tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78742592012-02-06T22:49:57.427-06:00Our rambunctious take on the play by play, day by day, events of the Lafayette Fiber to the Home fight. Supporting <a href="http://www.lafayetteprofiber.com/"> LafayetteProFiber.com</a>.FiberFolkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03931024146374854439noreply@blogger.comBlogger1830125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-83553458478969607162012-02-01T21:38:00.001-06:002012-02-02T20:25:22.999-06:00

What's Being Said Dept. Lafayette garners national coverage for its home-grown fiber optic network in the USAToday story titled: "Louisiana city blazes high-speed Web trail." The lead-in sets the tone: In this tradition-rich city known for its crawfish etouffee and Zydeco stomps, high-speed Internet rules. Web videos upload in a few quick seconds. Surgeons review online pathology reports from

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-2997657057447157432012-01-20T23:47:00.000-06:002012-02-02T11:08:58.179-06:00

This morning the Advertiser ran a follow up piece to yesterday's article that headlined LUS' video price increases. Yesterday's piece, I argued, focused on the least important news of the day and also missed the fact that Cox had announced a broader price increase earlier without eliciting front page treatment. (I had discussed the more consequential NCTC news I felt was underemphasized in a post

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-22597227308552376512012-01-18T22:06:00.001-06:002012-01-19T17:32:14.476-06:00

The Advocate tops its Acadiana section today with the news that LUS Fiber has been cleared to join the NCTC. This is a big deal. LUS' exclusion has been estimated to raise the purchase price of its cable programming 20%—easily the largest ongoing cost of providing LUS' cable services. Details are exceedingly sketchy at this point. Reading between the lines it looks as though reporter Richard

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-77332929325084249512012-01-02T23:47:00.000-06:002012-01-03T00:36:39.938-06:00

It's a testimony to the lack of editorial oversight and the generally fading role of local and regional newspapers in providing the community with a living memory that we see misleading articles like the one that appeared in this morning's Advocate. Run under the title "Ask the Advocate: Cable company competition" this article attempts to answer a question from a reader: Why did former Gov.

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-9356833188869805282011-12-27T18:00:00.000-06:002011-12-27T18:00:01.449-06:00

The Advocate reports that Cox is raising its rates in the "Greater Louisiana" market on January 15th. That marketing region now includes both Lafayette and New Orleans and an email to the author of the article lead to confirmation that the rate hikes will apply in Lafayette. I'd been uncertain as to how expanding the Baton Rouge market to include Lafayette and then New Orleans would change Cox's

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-23010950656098343382011-12-18T22:49:00.001-06:002011-12-27T18:02:28.306-06:00

Ok, got behind on posting this bit of news; the Lafayette City-Parish Council approved the issuance of the last round of bonds the city voted for back in 2005—unanimously. The unanimity is a good sign for the future and indicates that at least the current nay-sayers have limits to just how much damage they are willing to inflict on a well-respected utility. The only new news in the reports was

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-84206580262017555932011-12-18T14:40:00.002-06:002011-12-18T14:40:46.988-06:00

I'm increasingly impatient with Anonymity. Long-time readers will recall that I have long pushed commenters to leave real names and failing that to maintain a consistent pseudonym. During the active political battle that took place over fiber I tried to strike a balance, calling out the poor reasoning and highlighting the lack of confidence in their own arguments anonymous posters "enjoyed." I'd

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-9651919435474779142011-12-04T22:01:00.000-06:002011-12-04T22:01:46.756-06:00

What's Being Said Dept. Bloomberg Businessweek has an article up that features Lafayette's travails with the Local Government (un)Fair Competition Act as a the clearest example of how corporations can buy favorable legislation. In its article, Pssst ... Wanna Buy a Law? Businessweek traces the law back to its genesis in Utah and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and through "Noble

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-46202147802981933632011-12-03T23:40:00.000-06:002011-12-06T15:09:18.615-06:00

The Advocate reports that LUS Fiber is going before the City-Parish Council Tuesday evening seeking final approval to bond out the remaining $14.5 million of the bonds of the $125 million the voters approved back in 2005. Articles in the Advocate and the Advertiser report parallel stories. The tale boils down to Huval explaining that the new utility is paying its operating expenses but isn't yet

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-31059508203357972492011-11-16T18:03:00.000-06:002011-12-04T19:56:14.420-06:00

Crawford Comeaux, local computer jock and a project manager with FiberCorps went to Baton Rouge and came back with the prize. The Advocate story is well worth the read; it outlines the concept behind Startup Weekend held last weekend in the capital city. From the story: AudienceAmp, a mobile platform for real-time audience participation with post-event analysis and reporting, took first place

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-8561208226381668722011-11-16T15:18:00.000-06:002011-12-04T19:56:14.416-06:00

Cox has completely pulled out the wireless game stranding its investment in spectrum and throwing into doubt the particulars of a grand reorganization it recently announced. This finally kills a constantly shrinking commitment by Cox to wireless. It means there will not be a wireless play by Cox in Lafayette to put up against the deal that LUS Fiber has put together with Sprint. A

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-61850014648952056362011-11-15T23:53:00.002-06:002011-12-04T19:56:14.404-06:00

LUS Fiber and Skyscraper Data Solutions announced a nifty new freebie, iOBackp—with a great backstory—for LUS Fiber customers. Both LUS business and residential users will get 10 GB of free, offsite, encrypted backup. The Freebie: Like the recently announced Sprint deal it is basically a marketing trade: LUS gets a nice perk for its customers (and only its customers) and the company get a local

