really intend to do much of anything. Still on the off chance that I might be pleasantly surprised for a change I am writing.

For example, even before you put your "Fiber Plan" into place the existing COB public network had excess capacity that could have been used to provide services to people in need like the Gardenview Tiny Homes Village, leased to local providers, etc. Gardenview instead has an inadequate Comcast connection. You know, like the garbage connections you are going to offer the poor at your "Broadband Equity" meeting. You know, when you give them connections that don't meet the minimum requirements for many modern applications needed for telehealth, remote education, and more. (aka when you pretend to help. aka the usual.)

So:

1. What progress has been made on installing additional public conduit and fiber? Please do not pretend like privately owned resources are the same as public resources. They are not and that is obviously not what I'm asking about.

2. When will you be providing Open Access to the COB public fiber network similar to what they do in Mount Vernon?

3. When will you be installing external WAPs at parks and other public locations?

4. Please provide an equipment list of the hardware you are using to run the COB fiber network. This is NOT a security risk. Please don't pretend that it is. Fiber hardware uses similar configurations, etc. So it's a common knowledge question. Plus the public paid for the equipment.

5. What backup hardware, including generators, are in place to keep the network up during a power outage?

Since your past responses have shown me that you need some guidance in providing acceptable answers to technical questions I will provide some examples below.

Example Acceptable response to #1:

Would include the conduit installed, its size and the fiber count installed in it. It should also include the wavelengths per strand you are running on the fiber and an indication as to whether it is single mode or not. In general it probably is. It should include planned fiber expansion or an admission that you plan on doing nothing, It should also include locations and a map.

Example Unacceptable response to #1:

To respond with a generalized statement about the big telecom filled BAG (aka BAW) and how you are "following their recommendations." Again, I have asked specific questions that should elicit specific responses. So that is what you should provide.

 

Thank you,  Jon"

Numbers and details show us it is a plan in name only and they are lying to us.

New Providers:
Quantum fiber has been made available to a handful of people. Our testing shows that it is slightly better than Comcast. However, it is nothing comparable to a connection on a public network like in Chatanooga or especially in the rest of the developed world like in Japan. Like all of CenturyLink/Lumen’s endeavors customers generally hate them and Lumen is already looking at selling off Quantum.

More importantly, when CenturyLink signed their franchise agreement with the COB they were very clear about the fact that they DID NOT want to be the primary provider in Bellingham and will never provide a city-wide solution. Of course, we already have a city-wide fiber solution, it’s the publicly owned network we paid for that they keep refusing us access to. 

Comparing Apples and Oranges:
I’ve written about/commented on this extensively before. Our elected officials, and their special interest donors, keep pretending that satellite, wireless, obsolete tech like Comcast copper COAX cable, etc. are equivalent to fiber. They are not. Not even close.

Emergency Services are at Risk:
Virtually all of the backhaul for our fiber, and therefore our emergency services, run through a single facility on C-Street owned by Ray Poorman of CSSNW. I used to not be able to talk about him in public but then he came to a city council meeting a few years ago and declared, “everything runs through my house!”  While he claims his facility has adequate backup generators, after a power outage knocked out most communications in Bellingham over a decade ago, the need for power in datacenters will at least double by 2028. The capability of CSSNWs facilities to run critical services has NOT been independently verified by the COB, Fire Department, Police, State or any other regulatory organization. So we’re taking their word for it. 

The argument we usually receive to this is, “yeah Jon but 5G has more backup requirements than 4G in its standard and emergency services have FirstNet reserved for them.” Yes, that’s technically true, but they all require fiber to come close to reaching their potential. In a situation where they are relying solely on backup systems that can fail, and the towers are communicating with each other mostly, or entirely, in “wireless only” mode they will be doing so with a small fraction of their potential bandwidth on reserved communication channels. The same is true of satellites. 

The only reasonable way out of this dangerous situation is for the PUD, or some other public entity, to build a truly independent datacenter in another physical location with a separate backhaul provider or to partner with Skagit County and become one themselves. We need this to move forward, especially in the county, anyway. Right now we have all of our digital eggs in one basket with few exceptions. You know that nightmare scenario that keeps you up at night when your kids need to call you during an emergency and can’t because they simply can’t get enough bandwidth to do so? Yeah, that’s us right now as a city/county. 

The Fake Fiber Plan And Stock City Response:
Here is a response I drafted for the petition a few weeks ago that covers the lies put forth by the COB in their “plan.” This is based on the default response citizens are receiving when they ask the COB about fiber and infrastructure in general.

