Telecommunications Services
in York Gulch

The Situation as Regards York Gulch

1. We got new copper in the early 90s. It increased quantity and improved quality of phone service, but locked us into copper; no way a phone company is going to lay fiber up the Gulch. Since we're outside the current 18,000-foot ADSL limit, there is only one copper alternative available: frame relay That's not going to change when the fiber trunk along I-70 becomes operational.
2. The trunk, however, is doing two good things for us: (a) making Clear Creek County more attractive to LECs (local exchange carriers: Qwest and any others who want to compete for our business), because they'll be able to offer more high-profit services; (b) bringing closer the fiber we want to tie into.
3. Once an LEC gets serious about CCC, wireless/satellite combination may be an option. Because of its deeper pockets, Qwest would seem to be the logical leader here; however, (a) they aren't interested in maintaining rural POTS after they get long distance approval, and (b) the requirement for colocation means that REANet or some other LEC would be able to tie into Qwest's facilities at the earliest possible point. There is, fortunately, another option for high-speed access (see #5, below).
4. Idaho Springs Chamber of Commerce and Clear Creek Development Council are compiling a consolidated inventory of local needs; but they are concentrating on government, schools, libraries, and more developed areas first.
5. Satellite has progressed since this article first appeared: StarBand (aka DISH, 303/xxx) and Hughes' DirecTV / DirecPC (xxxx) are both functioning in the area. Demand nationwide was greater than expected, and both had quality control problems. StarBand retrenched, solved theirs, and are expanding again; the TV service can be obtained through Clear Creek Supply, but the data service (which requires more careful calibration to the satellite must be ordered through Denver. StarBand purchased DirecTV / PC in early autumn 2001, but the deal's not final until the DoJ grants antitrust approval. TV reception is totally asymmetrical: the signal comes down, and your receiver filters all but the station you have selected. The data service is highly asymmetrical, and satisfactory for Web surfing: all you need to send up is the requested URL; the bulk of the traffic is the page coming back down to you. And it's not too bad for simple email -- but when you add large attachments, the upload rate bogs down badly. Some people are experimenting with 56K (in reality, never better than 35K in these parts) POTS going up, and DirecPC coming down; that's a cumbersome kludge if ever there was one.
6. The following complex, still non-existent, but logical flow illustrates the eventual possibilities:
   1. A wireless device transmits something (email, Web surfing request, FTP transmission)...
   2. Ricochet-like relay picks up the signal and hands off to REANet (or other LEC)...
   3. which is colocated at Qwest and passes your transmission to them...
   4. From there, it works like the telephone "magic" you're used to.

Glossary

analog / digital

Analog is what you're used to on the telephone: it's a wave that looks like the rolling foothills in Gilpin County. A digital wave is straight up/straight down: even more so than Clear Creek County. An analog wave has gradations; a digital wave is all or nothing. Because a digital wave only carries only one on/off "bit", more waves are needed for any given of information - but the waves move faster with less errors.

asymmetrical

It only means that you receive more than you send -- and if your main activities are watching TV or surfing the Web, that's fine. DSL (see above) is not one of the option up York Gulch; but other symmetrical services (such as wireless) might be available eventually. The imbalance varies with the provider; and some of them offer more than one up/down ration. For a price.

attenuation

The weakening and distorting of a signal over distance. It's much worse with copper than with fiber, and it's what keeps DSL out of YG.

cable

Well, in YG, it's not really cable (it's wireless via satellite) -- and, considering the cost to lay cable in this terrain, that's the way it will stay. There are two problems with our version of "cable": it's proprietary (meaning you can't get streaming audio/video off the Internet), and it's extremely asymmetrical (meaning you can only receive, not send).

colocation

A provision of the 1996 law that says Qwest has to allow other LECs (like REANet) in their building to use their facilities.

copper

What we've got up YG now. US West replaced the existing copper in the early 90s -- which seemed like a good idea then, less so now. Copper is normally limited to 56K (in practice max 35K hereabouts) -- and the exceptions are either expensive or not possible in YG. Copper is also called "twisted pair" or POTS (plain old telephone service).

DSL

Digital Subscriber Line. It uses the twisted copper we've got up YG, but it can't travel more than 18,000 feet from the central office (in Idaho Springs); that puts all of us out of range. Sorry.

fiber

Much greater capacity and much less resistance than copper -- so it carries more farther faster. We don't have fiber in the ground, and no one will consider it economical to change that in YG.

frame relay

A sophisticated, expensive packet-switching technique that is one of the few wired options available to YGers. Dave Gallaher, GCCHLA president, has it and says "xxx". But it's expensive, because it requires more than one line.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network. It was well hyped a few years ago, is being replaced by other technologies (such as ADSL) along the Front Range, and won't be a factor in YG.

LEC

Local exchange carrier, the "phone company". LECs use their trunks (and those of long distance companies) to move traffic out of the immediate area. There used to be only one LEC: Mountain Bell/US West (Qwest), but the Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandated that the Baby Bells make their facilities available to competitors (which are called CLECs in order to distinguish them from the incumbent).

packet

A small part (between 100 and 4,000 on/off signals or "bits", including the content and routing information) of the larger transmission. 4,000 bits is about 80 words or a very small part of a photograph or song; 100 bits is only two or three words and can't be used for music or movies. It takes millions of packets to create streaming audio or video -- and therein lies our problem up the Gulch.

REANet

An LEC that's interested in Clear Creek County. REANet is a collaboration of seven Rural Electric Associations set up to service the central Rockies, including us.

satellite

Geo-stationary transmitter/receiver. Every company has to put up its own, and there's no collocation requirement. So progress is expensive and slow. The only two available currently are StarBand (Dish) and Hughes (DirecTV/PC), but if demand remains high, we might have more in the future.

streaming

Providing audio and/or video live and without jerks or gaps. Hard when done through a wire; and nearly impossible with copper. Streaming requires sending millions of little packets without corruption or delay and reassembling them in the right order at the user's computer or TV.

T-1

A bigger wire than twisted copper, and capable of carrying a whole lot more (1.5 Mbps). Ain't nuthin' like that up here, and never will be.

trunk

Big pipes with no connection to end users. The I-70 fiber is a trunk; it will run from Denver to Salt Lake City, and LECs will tap into it at various places (including Exit 238 at Fall River Rd).

twisted copper

Standard stuff, often called POTS ("plain old telephone service"). It's been around for decades and needs to be replaced in lots of places, and when it's replaced, it's normally with fiber these days. Don't get excited; our copper's new (1994?) and is in fine shape.

wireless

If you need (or will need) more than standard POTS, this is probably your alternative.

Resources

• Craig McMullin has three good articles in the 12/20/00 Clear Creek Courant.
• The Idaho Springs Chamber of Commerce (567-9506) and the xxx (xxx) are leading the inventory of county demand.