Today in frigid weather, I went to Union Square to see how Towerstream's Wi-Fi network performed. Considerably closer to the ITU's definition of 4G than any other technology available today, I was able to use my laptop's built-in 802.11N Wi-Fi adapter to connect to the Access Point at 138Mbps. Excellent quality on its own, and in the presence of 175 other access points you could say stellar.
The next step was to open a browser and bump up against the splash page, provided by Jiwire. After accepting the generic Acceptable Use Policy, the system allowed internet transit. A quick speed test showed 5.45 Mbps down and 6.2 Mbps up, a perfectly good performance level, most probably restricted by the size of Towerstream's pipe between its AP location and its distribution site. In their 3rd quarter conference call Towerstream described the general architecture of this network, and it allows for increasing the size of this connection. Performance can be driven higher by expanding this pipe. That will take more advantage of the 802.11N Wi-Fi access points that they are trialing and deliver an even better user experience.
The latency on each network hop to Google was less than 10 Milliseconds, boding well for the support of IMS based voice clients that switch between cell and IP connections or pure VoIP apps. With its strategic distribution sites in some of the largest US markets, Towerstream seems well positioned to be able to help cellular carriers and other ISPs alleviate some issues in their most painful locations by offloading the data traffic from their smartphones. It remains to be seen whether Towerstream can convince the mobile operators in their markets to embrace their wholesale strategy and more fully integrate Wi-Fi data distribution into their architectures.
Even if they don't convince the MNOs of the world to buy Wi-Fi from them, it can be accretive to their bottom line, because just like an MSO, adding Wi-Fi to Towerstream's distribution network is a very low cost proposition. The cost could be recouped by selling day passes or subscriptions to out of towners, or even through advertising, since they are leveraging mounting rights they already have, and not impinging on their customers' connections to deliver the Wi-Fi net access. Their rollup strategy can only better this proposition, as it increases the coverage area they can provide in each market.
We were pleased to welcome again Richard Kessel, electricity maven for the state of New York. The unsinkable, energetic Richie gave the capacity crowd a rundown on the what the New York Power Authority (NYPA) is, where its going, and what its pressing issues are.
Very fashionably late, Richie joked about knowing how to get to ALCOA's North Country plant in Massena, New York better than the Long Island hometown hotel we met at this morning. Opening with a hello to the many people that he has worked with on Long Island over the years, he emphasized that in the energy business you are only as good as the crew that works for you, and was effusive in his praise for the folks running LIPA and the Transmission and Distribution ( T&D ) network for National Grid. Richie was also proud of LIPA's record of performance, having resisted a base rate increase for the twelve years since its founding in 1998, and the $12 Billion invested in the T&D network on Long Island.
NYPA is a statewide enterprise operating T&D and electric generating facilities. Richie estimated that he spends 30-40% of his time traveling the state, and the challenges in running NYPA are much the same as running LIPA. The main thrust and mission of NYPA is to utilize energy to keep and create jobs in New York. Returning to Massena, he described NYPA's agreement with Alcoa that allowed the smelter to remain open, preserving hundreds of jobs. He estimated that over two thousand jobs have been kept in New York during his tenure at NYPA so far.
Along with utilizing electric subsidies to preserve and create jobs, building electrical infrastructure is another job creation strategy. Richie defended his record of T & D and generation investments at LIPA, while describing the repowering efforts in Astoria Queens, and his championing of the creation of a new "Electric Thruway" between Long Island and Canada along existing rights of way. Working closely with Hydro-Quebec and National Grid, the thruway would bring cheaper hydropower from new projects in Canada down through New York state and Long Island. Richie also described a new Trans-Hudson cable that is estimated will save ConEd ratepayers $2 Billion over the next 20 years and increase the reliability of the grid.
