Blandin Foundation Feb 2018

1. Broadband in the
Mid-Minnesota Region
What’s at stake?

2. Broadband Fun Facts
• Faster broadband
– Recently reaffirmed by the FCC:
• anything less than 25 Mb/3 Mb is not broadband
• Mobile cellular is not a substitute for a fixed connection
– FCC standard increased 30-fold between 2008 and 2016
– Some ISPs increased speeds 100-fold in same period
– Comcast just raised all speed tiers by 50 Mb
• Households
– Use more than 250 GB of data/month and rising
– Have 13 connected devices; 50 devices by 2022
• Computers, phones, fitness devices, home security, medical
devices, thermostats, personal assistants, watches, home
appliances, cars, farm animals, sensors, tractors,

3. Digital Divide Index
Dark colors are bad!

4. Winning!
Losing!

5. Broadband
Upload
Speed
Affordability
Reliability
Mobility
Latency
Download
Speed
Assess Your Community’s Broadband

7. Mid-Minnesota Region

8. Technology Challenges
• All technologies are getting better, but …
• Cellular
– 5g requires fiber to within 1,000 feet of customer
– 4g/3g coverage can be spotty in rural
– Beware of ** on “unlimited” data plans
• Satellite
– Latency/delay affects advanced use
– Same ** as cellular
• Fixed wireless
– Increasingly robust with fiber-fed towers,
especially on the prairie
– Trees eat wireless!

9. Federal Broadband
Subsidies for Larger
Carriers (CAF II)
affecting the region
www.fcc.gov/repor
ts-
research/maps/caf-
2-accepted-map/

10. (ACAM), a federal
subsidy for Mid-size
Carriers affecting
the region
www.fcc.gov/reports-
research/maps/a-cam-
offer-map/

11. CAF II and ACAM Improvements
• FCC subsidies to CenturyLink, Frontier & mid-size carriers
• Requires a 25/3Mb, 10 Mb/1 Mb or 4 Mb/1 Mb minimum
connection, depending on program
• No requirement to serve everyone
• Within 3,000 feet > 25 Mb or greater possible
• At 10,000 feet = ~ 10 Mb
• Copper condition affects carrying capacity over distance

12. Frontier
DSL Speed – Distance
Chart
Questions:
Are extra copper pairs
available?
What is the quality of
the copper lines?

13. FRONTIER’S LINDSTROM EXCHANGE
Red circles = 3,000 foot radius = 25 Mb/3 Mb and higher
Blue circles = 9,000 foot radius = between 25 Mb/3 Mb to 10 Mb/1 Mb

14. FRONTIER’S LINDSTROM EXCHANGE
Those within the circles, about 10% of land area, may meet the 2022 state goal of
25 Mb/3Mb; no one would meet the 100 Mb/20 Mb2026 state goal.

15. CENTURYLINK’S BRAHAM EXCHANGE
Red circles = 3,000 foot radius = 25 Mb/3 Mb and higher
Blue circles = 9,000 foot radius = between 25 Mb/3 Mb to 10 Mb/1 Mb

16. CENTURYLINK’S BRAHAM EXCHANGE
3,000 foot radius circles occupy less than 10 percent of the land area

17. Fiber Infrastructure Investment –
a good choice?
• Fiber to the Home costs from $4,000 - $12,000
per home to install
• Seventy percent of homebuyers will not buy a
home without a good broadband connection
• A fiber-connected home increases in value by
$3,000 to $7,000.
• Well-connected residents and businesses save
money in many ways, conservatively estimated at
$1,500 per year.
• Customers switching from satellite/cellular
packages to triple play FTTH report savings of
$300 - $400 per month!

18. What else costs about $10,000?
A bunch of 10 year-old stuff
on Craigslist!

19. Conclusions
• The Mid-Minnesota Region needs better
broadband to reach its potential
• Subsidies are required to spur private sector
investment in rural broadband
• The MN Border to Border Broadband Fund is an
excellent tool but has no current appropriation
• MN Rural Broadband Coalition Day on the Hill is
April 12. (www.mnbroadbandcoalition.com)

20. What’s good enough?
Local leadership decides!