Volo Broadband and the Digital Divide

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Volo Broadbandand the Digital Divide

• -- Peter Folk ltpeter_at_volo.netgt

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Overview

• About me and Volo
• How Volo works
• How the internet works The big picture
• Wireless last mile
• Volo Topology
• The Federal Stimulus Package
• The rural digital divide
• Champaign County Backbone
• Champaign County Volo
• Discussion

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Volo The Facts

• Local ISPproviding high speed internet to the
  Champaign-Urbana area
• Cutting-edge technology
• 4x faster than DSL, Cable
• 2x faster than T1
• Covers most of C-U area
• Cutting-edge price (30/mo)
• Unprecedented ease of use
• Multiple computers no-hassle
• Automatic firewall protection

• Community-friendly
• Supports free wireless initia-tives for
  low-income areas
• Free service to schools churches
• High-tech School-to-work Program
• Active in Chamber of Commerce and other local
  organizations
• Developing technology to help people meet their
  neighbors

Total user satisfaction / Total community
support -- Peter Folk, CEO and founder
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Overview

• About me and Volo
• How Volo works
• How the internet works The big picture
• Wireless last mile
• Volo Topology
• The Federal Stimulus Package
• The rural digital divide
• Champaign County Backbone
• Champaign County Volo
• Discussion

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The Big Picture
Yahoo
Network Access Point
Google
Local Website
Your ISP
Tier 1 Provider (eg ATT)
Your House
CNN
Tier 1 Provider (eg Sprint)
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The Big Picture
Yahoo
Network Access Point
Google
Local Website
Your ISP
Tier 1 Provider (eg ATT)
Your House
CNN
Tier 1 Provider (eg Sprint)
Connections can be fast (aka big) or slow (aka
small), sending more or less information each
second Bandwidth
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Pipes and Packets

• Only one person can talk at a time on a given
  line
• So you break up the conversation into little
  pieces

Their message
Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers
Local Website
Your ISP
Internet
Your House
Your message
We the people of the United States of America
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Pipes and Packets

• Only one person can talk at a time on a given
  line
• So you break up the conversation into little
  pieces
• gt The Internet Protocol (IP) uses packets
• to allow many people to share one line

Their message
Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers
Local Website
Your ISP
Four
We th
score
e peo
and
seven
f the
year
Internet
Your House
Your message
We the people of the United States of America
9
Pipes and Packets

• Only one person can talk at a time on a given
  line
• So you break up the conversation into little
  pieces
• gt The Internet Protocol (IP) uses packets
• to allow many people to share one line

Their message
Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers
Local Website
Your ISP
Four
We th
sc
e peo
ore and
seven
f the
year
Internet
Your House
Some packets are bigger than others
Your message
We the people of the United States of America
10
Pipes and Packets

• Only one person can talk at a time on a given
  line
• So you break up the conversation into little
  pieces
• gt The Internet Protocol (IP) uses packets
• to allow many people to share one line

Bigger pipes carry more pps (packets per second)
than the smaller pipe
Your message
Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers
Local Website
Your ISP
Four
We th
sc
e peo
ore and
seven
f the
year
Internet
Your House
Your message
We the people of the United States of America
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More on Packets

• A packet can contain any kind of information
• Web text (about 1/3 page per packet)
• Music (about 1/10th of a second)
• Low-definition Video (1/5th of a second)
• HD Video (1/200th of a second)
• Digital photos (1/2000th of a high-resolution
  photo)
• Phone (about 1/5th of a second fits in a big
  packet, but usually phone uses small packets with
  1/20th of a second or less)
• One connection can carry different services to
  your home,
• so long as they all use the Internet Protocol
  (IP)

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Streaming

• Streaming is where you watch or listen to a
  program while it is being downloaded or uploaded
• Packets are received, played, and discarded,
  instead of being saved to permanent storage (like
  a hard drive)
• Streaming a high-resolution TV episode requires
  2mbps
• Streaming a satellite-quality TV channel requires
  8mbps or more
• Streaming upload of low-definition video (eg,
  video chat) requires .5 mbps or more
• New services will require more bandwidth.
• Streaming allows you to start watching or
  listening much sooner than if you had to download
  a whole program but you have to stream it again
  next time you want to watch it!

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Bandwidth

• The Bandwidth of your connection determines what
  content is usable
• Upstream bandwidth determines how quickly you
  can send something for someone else to look at,
  read, watch, hear, or play
• Downstream bandwidth determines how quickly
  your connection can receive something for you to
  look at, read, watch, hear, or play
• Bandwidth packet size (in bits) packets per
  second
• Download Download Start video
• Speed Song Movie
  (Streaming) Upload Photo
• 1mbps 36 seconds 1.6 hours 5 seconds 24 seconds
• 10mbps 3.6 seconds 36 mins .5 seconds 2.4 seconds
• 100mbps .3 seconds 3.6 mins .05 seconds .2
  seconds
• 1gbps .03 seconds 22 seconds .005 seconds .02
  seconds
• 1gbps 1000mbps. Orange indicates good
  enoughfaster than most people would notice.