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-8632243690690540242011-11-05T00:35:00.002-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.406-06:00

Net Neutrality (remember net neutrality?) has returned and the first shot of the latest battle is about to be fired in the Senate. And it would be nice if at least one of our Senators would stand up for the internet. The only real possibility is, sadly, Mary Landrieu. Right now no one seems to know where she stands. She needs to hear from those that care about the internet. And there is an easy

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-26587830145080217742011-10-29T14:13:00.000-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.396-06:00

Hat's off to Michelle Millhollon, on the Advocate's legislative beat, who has an exemplary article up today on the loss of the delta region's $80 million broadband grant. She's got the story almost exactly right, something rare in so arcane a topic. It still pays to have real beat reporters. Francis Thompson, Delhi She lays out the national political backdrop succinctly and accurately,

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-85128028595760046422011-10-17T20:39:00.001-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.410-06:00

The Advertiser carries a short wrap-up of this morning's Sprint-LUS Fiber event. Turns out it's mostly a marketing—and more subtly, a defensive—move. (My speculations—and a day of intensely pondering and researching the history and technology strategies—turned out to produce a lot of hooey. At least this time. C'est la vie.) It's not a bad marketing scheme for Lafayette—all Sprint customers, not

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-65465783164435502822011-10-16T13:40:00.000-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.398-06:00

LUS Fiber and Sprint —"There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear." (With apologies to Buffalo Springfield) "LUS Fiber and Sprint representatives will make a major announcement concerning the development of a unique partnership." "LUS Fiber makes ground-breaking strides toward delivering upon its mission of creating tomorrow’s essential broadband infrastructure while

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-24899931515342563082011-10-14T21:34:00.000-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.393-06:00

EATel, The little locally-owned East Ascension Telecomms company that could, is having a good week. Their bid for an East Baton Rouge parish-wide franchise agreement that will move them into the large capital city market was approved last night. They announced the pending acquisition of Vision Communications, an adjacent Lafourche Parish telecommunications company, whose customer base will

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-88267299051518599682011-10-14T00:42:00.000-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.400-06:00

Nice and succinct from the IND blog: 9.6% Percent of District 9 voters who sent William Theriot to the City-Parish Council in November 2007. The district had 18,452 registered voters, with 17.9 percent (or 3,307) going to the polls; of those voting, 1,773 or 54 percent went for Theriot. Why is this significant? Because Theriot loves to question voters’ mandate for LUS Fiber, pointing out as

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-39785544777151345112011-10-11T13:09:00.000-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.408-06:00

What's Being Said Dept. Christopher Mitchell over at muninetworks.org has picked up the recent Advertiser story on LUS's Fiber division and various responses to it. His take is as succinct as the title: "Lafayette Dealing with Expected Headaches." That title is pretty much the story; the author walks carefully through the questions, starting with the fact that these "issues" were

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-63124814447919693802011-10-02T23:45:00.000-05:002011-12-04T19:56:14.409-06:00

A bevy of stories that have been in the cooker for awhile finally landed today. Check out the Advertiser for a Sunday quartet: LUS Fiber at a crossroads, Other municipalities try fiber systems. Details regarding National Cable Television Cooperative are hazy, and an editorial: Fiber system needs realistic plan. That's a lot of ink spilled for a result that's pretty hazy itself. There's not much

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-82979860243963846352011-09-15T13:40:00.058-05:002011-09-15T17:00:08.220-05:00

EATel, East Ascension's locally-owned fiber-based telecoms provider, is set to move into the Baton Rouge market and provide Cox & AT&T some real competition. This would be a tremendous change in that market, especially if the local provider was prepared to build-out beyond the sort of limited cherry-picking that Baton Rouge has seen from AT&T's "entry." It is conceivable that parts of Baton Rouge

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-44255016050640366592011-08-10T18:13:00.000-05:002011-08-10T18:13:35.558-05:00

I posted earlier about the LUS Fiber budget hearing yesterday. There I focused on the annoying return of the idea that LUS was (somehow) being subsidized — I suspected that Patin had successfully revived a truly dumb idea. Credit where credit is due: Neither the Advertiser nor the Advocate's reporters chose to take the bait and emphasize that foolishness. Instead they largely reported on the

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-79018423828256338262011-08-10T01:46:00.004-05:002011-12-04T20:03:41.625-06:00

To begin at the end of today's LUS Fiber budget hearing: all the old nonsense about "subsidizing" LUS Fiber returned again today. And, surprising no one, it came riding back in with Tim Supple. Supple's long history of opposition to LUS Fiber has long included this particular falsehood. To give the devil his due Tim was definitely goaded by councilman Keith Patin after Keith and fellow rural

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-76094298812974942622011-08-05T21:50:00.002-05:002011-08-06T00:00:46.460-05:00

LUS is running one of its typically underpromoted promotions. This one is a lot of fun: free speed. Every internet customer is getting bumped up a full speed tier for August and September. Announced on LUS fiber's facebook page not long ago and on their web site the promotion lets a subscriber experience a 30 meg symmetrical speed if you are paying for 10 and a 50 meg connection if you are

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874259.post-19734179254169841322011-07-28T17:26:00.001-05:002011-07-28T17:36:26.930-05:00

LUS Fiber has announced web-based access to its Digital Video Recorders. You can locate it in the "extras" section of the MediaRoom DVR interface. You'll have to give yourself a name and password the first time you visit the app on the DVR. Thereafter you'll be using a computer or your smartphone to view channel info and access your DVR's records and recording capability. (This sort of nifty

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04577901049540355311noreply@blogger.com8