Fractals of Change

Broadband for EVERYbody

We used to think it was enough to make broadband accessible everywhere. That's no longer good enough. We now need to make sure that everyone actually has broadband in his or her residence and business. Everyone! (voluntary cave dweller excepted). Our goal in Vermont is to combine stimulus money with private investment and state bonding authority to move us quickly not only to 100% broadband availability but 100% broadband penetration.

The electrical system of tomorrow, the health care system of tomorrow, and the education system of today all depend on universal broadband penetration. Oh yeah, communication, commerce, and entertainment all need broadband too. So does e-government (coming soon) and research.

The electrical system of tomorrow will be smart. That means demand, supply, capacity, and outage data flow unimpeded and in near realtime from meters to utilities and back to consumers and generators. Much of this data flow is machines communicating with other machines. Some information flow is back to consumers both large and small so they can control their energy bills by using electricity when it's abundant and cheap and shunning or selling it back to the grid when it's rare and expensive. Taking advantage of the smart grid requires a broadband connection.

Part of e-health is electronic health records. Better information means better, cheaper, and less mistake-prone care. But we can't replace paper records with electronic ones until we can be sure that very doctor's office and place of treatment is online with enough bandwidth for bandwidth-hungry objects like x-rays. In the case of home health care, the place of treatment is the home. A home health worker needs the same access to medical records and the same ability to update them that a doctor or a hospital does. The home of the future will have health monitoring devices when needed. Homes need to be online for the delivery of health care.

When I was in school a million years ago I was taught to do research in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. That was then and this is now. Students need to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff on Google and wikipedia; their homework needs to be online just as mine was in the library. But a teacher can't responsibly give online homework to a class if even a small fraction of the students don't have the equipment and connections to get online when they go home. We can't reinvent pedagogy the way we need to until we know that all students have broadband connections – and that schools have scads of bandwidth

So everyone needs to be online. Geography can't be an obstacle but neither can poverty, lack of equipment, or lack of training.

The platform for SmartVermont – the Vermont we hope to build with stimulus money, State money and bonding authority, and private investment – is universal broadband penetration. The first application on that platform will be smart grid, e-health, and e-education. With lots of hard work, some luck, and our fair share of federal (our!) dollars, we can build that future for ourselves and our children.

Is Vermont Moving Fast Enough?

My last post complained that federal agencies are not moving quickly enough to make the rules and give out the money for competitive stimulus programs in crucial areas like broadband and energy. Getting these projects under way in the this year's construction season is going to be a problem.

So how well are we doing here in Vermont at putting ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aka the stimulus bill) money to work?

We've done a good job of getting highway projects underway. It's taken us slightly longer to sort out the priorities for water projects but we're getting there. We can't make our own rules for alternative energy and energy efficiency and some economic development programs until both houses of the Legislature and the Governor agree on a budget (hopefully'll happen by the end of this week). With hindsight I wish that I had pushed for separate legislation to get some of these projects going faster; but it's not clear whether that could've happened or even that the Legislature should have looked at a budget for ARRA money out of context of the rest of the state budget.

The Douglas Administration has proposed that large amounts of the ARRA money which has been allocated to the state by the Department of Energy be spent for alternative energy and energy efficiency projects. The intent is to distribute this money through open processes –either competitive or first come, first served for eligible projects – depending on the anticipated demand for a particular program. The idea is to make sure that the most effective projects are the ones that get done.

We can't write the precise rules for these programs until we know what the Vermont legislature finally authorizes. But we know we have to get the rules written and the awards made quickly to take as much advantage as possible of this year's summer construction season, put people to work, and quickly start reaping the long term benefits of less dependence on imported fossil fuels. You should judge us by whether we meet these goals.

We in Vermont decided to go ahead and prepare for the competitive ARRA broadband, smart grid, education, and e-health awards even in the absence of final regulations from Washington. It'll probably turn out that we've "wasted" some of this work when we see the rules under which grants are to be awarded. We rushed to be ready to file applications for broadband and smart grid grants as early as the beginning on May; looks like we didn't have to move quite that quickly. On the other hand, since we know now how we'd like to proceed in these areas, we find ourselves well-positioned to comment on both proposed regulations and the proposed (but too slow!) schedule of awards.

