The Coatesville Train Station will be a huge boost to the Coatesville area economy.
State of the art high speed fiber optic cable at reasonable cost could also be a huge boost to Coatesville’s economy.
See my posts on the Coatesville Train Station meeting at the Coatesville Methodist Church.Only a small portion of the fiber optic cable under Lincoln Highway is needed for the traffic signal system and surveillance camera system.
In 2004 former Coatesville Assistant City Manager Jean Krack asked PennDOT for extra cable to connect police and fire departments, schools and other public buildings. Sixteen strand cable was enough for the traffic signals and surveillance cameras. PennDOT laid 48 strand cable.
His intention was for the municipalities involved, Coatesville, Caln and Downingtown to take control of PennDOT’s cable once it was fully in place.
The Center for Public Integrity
The state of city-run Internet
The Center and Reveal revisited Tullahoma, Tennessee and Fayetteville, North Carolina, where state laws restrict municipal broadband growth
By Allan Holmes
In 2006 Jean was removed by the Coatesville City Council “Bloc of Four” to allow Harry Walker to become city manager and to fire Chief Bellizzie.
The cable was laid after Jean had left the city. He doesn’t know who owns the cable at this time. I’m going to try to find out.
I believe that PennDOT still controls the fiber optic cable.
Even if Coatesville, Caln and Downingtown own the cable there is the problem of what I call the “Verizon’s monopoly on fiber optic cable be law. “
Verizon's fiber optic cable is entirely build out. At this time Verizon only built their "FIOS" system in easy to reach areas. Allowing municipal cable may force Verizon into less accessible communities in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania law prohibits municipalities from having their own fiber optic cable internet systems.
“In less than two weeks, the Federal Communications Commission, nation’s top Internet regulator, will vote on whether to overturn a state law that prevents Tennessee cities that operate their own broadband networks from expanding to other towns.”
If that happens, Pennsylvania law prohibiting municipal broadband will be struck down.
President Obama said, “If there are state laws in place that prohibit or restrict these community-based broadband efforts, we should do everything we can to push back against those old laws.”
Most Verizon FIOS connections are 15 megabits per second which can be upgraded in some areas up to 500 megabits per second, for $284.99 per month.
“Chattanooga rolled out a fiber-optic network a few years ago that now offers speeds of up to 1000 Megabits per second, or 1 gigabit, for just $70 a month.”
Chattanooga's super-fast publicly owned Internet
By James O'Toole @jtotoole May 20, 2014: 5:53 PM ET
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