He also detailed his long time efforts to bring renewables and energy efficiency to the fore with the LED Traffic light program in Nassau County, upgrades at the Bergen Point Sewer Plant in Suffolk, and the new 100 Megawatt Statewide Solar Project, which will quintuple the solar generation in the state. An infamous supporter of wind projects, he also described the Great Lakes offshore wind project, which is targeted to generate between 120-500 Megawatts of power in an area where wind power is already embraced.
The meeting contained a lively, wide-ranging Q & A with Richie addressing local issues of ESCOs and strategic efforts of financing solar power, extending the meeting past its close but being very gracious and generous with his time and knowledge. Again, a friday morning well spent at LIMBA in the company of one of the state's literal power players, and a room full of movers and shakers of the local economy.
This post is a bit tardy, but an interesting way for ISPs to start thinking in the New Year, especially with the opening firefights breaking out in the war between content providers and their distributors.
Spanish Telco Telefonica has introduced a proof of concept project for a Wi-Fi enabled laptop to bond together multiple adjacent wireless networks backhauled by their ADSL lines and aggregate the bandwidth. Clever, and an interesting way to be a very smart dumb pipe. The PC client software and its backend glue make the service provider stickier by delivering a superior customer experience.
I've often been tempted to get involved and active in local politics. One of the things that has always made me wonder is why there are no assigned areas that town council folks are responsible for. When the opportunity to push for council districts in Huntington arose, I signed on, especially because it was easy to do with Facebook. The organizers are social network savvy. I've also thought that Huntington itself was a pretty progressive town, and I am generally happy with the way that the town is run, but I think that some things aren't great, and they might get better through increasing accountability with districting.
The petitions were organized, signatures collected, and I fully expected the issue to be put to a vote. I didn't really expect that the Town Board would object, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I believe it is time to change the status quo and introduce districting. I've quoted Mark X. Cronin's letter about what is happening with the petitions now that they've been submitted. Please read the below, and if you're in Huntington, and you care about fair representation, support the push for districts. Join our group on Facebook.
Same Old Politics Try to Deny the People the Right to Vote
Late this afternoon, Michael Kearns of Northport filed objections to the petition with the sole intent to deny the citizens of Huntington to right to vote on this issue. We do not know Mr. Kearns except to know that he is acting as a front for the Town Board. How do we know that the Town Board is behind this insider political ploy?
• To file an objection, a person would need to see a copy of the petitions. While anyone could request a copy from the Town Clerk, Mr. Kearns has not requested a copy of the petitions, so he must have had another source for a copy of the petitions. The only people with copies of the petitions are the Town Board members and the Town Attorney (the Town Attorney’s office has four copies of the petitions). The Town Board must have provided the information to file the General Objections.
• The general objections must be followed by specific objections; preparing specific objections would require having a copy of the petitions. Mr. Kearns did not request a copy of the petitions. Again, the only people with copies of the petition are the Town Board members and the Town Attorney so they must provide the information to Mr. Kearns.
We believe these facts demonstrate that the Town Board is now trying to stop a vote on the issue. We had asked the Town Board to put the issue of Council Districts on the ballot. Had they done so, the issue could have been on the ballot this November. They refused to do so. Now the Town Board is working to block the rights of the voters to have this issue placed on the ballot through the petition process.
We want to know:
• Why is the Town Board hiding behind Mr. Kearns?
• Who is working with Mr. Kearns to block the right of the people to decide?
• Who provided the petitions to Mr. Kearns so he could file an objection?
• Was an attorney working for the Town or doing business with the Town involved in preparing these objections?
We support Town Council Districts because they lead to better representation, more accountability and more openness in government. In their action to block the petitions, the Town Board is proving our point. They are denying the voters the opportunity to decide on representation. They are denying accountability by working through Mr. Kearns instead of filing the petition in their own name. And they are opposing openness in Town government. Shame on them!