States have an incentive to move very quickly once ARRA money has been granted. If the money is not spent quickly, it will be reclaimed by the feds and redistributed to speedier states. Our ambition is to have Vermont benefit from these reallocations. Our small size and the important fact that we already have projects in broadband, smart grid, and health information systems underway will help; some of our permitting and review processes could be a problem. Stay tuned.

What’s a Smart Grid and Why Does It Matter?

We Vermonters have a huge opportunity to use federal stimulus funds to shape our near term energy future. The Vermont of three years from now will have both reduced its use of expensive and relatively dirty peak electricity AND begun to substantially reduce the use of oil in cars and homes. Energy policy is a key part of the SmartVermont plan announced Thursday by Governor Douglas and the Smart Grid is a key part of energy policy.

Whether you believe that the most important goal of an energy policy is reducing CO2 emissions, preventing the outflow of dollars from the State and nation for imported oil, or stopping the flow of petro dollars to unfriendly places, you are probably part of the huge consensus which believes that we need to reduce our use of fossil fuels both locally and nationally. It's even better, of course, if we reduce our use of fossil fuels by making alternatives cheaper rather than just by making fossil fuels more expensive; that's kinder to our pocketbooks and has a better chance of being a model for the rest of the world.

What's a Smart Grid?

 

The Smart Grid lets us do all these good things. But what's the Smart Grid?

Smart Grid infrastructure consists of electronic meters at each residence and business, an information network to carry data from the meters to the utilities in near real-time AND to bring information on the instantaneous price of electricity back to consumers; gadgets which help us automatically adjust our electrical use to prices in whatever way we want to do that; and lots of electronics and other devices in the electrical grid itself, which let the grid use the information on usage to adjust transmission and supply and accommodate the varying output from alternative energy sources.

Smart Grid benefits to consumers are lower overall rates and the chance to use very cheap way off-peak electricity for charging electric vehicles and appliances, generating and storing heat for later use, and adjustable activities like clothes washing and drying. Businesses have even greater opportunity to reduce energy costs. The benefits for the economy are less money spent on fossil fuel and a better return on alternative energy investments. The benefit for the environment is less use of fossil fuel to generate electricity. Lots of winners.

Smart Grid Economics

 

Of course electricity is not really an energy source the way a windmill or coal-fired generating plant or a hydro-electric dam is; electricity is a way of getting energy from where it's generated to where it's used. The cost of electricity depends on both what fuel was used to generate it and how much it cost to transmit it from source to point of use. Similarly the environmental impact of using electricity depends on how the electricity was initially generated. Here in Vermont two-thirds of our electricity is carbon-free from Hydro Quebec and Vermont Yankee; that's why we have the lowest carbon footprint per capita for electrical consumption of any state in the country. Off-peak almost all of our power comes from these sources; on-peak we buy expensive electricity largely generated by spooling up gas-fired facilities, which use expensive fuel and are an expensive resource because they are only needed for a few hours each day.

The following charts are from Vermont's 2005 power plan.  The chart immediately below shows how wholesale prices vary during two normal days:

   

Peak costs for power during the afternoon on both days was 60% higher than the daily lows.  On a bad day, the difference is much greater:

 

Obviously if we can shift some usage from peak to off-peak, the electricity we do use will cost us much less because less expensive fuels and more environmentally friendly generating fuels are used off-peak. Also, the total cost for building electrical facilities is reduced if we don't have to build extra generating plants and transmission lines solely to meet peak demand.

Smart Grid and SmartVermont

Part of the SmartVermont plan is to use federal stimulus money to accelerate activities already underway and get the Smart Grid in place much faster than we would have otherwise. We must compete for and win grants for:

• the speedy completion of our broadband network (a good thing in its own right and essential to carrying the information on which the SmartGrid depends),
• rolling out smart meters statewide
• making the improvements in the grid and in our electrical substations needed to make this all come together, and
• funding experiments to determine what rate structures are most useful to consumers.