"Hello, I hope you are all well today. Thanks to all of you who wrote to the mayor and city council on behalf of our community. Many of you received a response from the COB that seemed believable on its face, but then you soon realized that it was full of lies. So some have asked me to pick it apart. In short, you're right. The COB response is a list of lies. I'll go ahead, summarize the responses, and then outline how every item in the e-mail response from the COB was a lie.

1. Half-truth (aka lie) The COB will invest about $8 million in the existing network over the next decade. Why it's a lie: While the neighboring City of Mount Vernon installs 144 count single mode fiber in 2x2" schedule 40 PVC conduit for about $180K a mile, and their network pays for its own expansion using a leasing model via an OpenAccess network, the COB always takes their numbers from WAVE and other special interests. This means that they often quote over a million per mile for the same work. So, by COB rates $8 million won't even cover 5 miles or about 1/6th of the area of the city. Since the COB is approximately 29 sq. miles this is insufficient and will NOT result in an improved network over most of the city. The COB refuses to lease their excess fiber in an OpenAccess manner like Mount Vernon and many other cities do, even though doing so would mean the network would pay for itself and its own expansion. It also means we could really help the poor by giving them real FTTP connections for virtually nothing like Chattanooga, TN does. So it's not close to enough. They just want to pretend that they care to get you to stop "bothering" them. Which is lying.

2. The COB will address digital equity and affordability. No, they won't. Big telecom offerings for the poor have proven to be prohibitively expensive and virtually worthless with low speeds, well below even the pitiful federal and state standards, provided on unreliable and even obsolete infrastructure. The only way to address the issue is to allow us to utilize the existing, city-wide, public fiber network.

3. The BAG (aka BAW) Broadband Advisory Workgroup, met longer than expected. Yes, they did because it was filled with big telecom reps. and all of the telecoms had a seat at the table. WAVE even had 2 voting representatives. Every time there was a delay it was because someone like Commissioner Deshmane pushed for something that was actually good for the public, like a Dig Once policy, and special interests made sure it was ultimately removed from consideration and was not even considered in their report. Remember, that's why they produced their virtually worthless report and allowed WAVE executive Melissa Miller to write it. Here's the article: How To Get Nothing Done.

4. This is a 10-year plan. NO it's not, or at least not in any meaningful way. Also, the mayor, city council, and public works director can overturn anything in this "plan" over the next 10 years. So they may not even put in the inadequate amount of fiber mentioned in #1. This is true of the “conduit ordinance” as well.

5. They say a municipal-network would bankrupt the city, even after most Bellinghammers told them they want one! How can that be true when we already have a city-owned public network that was described as “robust” by the former public works director?! Sure, they refuse us access to it, but how can it cost too much to have a network that already exists? They are lying to you.

So, what is this response from the COB? It's broadband-washing. Just like green-washing, they think we're dumb enough to believe that doing next to nothing over the next 10 years is somehow acceptable. Compare it to what they tell us about climate change. They tell us they'll deal with it by 2050 even as the CO2 count keeps going up. Essentially, they tell you they will deal with climate change after most of Southern, CA finishes burning to the ground, Miami is totally underwater and even we start to run out of fresh water to drink. In the broadband world they tell you that, long after we have a need for multi-gig symmetrical service, they still won't offer it city-wide, and then we can try to fight them all over again.

What to do?

Stop electing the same people or the people they recommend. The parties don’t select anyone they can’t control and they always protect special interests and their wealthy friends first. They don’t care about you and don’t want to help you. Break from the norm. Seek out new parties. Demand access to the resources you’ve already paid for. Let the mayor and council know that you know they’re full of shit and need to do better or you’ll replace them.   

The truth is that right now they have a fantastic, fictitious, story to tell you. They figure this will buy them some time and you will forget about our critical infrastructure needs. After all, this is one of many serious issues facing our city which is now falling apart. However, as the City of Flint, Michigan can tell you, if you let the government go on infrastructure they will eventually give you poisoned water, then bring the president in to tell you to “shut up and keep drinking it.” There is only so much infrastructure decay a civilization can tolerate before it becomes uncivilized. Dig Once isn’t just about fiber. It’s about our government showing us that they understand that they need to think about the future. But as the giant mercury ball at the Waterfront tells us, their general response to future generations is still, “up yours kids! Pay for your overpriced house, overpay for your garbage internet, overpay for your health and other expenses, try to get a job with your poor education, go to an unaffordable college, and make sure you clean up that toxic mercury we left for you in a ball at the Waterfront because we were just too lazy and greedy to clean it up. After all, you can’t expect the adults you know to prepare for the future. Just look at our inaction on climate change!” It is time for something entirely new in government.