As always, I find LIMBA meetings an excellent place to meet people that have a great deal of influence over the Long Island region. The value that I have gotten from these over the years is incalculable, in both learning how things work, and meeting new friends. Some topics are political, some technical, and lots are both. An overview of Smart Grids was given by a long time member of LIPA and its predecessors, Bruce Germano, the man responsible for LIPA's retail operations.
Bruce opened his talk this morning by recounting his
experiences with Smart Grid technology dating back to 2002.Back then, we were thinking Smart Grids, but
there wasn’t a name for them.With time,
new definitions emerged, of a power network that has intelligence built into
it, with the ability to control pushed further out to the edge of the
network.Currently, there are
limitations in the power system that prevent that controlbeing extended.
According to Bruce, a smart grid is a communications network
overlaid on to the power network, giving customers the ability to decide the
best time to use power based on price signaling.A Smart Grid helps bring down peak load
demand.It enables a customer and a
utility to understand and control demand on a real-time basis.In 2002 this was just a dream, but advances
in technology are making it possible.Utilities are looking for ways to provide customer choice and one of
these ways is to introduce a Smart Grid.
To facilitate that LIPA, in concert with Stony Brook
University and SUNY-Farmingdale, is seeking stimulus funding to implement a Smart
Grid technology pilot project.There are
a lot of technology gaps to be filled, but if a go, the project has the
following three goals:
·Smart Grid Demonstration – Show that the
technology to connect customer s to markets in real time is feasible,and allow them to control their demand
according to price signals they receive.
·Green Job Creation – The deployment Smart Grid
technology will require specialized skills and custom assembly of hardware and software
to build the sensor networks required and the software backend to communicate
the information gathered and control signals sent.
·Green Skill Training – To move beyond a pilot
phase, the original lessons of the project have to be translated into
repeatable steps.Developing the work
force to implement Smart Grid technology on a wide scale will require educating
a large number of subject matter experts that can grow the grid commercially.
The vehicle to achieve these goals is the building of a
smart energy corridor along Route 110 from the Long Island Expressway, down to
the southern border of Republic Airport.This area brings together a lot of partners and ties together many
existing efforts.A diverse mix of
customer types exists along the corridor, with commercial, industrial,
residential, and municipal located there.SBU is looking into two areas, load modeling systems, and the
communications security risks associated with remote control.SUNY-Farmingdale is bringing their exiting
energy research labs, plus their investigations into sensor technology.
The technology gaps are being filled, but it is an
evolutionary process and all the pieces are not in place yet.Many big players like IBM, GE and Hitron are
aiming to compete in this space.Appliances
are integrating communications and control into consumer devices, allowing the
owner to program the timer for the cheapest time to use electricity.The opportunity to evolve electric meters to
support this exists, but there are no standards for Smart Grids and their
devices.
The Department of Energy published 15 characteristics of a
Smart Grid, and the National Institute of Standards is developing those specifications
for devices and systems to interoperate.Stability of the system is paramount, as we don’t want the repeat of
another 2003 blackout, which was caused by a cascading system failure of the
grid’s control structures.
Bruce wrapped up by letting us know that the stimulus
application was filed about two weeks ago, along with thousands of other
applications, and is waiting for the federal government to get through the
review process.
Opening the floor to questions, Ernie opened the session by
asking if Smart Grid technology will eliminate the need for new power plants, and
would Plug-inHybrid Electric Vehicles
help our situation.Bruce responded by reminding
us of Long Island’s insatiable need for electricity, and noting that although
PHEV’s may help smooth out demand peaks, they increase total demand on the grid
because they are getting their stored energy from the grid rather than burning
fuel.
John Howell asked if every building by default be able to
participate in the smart grid.Bruce
projected that the meter connecting the business would be smart and able to
participate, but it would be up to the building owner to install the controls
necessary to implement variable price consumption strategies.
Pat Halpin of the Suffolk County Water Authority asked if
there will be incentives for customers to interrupt their power and use off
peak power.A discussion of the various
ways pricing regimes could be constructed followed, with the net result being,
we’ll see when we get there.