To take further advantage of the Smart Grid, we are looking at possibilities of using stimulus money to accelerate the adoption of plug in hybrid or pure electrical vehicles– perhaps first by transit districts and others who may be eligible for stimulus funding for fleet expansion – and to help grow the use of geothermal heat (which uses an electrical compressor) and storage heat.

SmartVermont means using the different flows of federal money – broadband, energy, transit, economic development, diesel fuel avoidance etc. – synergistically to build an even better Vermont for the future. It won't be easy; there's lots of coordination required; we have to succeed in our competitive grant requests; and there will be slipups. But the results'll be worth the effort.

 

My New Gig

JAMES H. DOUGLAS

            GOVERNOR

 

State of Vermont

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

For Immediate Release:

March 2, 2009

 

Contact: 

Dennise Casey: 802.233.9436

Tom Evslin: 802.760.1226

 

 

Governor Announces New Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery

 

Former VTrans Secretary & High-Tech Entrepreneur

Tom Evslin to Lead Intensified Effort

 

Establishes New Director of Accountability with Auditor’s Office

 

 

Montpelier, Vt. – Today Governor Jim Douglas announced the creation of the Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery (ESR) to coordinate the State’s use of federal funds authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.   The Governor has tapped former Vermont Transportation Secretary and high tech entrepreneur Tom Evslin to head the Office as Chief Recovery Officer. The Office will be located in the Agency of Administration and report to Administration Secretary Neale Lunderville.

 

The Vermont Federal Recovery Office, which was established in January before the recovery bill became law, has been fully incorporated into ESR.  Jim Bush will continue to serve in a leadership role as Director of Physical Infrastructure, responsible for oversight and delivery of the nearly $200 million in new state and local infrastructure projects.

 

 “The scope of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act extends beyond the original intent of Medicaid and transportation funds,” said Governor Douglas.  “In turn, we have expanded the Federal Recovery Office into the Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery to ensure the federal money flows into our economy quickly and with strict accountability measures in place.”

 

The Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery will assist and coordinate efforts of State, community and private organizations to obtain funds for projects that not only alleviate the pain of the current recession but build the infrastructure necessary for Vermonters to succeed in the second decade of the 21^st century.

 

“The Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery will work at entrepreneurial speed to make certain Vermont obtains all possible funds and gets maximum effect from tight coordination between programs,” said Evslin. “As much as possible, we need to use new technology to preserve Vermont values while building the foundation for a strong economy that can compete in a changing world.”

 

Accountability and transparency are key elements of the newly constituted Office. Working with Auditor of Accounts Tom Salmon, the Office will appoint a Director of Accountability from the Auditor’s staff to assure that federally funded projects are designed from the beginning to meet stringent requirements for audit and accountability.  The Director will serve as a direct link between the Auditor’s Office and Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery.  “This important partnership is essential to ensure that Vermont exceeds the new federal standards for transparency, accountability and effectiveness,” said Auditor Salmon. “We want to ensure compliance and accountability right out of the gates.”

 

Evslin has agreed to lead the Office working at minimum wage – and has volunteered to return his entire salary to state coffers. “I’m thrilled and honored for the opportunity to help advance Vermont and position us for a strong economic recovery,” Evslin continued. 

 

The Office will be staffed by existing state employees on temporary assignment from agencies and departments. In addition to a Director of Physical Infrastructure and a Director of Accountability, the Office will include staff resources for Network Infrastructure, State Programs, Planning, and Community Partnerships.

Tom Evslin Bio

Tom Evslin was Secretary of the Agency of Transportation under former Vermont Governor Richard Snelling, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Vermont State Colleges, and is currently vice-chair of The Snelling Center, a non-profit dedicated to good governance in Vermont. Evslin’s civic career began as town moderator in Worcester, Vermont in the 1970s.

Evslin ran a software business in Vermont

for many years before going to work for Microsoft, where he was responsible for communication products.  Evslin went on to work at AT&T where he founded their first Internet business, WorldNet. In 1997 Tom and his wife, Mary Evslin, founded ITXC which was a pioneer in the use of the Internet for phone calls.  The company grew to be one of the world’s largest wholesale carriers of international calls. The company went public in 1999 and is now part of Indian telecommunications giant Tata Communications. Mary Evslin was the founding chair of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority. The Evslins live in Stowe, Vermont

.

