[RTC List] Suddenlink outage

[Larry Goldberg]

Well, it's not exactly news now, but I assume you've all seen the T-S  
article: http://www.times-standard.com/ci_12995489   In any case, I  
had a comment to say which is not necessarily news to anyone, but it's  
very pertinent to the whole broadband stimulus debate.  It's  
especially ironic given the recent discussion on this board about the  
dates and lengths of past outages.

As everyone knows, there are several groups (4+ and countine) all  
scrambling to get their multi-million dollar proposals (more like tens- 
of-millions of dollars) into RUS/NTIA for economic stimulus money to  
"fix" this problem.  I want to point out an interesting fact.   
Suddenlink had SEVERAL opportunities over the past several years to  
get redundant broadband (I was personally in on one discussion over a  
year ago) which they have never implemented (they always sit and  
listen politely, but do NOTHING).  Suddenlink has been totally  
irresponsible and intransigent about dealing with this problem.  While  
IP Networks and Broadband Associates brag about bringing redundant  
Internet to the Northcoast, it's only as good as each "incumbent"  
provider's willingness to sign-up for it that makes it redundant for  
the general public.  At a public meeting held at the Board of  
Supervisors as recently as this past Spring (I think it was back in  
May) Michael B. (the CEO of Broadband Associates) went on record  
saying that he had *not one anchor tenant* signed up for their  
service, despite the fact that they had been developing their fiber  
proposal for nearly a year at that point.

I also know for a fact that AT&T does not believe that they have a  
redundancy problem either and are, to the best of my knowledge,  
unwilling to spend any resources getting redundant broadband (they  
claim that their previous microwave network is sufficient for  
redundancy purposes - despite the fact that it's totally subscribed to  
a variety of small clients and school districts).  They claim 99.99  
availability which is just fine.  Also, AT&T has only utilized a tiny  
percentage of the existing fiber and believe that added capacity is  
not a problem either.

All of this may just be "smoke and mirrors" while behind-the-scenes  
negotiations are going on that no one will comment on, but I think  
there's more to it.  One of the great findings which Kathy Moxon  
reported from the RCC report is the fact that "people are unwilling to  
pay any more for redundancy."  I think that this, in reality, is the  
driving force for complacency.  Suddenlink has been notorious for poor  
performance (as witnessed on this discussion list over the years since  
they took over the cable network) and there are rumors that they may  
be interested in selling their network to someone else who has a  
bigger footprint in California (especially given how small this market  
is compared to their other markets elsewhere).  This may actually  
"fix" the problem.

The bottom line for me is this - we're probably going to see, thanks  
to the Federal government, an incredible infusion of capital for  
broadband in our region the likes of which we may never see again in  
our lifetimes.  After spending what may be ultimately tens of millions  
of dollars, it's totally wasted if the primary providers don't sign up  
for the services (especially at a sustainable rate which will maintain  
the 3rd party fiber networks for the long-term future).  I have  
expressed my doubts about the sustainability of their business models  
(does anyone actually see Broadband Associates opening an office here  
and sticking around for any length of time?) but that's neither here  
nor there.  My point is that if companies like Suddenlink continue to  
display poor judgement as they have over the years, it won't matter  
how many fiber circuits exist within the area - we'll continue to  
experience 8 hour plus outages and they'll continue to apologize but  
basically brush it off as "beyond their control."  They need to be  
held accountable for their actions and convince the public that  
they're taking proactive measures to fix this problem on their own.

Maybe this last outage was the impetus needed to get SuddenLink to get  
in front of this problem and address it proactively.  Only time will  
tell.