Town Hall Meeting Fiber to Home Q&A January 28, 2016 **Answers are summarized and may not be verbatim. Please refer to audio for full responses. QUESTION ANSWER RESPONSE GIVEN BY 1) What all do we get for the $100? (asked 3 times) 2) Do we have to buy a package for the extended service? 3) If you want to have your house hardwired, do you have to get your own provider to do that? will run their modem into your home. This is only an internet service provider. You can continue to keep your television provider as you have now. There are a variety of live streaming television shows available online as well. You can purchase any type of television package that you choose from your provider. That is separate from service. will not hardwire for you. You can do it yourself or hire someone. They will bring the outside line with the modem into your home only. City Administrator 4) Will they bring it into the house? Absolutely, they will bring the modem into your home. 5) When they bring in the box, is it put in the most convenient location? 6) Is the service already available in the Valley? It is based on where your other installations are located. It s usually located near your meter box. If your electrical meter is in your garage, they will have to come into your home at a different location. They will make it located as conveniently as possible. Whenever we bring the cable into your home, it s a new cable from the street. The fiber optic line will come in where you want it located. It is not available today, but we are looking at doing a pilot program in Priority Area 2 since the conduit is in place.
7) Is there a date for the pilot program for Priority Area 2? 8) Is the only provider that uses this conduit and what if something happens to that company? (asked 2 times) 9) Is associated with Wave Media? 10) Why are we underwriting their costs for putting the conduit in? 11) Can we get some funding from hotel/motel tax? We are still working through the legal issues because it is City conduit. Hopefully soon! At this point in time, it has been considered as an exclusive agreement. It has to go out for qualifications. The thought process is that there would be a sole provider and there would be a performance agreement put in place. Nothing formal has been decided. We are associated with Wave Media, that is where we get our bandwidth from, but we are a separate entity. Nothing has been decided. The City put in conduit in Priority Area 2. If that conduit is used we will receive some sort of compensation for that. Our purpose now is to get the interest from residents, gather information for review, and go forward. It is illegal to fund conduit in a residential area out of hotel/motel funds. 12) If we are going to spend the money, why is there only one provider with exclusive right? It doesn t make sense. (asked 3 times) At this point in time, nothing has been decided. City Council will discuss all comments before any decisions are made. 13) Does the franchise fee apply to everyone, or only the people who take the service? No, only to those taking the service. 14) How deep is the tunneling? It varies greatly, from 2-9 feet. 15) If we decide to go forward can you give us an idea of the timeline? We believe construction for the entire network would take 12-18 months. The timeline to make the decision to go out to construction is not determined yet. It could be 18 months to 2 years total for the project. 2
16) Is the service U-verse offers of 1 gig, actual 1 gig service? 17) How large is the conduit that will be installed? (asked 2 times) 18) Is the size of conduit something that would be worked out at a future meeting? From personal experience he heard AT&T had the service, but they told him they couldn t offer it yet in his area. The standard for single fiber is 2 inches. That decision has not been made yet for single provider or multiple providers. Yes that is why we are having the meetings to get feedback on items like this. 19) Does the system we are talking about have any relevancy to the future that non-it people can take advantage of, ie: tasks like sending email, individual tv shows, etc? 20) Is there a point at which you would be too late to sign up if you choose not to take the service now? Yes, in the fact that a lot of the services that providers offer now, or could offer in the future, (per channel, a la carte TV, Amazon, etc.) can be purchased for a small cost. This system will allow you to access those at a fast speed. No, you will be able to sign up at any time. 21) How will you address the questions for who is your service provider to access certain shows online? 22) How difficult is it to connect your existing home connections to the new system and to connect wi-fi? 23) Will my current wireless device work at the speeds you are offering? That is currently changing and the services are going away from that model. Currently you can minimize the cost of your cable services so that you can still have a cable provider for that purpose. However, in 12-18 months that model may not be in place. It s likely if you have had internet in your home in the last 10 years you have CAT 5 wiring. will do a preliminary check prior to installation to make sure you have the proper wiring. If you don t they can refer someone to fix the issue. If you already have the existing wiring, you shouldn t have issues. It will continue to function as it does today, just at a faster speed. If you have a current wireless router you should be fine. You will need to make sure the devices you are connecting have 802.11ac. 3
24) Am I clear that the $1.5M in installation will all be paid in franchise fees? Will anyone be hit with an extra charge? (asked multiple times in various ways) 25) With technology changing rapidly, what happens if technology changes in the two years it will take to install this? 26) When we had the old wireless we had to buy a router to connect to it and it never worked. Will we have to pay for these modems? 27) What are the contractual obligations for your service? What are the exit fees? 28) What if someone wanted a static IP address? No one will get hit with an extra charge. The franchise fee is a fee passed on to the user to maintain City roadways, etc The franchise fee will help pay down the debt service. When the debt goes away the franchise fee could be eliminated. Or, the funds can also be taken out of reserves to install the conduit. Nothing is faster than fiber optics. There are faster systems on the horizon, 10 gig etc At any point to upgrade, you change the router and device, you don t have to change the conduit. If is elected, there will be no charge for the modem. The City will own the conduit, the provider will provide all the other ancillary items. There is no cost to exit the contract. We are not currently offering it, but it is being discussed for the future. 29) Who paid for the conduit for Priority Area 2, city or residents? 30) So would Priority Area 1 and 3 cost more, and are there hidden costs? 31) Will the City provide a Business Center at City Hall? 32) Does have 24/7 Customer Service? Ultimately the residents did because it was part of the contract for Priority Area 2. If we did 1 & 3 now it would be less than we paid years ago for area 2. It s not a hidden cost but a choice if you want to optimize and upgrade the cable in your home. Then there would be an added expense. The City doesn t currently offer a Business Center, but that is something that can be considered. City Hall is open and residents can come at any time during business hours to use our Wireless. Yes it is staffed 24/7, 365. 4
33) How long will it take to dispatch a technician? A technician would be dispatched within a few hours. 34) What about fiber splicing? We are conscious of the pedestals and people not wanting them in their front yards. We do splice and keep all wiring underground 35) If the services are funded through franchise fees and many people did not subscribe, would those additional costs be passed on to the tax payers? (asked multiple times) 36) Why was not put in Priority Area 2 prior to Silverwood? 37) Do you run conduit from the splitter box to the house? 38) Is there sufficient power to keep backed up during an extensive power outage? 39) Who is responsible if fiber conduit is cut on a homeowner s property accidentally? If the services are funded through franchise fee and there was a shortfall due to non-subscription, those costs could be passed on. went on their own to Silverwood, with no City involvement. After the project was completed and we received feedback, Council then encouraged staff to move forward with review of legal contracts to proceed in the other areas of the City. We run fiber all the way into the home. Absolutely, because fiber does not require electricity. We have never had an unplanned outage. The individual who cuts the line is responsible. The lines should be located and marked prior to digging. They are copper lined so they can be located. /Greg Smith 40) If a homeowner calls and asks for a line locate will they come and locate the line for the fiber? 41) Will there be a community vote or just City Council? Centerpoint won t mark lines on private property. will locate and mark the lines if you call in a request. This could be written in the future contract. It could be the Council voting or putting out a referendum for the residents to vote. /Greg Smith 5