 

###

 

 

 

Dennise R. Casey

Deputy Chief of Staff

109 State Street

¨ The Pavilion ¨ Montpelier, VT 05609-0101

Telephone: 802.828.3333 ¨ Fax: 802.828.3339 ¨ TDD: 802.828.3345

 

Airlines Encourage Cloud Computing

When things come full circle, you know you're old. I cut my professional teeth on massive centralized computers; helped use remote access to bring computing power out of the glass room; then I retooled for the massive decentralization that microcomputers made possible; made a new career in helping to connect all those decentralized computers. Now, IMHO, computing is about to go back into the cloud.

According to a story by Nathan Eddy at eweek.com, United is planning to join American, Delta, and Virgin America in offering WiFi on US domestic flights. The story talks about being able to exchange email and rebook flights while aloft. What's more important is that WiFi en route will remove one of the last reasons to carry around much more computing power than you can get in a netbook – a small computer with long battery life, a good screen, but not much disk storage and not many onboard applications.

When you want to do word processing or number crunching on a netbook, you use an application for that purpose available online. Google and others already offer somewhat weaker online versions of the Microsoft Office applications like Word and Excel that most of us are familiar with. You or your employer save money twice – once when you buy a cheap netbook without Windows rather than a more expensive laptop, the second time when you don't buy a copy of Microsoft Office.

Up until now the appeal of netbooks was small because we all spent a fair amount of our travel time offline but still wanted to be able to work. But, if we're going to be online most of the time, netbooks get to be a very good alternative. We already can get online in our cars in much of the country – hopefully only while we're passengers – using the cellular technologies EVDO and HSPA.

Maybe smart is the new cool but saving money now means survival. My prediction is that netbooks start to make serious inroads during the current ueconomic unpleasantness. Bad news for Dell and others who will probably see smaller margins on these cheaper machines; perhaps good news for Intel if the cheaper machines (which still need good computing power to execute remote apps locally) expand the market for chips. Good news for communications providers as the need for bandwidth – especially mobile bandwidth – increases. At least temporary good news for airlines since they plan to charge $12.95/flight for access (are we really saving money then?). Very bad news for Microsoft. Perhaps bad news for Apple since it's hard to see running most apps on the small screens of most cool Apple devices and the Mac coolness will be lost if we're all running apps in the cloud.

Also bad news for parts of the country which don't have pervasive Internet access. We end up using obsolete apps on obsolete machines and paying more for the privilege. Good thing we're building an e-state here in Vermont.

Fun With Google Maps

If you have a list of locations, eventually you'll want to see them on a map – count on it.

An organization I work with gathered addresses and other useful information relevant to their mission with a web form and neatly downloaded all the information into a Google Docs spreadsheet. Eventually they decided they wanted to see it on a map. Turns out they can do that rather easily – no programming involved – by using one of the paid versions of Google Earth.

All spreadsheets can save their content as a .csv file (cells in a row are separated by commas). The paid versions of Google Earth have an import function for CSV files, which asks you which columns contain which address elements and then puts a dot on its map for each row. It works whether you have each element of the address in a separate column or have the address elements all run together as you'd enter them into a query for Google Maps. Non-address data from the spreadsheet can be displayed in the balloons for the entries when they're clicked on. Google Earth Plus is $20/year and can import up to 100 addresses at a time; Google Earth Pro is $400/year but will import as much as your machine has stomach for. Once the addresses have been loaded by a paid version of Google Earth, they can be saved as a KML file which even the free version of Google Earth can open.

There are a few drawbacks to this approach:

1. If the addresses are entered incorrectly initially in the form that gathered them, they don't get coded so they don't appear on the map. "Incorrect" is whatever the map provider Google is using says it is so some addresses are bound to get rejected no matter what.
2. You need to pay for one copy of Google Earth to create the KML files.
3. Whoever is going to view the map with the points on it needs to have Google Earth (free version is fine). However, there are web-based viewers for KML available. One is here; only hitch is I haven't gotten it to work and don't have time to debug right now. But, if this works, it gives you an easy way to make your location data available on the web.
4. Address-based geocoding is only available for certain countries.

