Re: Muni fiber: L1 or L2?

[Jay Ashworth <jra () baylink com>]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stephen Sprunk" <stephen () sprunk org>

> > By having the city run L2 over our L1, we can accomplish that;
> > unlike L3, I don't believe it actually needs to be a separate
> > company; I expect most ISP business to be at L2; L1 is mostly an
> > accomodation to potential larger ISPs who want to do it all
> > themselves.
> >
> > Or FiOS. :-)
>
> We have a philosophical disagreement here. I fully support public
> ownership of public ownership of "natural" monopolies, and the fiber
> plant itself (L1) certainly qualifies.
>
> However, running L2 (or L3) over that fiber is _not_ a natural monopoly,
> so I do _not_ support public ownership. At most, I could stomach a
> "provider of last resort" to guarantee resident access to useful
> services, in the IMHO unlikely event that only one (or zero) private
> players showed up, or a compelling need to provide some residents (eg.
> the elderly or indigent, schools, other public agencies, etc.) with
> below-cost services.

I dunno; I tend to buy the arguments that there is a difference; as long
as the L2 access is itself sold to comers at cost, including the internal
accounting between the fiber and L2 sides of the house.

I don't even plan to offer quantity discounts.  :-)

> > > (Note that inside wiring is a completely separate issue, and
> > > carriers _will_ have to train techs on how to do that since few are
> > > familiar with fiber, but that is an optional service they can
> > > charge extra for. The L1 provider's responsibility ends at the NIU
> > > on an outside wall, same as an ILEC's, so it's not their problem in
> > > the first place.)
>
> > The L2 might end there, too, if I decide on outside ONTs, rather
> > than an optical jackblock inside.
>
> I think the ILECs got this part right: provide a passive NIU on the
> outside wall, which forms a natural demarc that the fiber owner can test
> to. If an L2 operator has active equipment, put it inside--and it would
> be part of the customer-purchased (or -leased) equipment when they turn
> up service.

Yes, but that means the ISP has to drill holes in walls *and push fiber 
jumpers through them*; I'm not at all happy with that idea.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       jra () baylink com
Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 2100
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