The April 16 proposal included two elements: (1)
free cable modem service for community groups as a short-term response to the
groups' needs for bandwidth and (2) construction of an Extendable I-Net to serve
longer-term needs. The cable modem service shares the bandwidth of the
company's cable tv system, while the I-Net would provide spans of fiber
dedicated to the City, school district, libraries and community groups.
@Home is imposing the limits because certain kinds of
uses involving large amounts of data are crowding out the available shared
bandwidth.
Accordingly, @Home is limiting the upstream speeds (data sent from the
subscriber to others) to 128 kilobits per second. This affects
people who send data to others and make the data on their computers (servers)
available to others.
Instead of providing 2.8 megabits per second
(2.8 mbps)speeds ("peak speeds over 100 times faster than a 28.8 kbps
modem") as advertised, the company will provide 2.8 mbps
"downstream" to the subscriber and only 128 kilobits per second
(128 kbps or 0.128 mbps) "upstream" from the subscriber to
others.
The upstream bandwidth limits may make impractical many of the
community group uses cited in the Group's April 16 proposal. These include
any uses in which community groups transmit video, audio and large data files to
others -- video and audio applications for arts and educational programs, video
and audio of community group meetings, and telemedicine.
In terms of the impact of the limits on the
Group's April 16 proposal, the City should prevent TCI from imposing the
upstream limits on any cable modem service provided to community groups.
However, since the limits are actually a reflection of the limited bandwidth on
the cable tv system, the City should take an even stronger position on the need
for the independent bandwidth of the I-Net.
The following is a post to a discussion list representing to
be a copy of @Home's explanation for the changes:
Ashley Schannauer