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The Big Picture
Yahoo
Network Access Point
Google
Local Website
Your ISP
Tier 1 Provider (eg ATT)
Your House
CNN
Tier 1 Provider (eg Sprint)
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The Last Mile
Your ISP
Your House
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Wireless Analogy

• Wireless communication is like talking in a room

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Wireless Analogy

• Wireless communication is like talking in a room
• You can talk fast or slow (fast more BPS)

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Wireless Analogy

• Wireless communication is like talking in a room
• You can talk fast or slow (fast more BPS)
• Harder to hear if
• Youre farther away
• There are more people talking
• Theres more background noise
• Youre talking faster

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Wireless Analogy

• Wireless communication is like talking in a room
• More data per second talking faster
• Harder to hear if
• Youre farther away
• There are more people talking
• Theres more background noise
• Youre talking faster
• You can break people up into groups
• They can talk quieter and faster to each other
• The groups leaders can talk to each other

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Wireless Topology Options

• Determines who can talk directly to whom

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Wireless Topology Options

• Determines who can talk directly to whom
• Dependant on physical topology (distance,
  obstructions, etc)

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Wireless Topology Options

• Determines who can talk directly to whom
• Dependant on physical topology (distance,
  obstructions, etc)

Compare Urbana (Tree City USA) to Manhattan
(big buildings)
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Wireless Topology Options

• Determines who can talk directly to whom
• Dependant on physical topology (distance,
  obstructions, etc)
• Dependant on radio characteristics (speed, power,
  congestion control)

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Wireless Topology Options

• Determines who can talk directly to whom
• Dependant on physical topology (distance,
  obstructions, etc)
• Dependant on radio characteristics (speed, power,
  congestion control)
• Options
• Star (aka hub and spoke)
• Mesh
• Volo

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Star topology
Internet
CPE (Customer Premise equip.)
2.4 or 5.8ghz radio signal 2-30mbps
Radio Tower
RJ45 Ethernet Wall Jack
Customer Site
Customer Site
2-5 Mbps Ethernet Link
Customer Site
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Star notes

• Cheap
• Simple
• BUT
• Doesnt scale well (gt100 users)

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Mesh topology
Internet
CPE (Customer Premise equip.)
Customer site
RJ45 Ethernet Wall Jack
Customer Site
Customer Site
2-5 Mbps Ethernet Link
Customers access net through other customers
Customer Site
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Mesh notes

• Organic
• Low overhead
• Community brownie points
• BUT
• Very inefficient (slow)
• Unpredictable (who is offline if a customer
  quits?)
• Short range (no towers)

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Volo topology
Umbrellas of coverage
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Volo notes

• Hierarchical cellular design
• Low overhead initially
• Wide coverage
• Unlimited scaling
• Predictable coverage
• BUT
• More towers

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Overview

• About me and Volo
• How Volo works
• How the internet works The big picture
• Wireless last mile
• Volo Topology
• The Federal Stimulus Package
• The rural digital divide
• Champaign County Backbone
• Champaign County Volo
• Discussion

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The Federal Stimulus Package

• 7.2 billion of Federal stimulus money is set
  aside for broadband
• Targeting unserved (no internet) and underserved
  (slow internet) areas
• Collaboration with and letters of support from
  Cities, townships, increases the likelihood of
  being funded
• Applications submitted in August, grants will be
  awarded in December

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The Rural Digital Divide

• Infrastructure costs money
• Time costs money
• Rural areas have few people per unit area
• Fewer people per infrastructure dollar
• More wasted in support logistics
• Service providers make up costs with high rates,
  up-front charges
• gt Rural areas make less , gets less
  infrastructure, and has high barrier to entry

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Volos solution CCBB

• Champaign County Broadband Backbone
• Bring C-U backbone resources to towers in rural
  areas
• Requires a fiber backbone and 17 towers around
  the county
• Goal encourage local providers to service rural
  areas, provide better connections to schools
• Cost 1.5M for all of Champaign County
• CCBB gt Lower infrastructure costs gt better ROI
• Local providers gt lower support costs

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Volos solution CCV

• Champaign County Volo A CCBB proof of concept
• Deliver connections from the towers to households
  in rural areas
• The speed of the service would be 5-25/mbps
• Cost per household with stimulus 45/month
• Cost per household without stimulus 300-500
  Installation plus 45/month
• Goal Subsidize initial investment for 1200
  subscribers, to allow future subscribers to have
  0 up-front cost

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Discussion