GCN Update September 2010

Council Poses Broadband Funding Question To Voters

At its regular meeting on August 12, the Gustavus City Council voted unanimously to place on the October ballot a question asking voters whether to borrow from the Gustavus Endowment Fund to build a community-wide broadband network. In May the council was poised to privatize Gustavus Community Network (GCN) but tabled that resolution after considerable testimony in favor of continued public ownership of the city-owned Internet service. Privatization remains a possibility should the ballot measure fail. Passage of the ballot measure requires a two-thirds vote because it appropriates principal from the endowment fund.

Click here for questions, answers, and background information about ballot measure 1 and the Gustavus community-wide broadband project.

Communications tower update

Bids for construction of the Gustavus communications tower are now scheduled to be opened at the GCN committee meeting on Friday, September 17. If the lowest bid is $20,000 or less, a contract to build the facility could be awarded as early as the city council's special meeting on Thursday, September 23 with construction to be completed by May 31, 2011.

The multi-purpose communications facility is the linchpin and first step of building a community-wide wireless broadband network but can also provide many other communication services such as radio service for the Gustavus Volunteer Fire Department, improved public radio transmission, ham radio repeater, better cellular telephone service, state of Alaska radio communications, and ADS-B (next generation air transportation system).

The communications facility request for quotations has been delayed several times to respond to questions from bidders.

GCN expands broadband coverage

On August 19 GCN began providing broadband service to the National Park Service (NPS) housing area in Bartlett Cove, so GCN wireless broadband service is now available to NPS employees and their families.

GCN does not provide service to NPS itself. NPS offices have separate Internet access through a secure government network. Employees are allowed to make personal use of the Internet through the NPS network during their own time. However, “humor,” social networking, streaming media, and many other sites are blocked. Personal computers may not be connected to the government network and employees’ families are not allowed to use it.

The Bartlett Cove service is possible because NPS paid the entire cost of connecting Bartlett Cove and will pay the monthly cost of the T1 circuit connecting park housing to the Gustavus Public Library (about $320/month). GCN projects an additional $5,000 or more per year in revenue from customers at Bartlett Cove. The revenue will help pay for additional upstream Internet bandwidth to make the service faster for everyone.

This fall, GCN will further expand broadband coverage by installing wireless equipment at the Gustavus airport.

Dial-up service outage

The T1 phone line by which all dial-up calls come into GCN’s modems stopped working sometime before 4 pm on Thursday, September 2. Volunteer technician Phoebe Vanselow quickly identified the problem and submitted a trouble ticket to ACS. Fixing the problem required a site visit by an ACS technician, who swapped cable pairs to restore service about 10:15 on the morning of Wednesday, September 8. GCN regrets the nearly six-day dial-up outage and all the inconvenience it caused. GCN broadband service was not affected by the outage and we all look forward to the day when dial-up Internet access, with its dependence on the local phone company, is a thing of the past.

GCN committee members needed

The GCN committee now consists of Diane Klawunder (chair), Paul Berry, and Kim Ney. The committee makes recommendations to city council regarding all aspects of GCN policy and operations and will develop the request for proposals for building a community-wide broadband network, or will consider other options, depending on the outcome of the October election. The committee actively seeks another member or two to broaden representation and share the work. If you or someone you know might be willing to serve, direct your questions to chair Diane Klawunder or submit your application for a committee seat to the city clerk.