Humboldt County Board if Supervisors recently received a letter from AT and T announcing a network upgrade due to recent outages in the Northern California area.
Here is a copy of the letter sent to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and other elected officials."
"December 16, 2015
Members of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
825 5th Street, Room 111
Eureka, CA 95501
Dear Members of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors,
As you know, the North Coast has experienced a number of recent communications outages
resulting from fiber cuts. AT&T understands how difficult it can be to lose voice and data communications, even for a short time. The company has been exploring options and we have
positive news to share.
AT&T is upgrading the North Coast network to significantly increase the network’s protection
against outages or service disruptions caused by fiber damage. AT&T has already begun
engineering these upgrades, and we estimate they will be complete by the end of 2016.
Once
completed, the majority of the fiber miles in this area will be protected from single points of
failure. This improvement will help protect phone and internet services for consumers and
businesses in the North Coast from outages.
To better serve our customers in the North Coast region, AT&T will upgrade the wire centers on
the main route of the network in the area by installing new equipment in the central offices and
programming that equipment to route traffic over diverse fiber paths. This means that if fiber is
cut on one side of the wire center, the equipment will be able to switch and reroute through
another path, thereby making the network more resilient and reducing the risk of outages in
Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma Counties.
These upgrades are part of our ongoing effort to make phased upgrades to our network as
technology continues to evolve. We remain committed to optimizing the AT&T network in the
North Coast with new technologies and increased capacity as they become available.
Thank you for your advocacy on behalf of the communities you serve. I look forward to working
together as we build a stronger, more resilient North Coast network in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Marc Blakeman
Vice President, External Affairs
AT&T California
Sincerely,
Marc Blakeman
Vice President, External Affairs
AT&T California
Cc: Congressman Jared Huffman
State Senator Mike McGuire
Assemblymember Jim Wood
Members, Lake County Board of Supervisors
Members, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
Members, Napa County Board of Supervisors
Members, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
What is this supposed to mean? Does it mean that AT&T will connect with the East/West fiber line, or does it mean they will magically get the signal to hop over where someone cuts the line?
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be leaning toward option B, but to my mind option A makes a whole lot more sense.
There's a reason they use fiber optic lines now... they carry much more data. If there is a break in the line that would mean they would need to use a less efficient method (like microwave towers) to provide back up. I don't see that working too well except for AT&T to say "See? We did SOMETHING."
Meanwhile, we still have the same problem as before.
AT&T should be compelled to bite the bullet and negotiate an agreement with the owners of the East/West fiber optic line. Otherwise, little to nothing will change.