What exactly is a Community Fiber Network?

A Community Fiber Network is a community-owned broadband network that uses fiber-optic cables to connect all subscribers (the fiber cable goes all the way to the home, apartment, or business). It can offer phone, television, and Internet access. The capacity on the network is so great that it could offer tens of thousands of television channels while allowing thousands of people to talk on the phone while still offering Internet access at faster speeds than a cable modem system or DSL currently offer.

Who offers the services?

In some communities, the city government (Monticello) or local utility provides services (Chattanooga). In others, the network is only open to private service providers who compete for customers on equal terms (this would be an open network, Report: Open Access: The Third Way). Some cities have used a hybrid approach where the city offers services and offers non-discriminatory wholesale access to other providers and competes against them (Santa Monica).

What does public ownership mean?

Public, or community ownership is discussed in greater depth on our public accountability page. Briefly, it means that the public has some measure of self-determination over the network. Much like the water department is accountable to the public and therefore does not raise water rates unreasonably, those running the network would be accountable to the public. If the community decided to offer subsidized connections to those living below the poverty line, they could do that. (Report: Breaking the Broadband Monopoly)

Why community owned? Aren't private companies more efficient?

We have an entire page discussing the importance of ownership. The thumbnail sketch is that the community now depends upon broadband and cannot rely upon private companies to act in the community's best interest. Refusing to upgrade infrastructure may be more profitable for a private company, but damages the community. (Policy In-Depth: Debate over Muni Broadband Competing With Private Sector)

I heard there is tons of dark fiber available - why isn't the City using that?

Dark fiber, or fiber cables that are currently unused (or "unlit") is not always in convenient places. In order to build a Community Fiber Network, the community needs to have fiber passing nearly every home. While dark fiber may help in some areas, it is unavailable in most.

What if a better technology comes along in a few years?

As we discuss on the page dealing specifically with fiber networks, fiber networks are future-proof. The speeds capable on fiber networks are increasing with new electronics. These networks will have paid for themselves many times over before becoming obsolete.

Doesn't fiber break easily?

As we discuss on the page dealing specifically with fiber networks, fiber deployments are surprisingly strong. There are problems when fiber is cut, but there are similar problems when phone lines or power lines are severed. That said, they have proven more resilient than power lines in ice storms and tornadoes.

Fiber networks have been around for decades (though rarely extending all the way to residential homes until now) and the tools for keeping them running 24/7 are mature.

Don't Comcast and Qwest already have fiber networks?

Comcast, Qwest, AT&T, etc., have fiber as parts of their network, but they do not connect everyone to the network with fiber. They may run fiber to your neighborhood but connect the last mile with slower copper wires that create a bottleneck, resulting in slower speeds that leave us less competitive in a world increasingly requiring faster speeds. In markets where they compete with Verizon, which is investing in a fiber-to-the-home network, they advertise heavily about their fiber networks to muddle the issue. But they cannot offer the same experience or guarantee the same high level of service that a true Community Fiber Network offers. You can learn more about fiber on our fiber page.

Comcast has DOCSIS 3, isn't that as good as fiber?

DOCSIS 3 is a new standard for cable modem systems that will greatly increase the available speeds. However, the cable network remains a massively shared loop, leaving it vulnerable to a few subscribers hogging bandwidth and degrading service for everyone else. Additionally, DOCSIS 3 is prohibitively expensive for the higher tiers. We briefly discuss DOCSIS 3 on the fiber page

Should government compete with the private sector?

Statements like "the government should not compete with the private sector" ignore the many ways in which we accept important government services that "compete" with the private sector. Libraries might take customers from bookstores. Police forces compete with private sector security guards.

But in other ways, government is clearly crucial to the private sector. Whether by building and maintaining roads, educating the future workforce, or offering clean water at very affordable prices, our private sector economic growth over the past century depended on public infrastructure.

When phone and cable companies try to make this into a public v. private argument, they miss the fact that the question of ownership is actually one of phone/cable companies against everyone else. When the private phone/cable companies refuse to invest in competitive connections, everyone suffers. Private businesses have to pay more for slower services than their competitors in other communities.

The idea of a level playing field between government and the private sector misses fundamental differences between the two. The private sector has a mission to maximize profit and shareholder value, primarily in the short term. The public sector maximizes social benefit and focuses on the long term. Understanding these differences in important to understanding why infrastructure has historically been owned or closely regulated by the public sector. We would not want GM owning the roads; they would find it quite profitable to ban competing car companies or force them to pay more to access the same roads.

Broadband networks have become infrastructure, and private companies should not be the sole arbiters of who gets 21st century infrastructure and when they get it.

Do we really need faster connections?

Some of us do. A Community Fiber Network is not a plan to force everyone to use faster Internet connections. When Eisenhower decided to push the Interstate system, it was not with the idea that everyone would have to use it. However, business and government functions were greatly improved by this massive infrastructure project.

The short term effects of community broadband investments are generally to bring fast, symmetric connections to everyone. Though the network is capable of speeds far in excess of what is available on cable and DSL, community fiber networks often offer symmetrical speeds comparable to currently available downstream speeds. This means uploads will be much faster.

These networks may have the greatest impact on small-to-medium businesses. These businesses must currently choose between lower priced, slower, comparatively unreliable speeds and prohibitively priced faster speeds that offer more reliability. Many of them simply cannot afford the higher tiers of service they need. However, community broadband networks around the country are offering fast speeds at competitive prices. We created a comparison of the fastest community broadband networks with the fastest national private networks.

But the ultimate answer to the question is that we need to have choices. Those that need fast and affordable connections should have that option.

Symmetric? Asymmetric? Huh?

Symmetric connections have the same downstream speeds as upstream. This means that you can send a file to someone else just as fast as you can download it. Asymmetric connections tend to offer much slower upload speeds, which can slow usage of the modern Internet to a crawl. Both cable and DSL networks are asymmetrical.

10 years ago, when DSL and cable offered cutting edge, fast speeds, most Internet users simply consumed content and they did not need faster upload speeds. However, the Internet has changed and people increasingly want to send large files that require faster upload speeds (parents want to send photos and videos of their children to family members living across the country).

Ultimately, a purely symmetrical experience is less important than the objective to have fast speeds at affordable prices. But having upload speeds at 1/10 the download speed is clearly too asymmetric for modern networks.

Why not wireless?

We discuss the merits of wireless here. In short, wireless is great for mobility, but does not offer competitively fast speeds or the reliability of wired connections. Fiber is a long term investment that could facilitate wireless additionally, but wireless is not a replacement for a Community Fiber Network.

A fiber network could actually lay the groundwork (literally) for a wireless network. The fiber network would actually offer more potential locations to add wireless access points.

What happened to the whole muni-wireless thing?

Communities around the country have investigated wireless networks. Some entered into contracts with private companies, such as Earthlink, who promised to build the networks at no cost to the city. When Earthlink failed to make a profit, for a variety of factors, it turned the networks off and abandoned the cities. These are the failures that have led the press to pronounce all municipal wireless efforts as dead. This model has been renamed "pri-fi."

Municipal wireless is far from dead. There are a variety of business models that are achieving variable levels of success. Nonetheless, wireless is a complement to a Community Fiber Network, not a competitor to it. More information on wireless here.

What about WiMAX?

We touch on WiMAX in our wireless page. Briefly, WiMAX is unproven and cannot compare with fiber in its ability to deliver the fastest speeds in the long term. Additionally, the nature of WiMAX locks subscribers into a single vendor in ways that do not encourage competition.