If you can do it, it's better to gather your data on a map so the user has a chance to verify the location and correct any errors or negotiate a compromise with what the map provider expects as far as street names are concerned. That's what we did with Vermont Telecommunications Authority's "who has what broadband where" map. But collecting on a map takes some programming and may not be worth it for your project. With limitations, you can gather data on a form and make it visible on a map – no programming required.

Vermont Files in Support of Using White Space for Mobile Broadband Access

The Vermont Public Service Department and the Vermont Telecommunications Authority have joined in an ex parte filing at the Federal Communications Commission urging that the Commission “move expeditiously to adopt the necessary technical parameters … and help make this promising technology [use of the so-called ‘TV whitespaces’] a reality.” Given that the docket has been open since May of 2004, a little expeditiousness is certainly in order.

“TV white spaces” is the term used by the FCC but it’s a misnomer; no broadcaster has actually paid for any of the spectrum at issue; no one is using it; in short; it’s wasted. Originally, before cable and satellite TV and before the Internet, it was reasonably believed that this spectrum would eventually be occupied by a proliferation of over-the-air stations. That’s not gonna happen. Vermont has as much radio spectrum “reserved” for over-the-air TV stations as New York City – 50 channels worth. That “reserved” spectrum is not of any use to anyone and won’t be until the FCC promulgates some rules for its use.

The filing explains the many reasons why this spectrum is ideally suited to meeting the needs or rural America for much better broadband and cellular coverage:

“First, rural areas like Vermont have relatively fewer TV broadcasters and therefore more unused ‘white spaces.’ Moreover, rural communities also have the largest geographic areas without access to wireless services. Second, the ability of TV frequencies to propagate over great distances and difficult terrain provides an opportunity to reach locations too economically challenging for existing wireless services. Third, the use of TV ‘white space’ for the provision of rural broadband is an alternative means of accomplishing the Commission’s universal service goal of deploying advanced services to all areas of the nation without requiring additional funding mechanisms. In fact, the use of TV ‘white space’ could actually decrease the demand for universal service funding at a time when the level of funding is facing heightened scrutiny.”

The filing makes clear that the petitioners do NOT think that this spectrum should be auctioned off at a high price. The greatest public good will come from making these public resources available “at low or no-cost to those entities willing to utilize them for such purpose [broadband and mobile access].”

It will take the concentrated political power of rural America to free up this spectrum to meet the rural need for better communication. But this isn’t urban vs. rural; urban areas also have something to gain from better spectrum availability and nothing to lose.

Not to over-dramatize but I see this as the public interest vs. entrenched communications interests. The TV industry would like to sit on this spectrum without paying for it “just in case”; they also may be worried about Internet use of the spectrum becoming a competing “channel” for delivering entertainment. Traditional communications carriers benefit from LACK of competition in the US broadband market; they have no reason to want to see competition growing like weeds (or, more accurately, like WiFi) in fields of open spectrum.

Google and other “Internet” companies do have an interest in keeping their paths to the consumer unblocked; competition would be good for that. This post is about a proposal Google has made for putting the unused white space to work.

Disclosure: My wife, Mary Evslin, is Chair of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority.

BroadbandWiki Beta Begins

Please help test the broadbandwiki project at http://s3.amazonaws.com/broadbandwiki/broadbandwiki.html. There’s no doubt it has bugs and it can certainly be improved. Bug reports and suggestions as comments on this post would be great.

The purpose of the broadbandwiki project, which was built with the GoogleMaps API and stores its database on Amazon’s S3 Service, is to enable Vermonters to help Vermont reach its goal of becoming the first e-state in the nation with both cellular coverage and usable broadband everywhere – which means everywhere – in the State by the end of 2010. However, in the spirit of open source and open competition, I’m happy to make the application available to any state or organization with a similar mission. In fact, I’ll make the code openly available, period, very soon. One problem may be to avoid too many databases soliciting the same information and leading to fragmentation.

