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Old 04-02-2017, 08:30 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,567,552 times
Reputation: 11562

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"Just this morning I spent 2 hours in a meeting, among the topics were bills in the state legislature. Focusing on 'rural broadband' and 'solar' power. In the discussion and among the 'testimonies' some have already presented, many of these folks are clearly anti-rural."

The John Baldacci "backbone" is a fiber optic broadband that was supposed to benefit rural Maine. It goes from Bangor to Presque Isle and Fort Kent to benefit the colleges. The problem is that towns the backbone crosses cannot connect to it. The line goes right by my house. We are 50 feet from it and most of our town is very close to the backbone. Lots of towns could tap into that taxpayer built resource if the state would only let us tie into it. We are not asking for a free service. We would be happy to pay the going commercial rate, but we are rural.
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Old 04-02-2017, 09:11 PM
 
Location: MA/ME (the way life should not be / the way it should be)
1,266 posts, read 1,375,254 times
Reputation: 735
Quote:
Originally Posted by arctichomesteader View Post
I'm young and if I could make a living in northwestern Maine I'd be living there. Not all s young people want cities but you can't eat the scenery either. My Essex County, VT property is a hop and a skip from there as it is, from the point of view of a crow anyways, not necessarily on the ground.
^^^
This
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Old 04-03-2017, 05:07 AM
 
973 posts, read 2,367,240 times
Reputation: 1322
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man View Post
"Just this morning I spent 2 hours in a meeting, among the topics were bills in the state legislature. Focusing on 'rural broadband' and 'solar' power. In the discussion and among the 'testimonies' some have already presented, many of these folks are clearly anti-rural."

The John Baldacci "backbone" is a fiber optic broadband that was supposed to benefit rural Maine. It goes from Bangor to Presque Isle and Fort Kent to benefit the colleges. The problem is that towns the backbone crosses cannot connect to it. The line goes right by my house. We are 50 feet from it and most of our town is very close to the backbone. Lots of towns could tap into that taxpayer built resource if the state would only let us tie into it. We are not asking for a free service. We would be happy to pay the going commercial rate, but we are rural.
Do you know of any Internet Service Providers who have applied for access and been denied? It's not something that a homeowner calls up the State and asks for a connection. Houlton has an ISP connected to it. I get 100mb up and 100mb down right here in my easy chair. To say it doesn't benefit rural Maine is a mis-statement.

Maine's Internet superhighway is ready early - Portland Press Herald
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Old 04-04-2017, 05:10 AM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,567,552 times
Reputation: 11562
Fairpoint is the only service provider here. We have DSL. Our alternative is Hughesnet satellite. Yes, they have asked to connect to the backbone. The answer is, no. I get 5.6mb here in my easy chair if the wires are dry. I get better speeds than that on my phone from a hilltop.
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Old 04-04-2017, 08:38 AM
 
973 posts, read 2,367,240 times
Reputation: 1322
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man View Post
Fairpoint is the only service provider here. We have DSL. Our alternative is Hughesnet satellite. Yes, they have asked to connect to the backbone. The answer is, no. I get 5.6mb here in my easy chair if the wires are dry. I get better speeds than that on my phone from a hilltop.
I highly doubt that Fairpoint asked for dark fiber on the 3 ring binder. They were opponents of it being build and instead wanted Maine Fiber Company to lease dark fiber from them.

Just the facts, Jack!

Maine Fiber Network Comes Under Fire | Light Reading
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Old 04-04-2017, 08:45 AM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,567,552 times
Reputation: 11562
I never heard the term "dark fiber" before, but Fairpoint is very slow in rural Maine.

OK, I read the whole agonizing article from March, 2010. Here is one significant paragraph from that mysterious source:

"Networkmaine still needed to cover the state and to build resilience into its networks via rings, and that is where Three-Ring Binder comes in. The broadband stimulus program represented a way to extend fiber into the truly rural areas of Maine -- Arostook, Hancock, Washington, and Moosewhack counties -- that aren’t along the I-95 corridor, Letourneau notes. "

Read that paragraph carefully. This so-called "source" is entirely a spoof on Maine. Look at the link above. I is "light reading", alright.

Last edited by Northern Maine Land Man; 04-04-2017 at 08:55 AM..
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Old 04-04-2017, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,245 posts, read 60,976,905 times
Reputation: 30134
I have no idea who was against the 3-ring binder and who was for it.

I have been told that Fairpoint owns the fiber that my phone company [OTT] uses as an ISP.
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Old 04-04-2017, 10:36 AM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,567,552 times
Reputation: 11562
OTT is the latest in a long string of companies that came down from the old Unity Telephone Company. OTT inherited the old TelPlus addresses. It stood for Telephone Plus when we had 600 baud dial-up service. A guy named Jason came to Lincoln and said if we could get ten people to sign up that they would put a modulator/demodulator in Lincoln and we could send messages to each other or post them on bulletin boards that anybody who dialed in could see. We got 13 people to sign up and before long we were upgraded to 1200 baud. Life was good. This was better than the ham radio bulletin boards that existed before the modulator/demodulator was invented. (Young folks call those modems.)

One of the consultants at the paper mill in Lincoln had a modulator/demodulator in a big wooden box. You dialed up the phone number and when you heard screeching sounds, you put your dial-up phone hand set in a cradle on the demodulator to access the service.

There are not many of us left with a TelPlus e-mail address. I pay OTT an annual fee to keep it.

I am not new at this.
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