The ensuing discussion concluded yet another well spent
Friday morning at LIMBA, where you get to meet a diverse set of leaders from across
Long Island industries and organizations, and learn something valuable in an
hour as you start the last day of the work week.
This quote from Hans of NYC resistor sums up my feelings about wireless network security: "Instead of trying to create a safe network, instead we need to think of our computers and devices as an island in rough seas." Read the full post here.
Any network where you don't have physical control of the end to end connection should be treated as an untrusted network, and if you really care about security, you should use an encryption scheme to secure the communications that you care about before they leave the device that you're using.
That tireless promoter of wide access to broadband, the globetrotting Esme Vos, extended a gracious invitation for me to write about the prospects for the Long Island Wi-Fi project, and I used up many bits in responding to her invite. I tried to put the project in contrast with the work that we have been doing on Fire Island, and in the context of the competitive environment that it faces. You can try to glean some nuggets from my brain dump at this link, or read the whole thing after the jump:
Lessons Learned from Long and Fire Islands
As our Fire
Island Wireless network is closing out its 5th and most
successful season, I would like to share a few things I’ve learned as they
apply to the Long
Island Wi-Fi project. Even
though the plug has not been pulled officially, the writing is on the wall for
the Long Island Wi-Fi project, and its an obituary. Cablevision is launching its Optimum Wi-Fi network, offering
complimentary access to 2 million wired subscribers over the tri-state area,
not just Long Island, and that pretty much dries up any potential paying customers
that e-path might have had.
Managed service fans, hear this. After a night of consulting in Gotham, I was heading back out to the wilds of Long Island, and decided to see if the hotspot in the LIRR waiting room had been brought back to life. This time, I couldn't even associate to the network.
The rather grumpy, short-tempered, sharp-tongued, silver-haired customer service fellow didn't believe me when I said there was a wireless network in the waiting room, even when I pointed out the sign. On the off chance I would have more luck, I went to the customer service office where I had a pleasant conversation with the younger fellow on duty, who indeed knew about the network, and was unaware of anybody having issues. He was under the impression that few people used it. ( managed services could either confirm or disabuse him of that notion ) However, he did treat my news seriously and logged a service call with the railroad's IT helpdesk. I won't be back in town this week, I think so if somebody wants to leave a status report in the comments to see if the IT department followed up on the service call, please be so kind.
The latest customer of the CEDX wi-fi network is The Great Peconic Bay Marina, located in South Jamesport, New York, on the beautiful North Fork of Long Island. Access is complimentary to slip owners, who will be given a username and password by marina administration. We are very happy to have The Great Peconic as part of our network, and look forward to a long relationship and smooth sailing.
On the way back from a holiday, the fam and I stopped in Penn Station to catch our train back home. Proud of myself for being completely off the grid for 5 days, I could hold out no longer, and wanted to see what email delights awaited me. Having used the hotspot in the waiting room once before, I opened my laptop, connected to the LIRR_HOTSPOT_11G network, got an IP address, and... nothing. Turns out, name resolution was not functioning. Of course there's no way to let the railroad management know this, other than this blog post, but somebody needs to reboot the little netgear router they have running the thing.
When you offer a service, it better work, otherwise people get pissed, because they plan their movements around it sometimes. Trust me, I've had earfuls from users expecting a malfunctioning hotspot to work. It's like the plumbing, when it works, nobody notices, but when it's broken, all hell breaks loose. Part of the issue with wi-fi in places is its unmanaged nature. Things break, software and systems hang occasionally, and somebody or something needs to be on the lookout for when bad things happen and something needs a kick to get it started again. Unfortunately, the massive number of independent venues don't get this, and it seems the railroad needs to be reminded of it too. I'd be happy to manage the spot, keep it running, and even post some PSA's or do advertising. Simply making sure the service is working as advertised will make folks a lot happier and less angry at the railroad.