The concept of the application is simple. You enter your address, type of Internet access, and provider. The app puts a pin, which is color coded to show your access type, on a map. Once there are enough pins (as there already are in Stowe, Vermont), they are immediately useful for seeing what type of access is available in a neighborhood. They also graphically illustrate where lack of access is a problem for residents and an opportunity for a provider.

Like many Web applications, this database is not really useful until it contains a critical mass of data – at least on a location by location basis. People can – and I hope will – go directly to the site and place their pin. The plan is to have this incorporated soon in the site of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority. It can also be imbedded in or linked to from the sites of the many towns which are taking an active role in providing for their broadband future. But the best way to get this populated will be for other towns to do what Stowe did while we were testing – set up a table at an event where a lot of people come together and get the people to pin their locations on the spot. After one day of work, Stowe’s part of the map reached critical mass.

If you live in Vermont, entries you make in the map are “live” and will be immediately useful. If you don’t live in Vermont, your entry will appear on the map while you are looking at it but you’ll be warned that it’s not really being stored in the database. Either way, I’d appreciate your help both in supplying the data and testing the application.

Thanks.

Verizon Wireless Update

Verizon Wireless (VZW) is updating the radios in their cellular sites to support EVDO (cellular broadband) at an impressive rate. My experience with EVDO is that I routinely get download speeds higher than 1 megabit per second and upload speeds of 400-600 kilobits per second (both better than basic DSL). Why they’re not advertising this more is beyond me. I’m giving them a plug here because they are at least a short-term fix for many people in rural areas who, up until now, had no option but satellite (which is a very poor option) for broadband coverage.

Updated interactive coverage maps are available here on the VZW site. If you last looked at these maps a few months ago and didn’t find yourself on them, take another look. BTW, these maps are very granular and so far I’ve found them accurate.

My VZW phone first started showing the presence of EVDO about six months ago both here on nerd hill and at friends’ houses in places as remote as Bear Swamp. But my EVDO card (which has worked well in cities for years) was only connecting at “National Access” speeds here – faster than dialup but not much faster. Tech support assured me that EVDO is here; certainly the map showed our location as blue (covered).

After a while I began to suspect that the problem was the EVDO card I’m using for access. I’ve had it for at least four years; I was a very early EVDO adaptor. So, despite the fact that the card worked in cities and despite tech support telling me that it should then work in Stowe, I ordered a new USB EVDO device – the high end AC595U which has an internal battery to boost its signal strength and a port for an external antenna which I also ordered.  The device turned out to be free if I renewed my contract for two years which I did. Also would’ve been free with a new contract.

Installed the device and new Verizon software that came with it and wham! EVDO Rev. A (a newer version of the protocol which apparently my old card couldn’t cope with). Speeds at least as good as I used to get in the city. And I didn’t need the antenna – at least it doesn’t seem to make any difference.

I’ve been doing a little travelling testing. When Mary and I were doing a broadband census at the High School on Town Meeting day, EVDO gave us the Internet access we needed. Bought my laptop to Bear Swamp yesterday and got blazing speed. I think I’m auditioning to replace the nerd in the VZW commercial who goes around asking “Can you hear me now?” although, of course, I’d ask “Can I connect now?”.

Also have been comparing the VZW coverage map to the map we got when we took our census. Good news and bad news there. Immediately below is some good news. Note that on the census maps the black (satellite) and white (dialup) pins in the Sterling Valley area without any red (DSL) or blue (cable) pins indicate that no broadband coverage is available there.

 

But note from the blue on the VZW coverage map that there apparently IS coverage there although the white does indicate that some areas are blocked by something.

The news is not good in Nebraska Notch. As you can see below, apparently even satellite doesn’t work with the ridge to the south and VZW does not cover there.

The service isn’t cheap. There used to be an unlimited data plan which threatened to reduce your speed if you did more than 5 gigabytes a month of data communication. The plan now allows five gig for the fixed price of $60/month and then charges .49/megabyte (which is expensive) after that. However, if up to now all you had available was dialup or satellite, it’s extremely unlikely you’re doing anything like 5 gig a month or will even want to soon. But don’t try to use this service for looking at full length high-def videos. That’ll cost you an arm and a leg; an occasional YouTube is just fine.

If you already have VZW data access, by all means bring your laptop to Vermont when you come skiing or visiting for any other reason. Very good chance you’ll get connectivity.

There are devices available which let you use one VZW access card and account to provide WiFi coverage to your whole house (or at least a good part of it) so all of your computers can be online without having a separate account for each one of them. I’ll write more about them after I’ve tested.

An earlier post on cellular data access including what other carriers are doing is here.

What I Did on Town Meeting Day

It was just like the old days on the trade show circuit except I finished the software a comfortable twelve hours before show time instead of on the plane coming out.

Mary and I got to the Stowe High School about 7am and set up our booth (really a table) in a great location that everyone had to pass right next to the Girl Scouts and their cookies and on the way to the polls. Mary used to like to get a booth location on the way to the restrooms because of the traffic although I did convince her that some people ought to be left alone until they were on their way out.

She taped her posters to the wall while I fastened my EVDO antenna to the window and set up my computer and the big monitor facing out. Polls were open so we had people coming by immediately. I was supposed to just be there for setup and then go on my way but there was too much traffic for that. Besides Mary never stays in the booth or behind the table; her position is always out in front buttonholing the prospects and this was no different.

“Hi, we’re helping the town committee which is working for better Internet access,” she said. “We’d like to ask you a couple of quick questions .”

“I don’t have anything but dialup,” some people said.

“Great,” she said. “You’re just the people we want to help. What’s your address?”

I’d key in the address if I wasn’t already working with someone else in which case she’d write it down for later inputting. The EVDO connection worked fine and, almost instantly, a new pin white pin (white was for dialup) would appear on the Google map of Stowe on my monitor. “Is that where you live?” I asked.

“Yes,” they’d say. “I hope you can help us get better access.”

“We already have broadband,” some other people said to Mary.

“Great,” she said. “If you tell us where you live, that’ll help us help other people get access.” Their pins would be red for DSL, blue for cable, green for wireless, and orange for cellular (like my EVDO).

Pretty soon the map was well enough filled out (see below) so that we were often able to say “Look at this; your neighbors on both sides seem to have DSL. Maybe you can get it to.”

Sometimes they’d say back “I’ve been calling Verizon every week and they keep telling me not yet even though they send me an ad for DSL with every bill.”

We asked the people who had recently gotten DSL (of which there were quite a few) how they’d managed to get it. Quite a few times the answer was “I was obnoxious” or “I started talking to a technician in a Verizon truck and he told me we could probably get it and helped me out.”

Some people said they had satellite access. We didn’t talk to anyone who liked it; they all wanted something better. They complained about stringent limits on the amount that can be downloaded, slow display of web sites, pathetically slow upload – especially for those with home-based businesses – and not working in rain or snow. But they said it was better than dialup and what else could they do.

Often people told us that they couldn’t find a tenant for an apartment or a buyer for a property because of lack of broadband availability.

If you look at the upper left hand corner of the map, you see no color; only white pins for dialup and black pins for satellite. That’s an affluent area called Robinson Springs; it’s a huge opportunity for some provider despite the fact that the large, expensive houses are spaced out. In the lower left, the string of white dots is Nebraska Valley; not even any satellite, perhaps because mountains obscure the southern sky. It’s a beautiful place to live with great hiking but you can see that cable (blue) didn’t go very far down the road and DSL didn’t make it at all. The telephone poles march down the street; clearly another line needs to hang from them.

You can see how cable and DSL peter out at the end of the roads away from the center of town. “Yeah, they got to my neighbor,” people said about cable; “but they want $10,000 to continue to us.”

Our hope is that the map above and maps like it that people in other towns might fill in will show providers where the opportunities are, help neighbors band together for better service, and help the State Telecommunications Authority (of which Mary is the chair) achieve their mission of 100% cellular and data coverage for Vermont by the end of 2010.

Twelve hours later we broke down our equipment, packed the car, and went home. I hadn’t eaten all day and Mary’d had just a few Girl Scout cookies. It was fun and the software didn’t even crash.