[173270] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Muni Fiber and Politics
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Owen DeLong)
Mon Jul 21 17:15:56 2014
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAP-guGWeOPBohU=vWrxdC0eePG6CY9LW9hpFoeqQcHddthGwpA@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 14:01:22 -0700
To: William Herrin <bill@herrin.us>
Cc: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Sounds like you chose a particularly bad municipality.
I live in PG&E territory, so I can't directly comment on residential =
municipal power.
However, I can say that my friends who live in SVP territory all have =
better service
at a lower price than what I get from PG&E. (SVP is the City of Santa =
Clara power
agency). Their service has proven both more reliable and more consistent =
in regards
to voltage, lack of transients, etc. (Yes, we've actually put =
measurement equipment in
and compared).
My water is municipal and while it doesn't taste great without =
filtration due to the
antiquity of the mostly iron pipes and the amount of rust that gets =
picked up from the
system along the way, it's quite safe to drink and has been very =
reliable. I've not had
any better experience from any of the private water companies I've ever =
dealt with.
My sewer has been trouble free and the storm drains in my neighborhood =
by and large
have worked without issue. On the few occasions where we've had minor =
storm drain
issues, it has been during very heavy rain periods and the city has =
still managed to resolve
the issues very promptly and without any significant hazard or =
collateral damage developing.
PG&E has been relatively reliable with my gas connection, but I can =
point you to
some residents in San Mateo county who could tell a very different story =
about
their experience with PG&E's gas transmission system. (And some who can =
no
longer tell any stories as a result of PG&E's gas transmission system).
My garbage/recycling is provided by a third-party private contractor =
that has a monopoly
granted to them by the city. I am billed by the city. Their service has =
left much to be
desired, but when I have contacted the city about issues, the city =
employees have
been very prompt about addressing them and seem to do well taking the =
contractor
to task as needed. Frankly, I wish the city would just take over the =
actual operation
as I think they would do a better job than the contractor (Green Waste). =
At least the
new contractor is somewhat better than the previous one (BFI).
I'm in the city of San Jose.
We don't have municipal fiber to residential or business buildings, but =
the city does
have its own rather extensive fiber network which includes, among other =
things,
apparently every street-light in the city. (would be nice if they'd have =
included
nearby buildings in that build-out or at least the possibility of =
attaching them later
when they did that, but I'm sure some anti-government-competition =
weenies
shot that idea down early on).
I'm sorry your city is so bad at its jobs. Many cities are not. I =
wouldn't hold San Jose
up as a shining example of a great municipality by any measure, but =
overall, they
do seem to get the job done and are somewhat functional on average. I'd =
give them
a C overall as a grade.
I think they are about average as major municipalities go.
Owen
On Jul 21, 2014, at 12:50 , William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 3:08 PM, Blake Dunlap <ikiris@gmail.com> =
wrote:
>> My power is pretty much always on, my water is pretty much always on
>> and safe, my sewer system works, etc etc...
>=20
> Mine isn't. I lost power for a three days solid last year, I've
> suffered 3 sanitary sewer backflows into my basement the last decade
> and you should see the number of violations the EPA has on file about
> my drinking water system. Only the gas company has managed to keep the
> service on, at least until I had a problem with the way their billing
> department mishandled my bill. Didn't get solved until it went to the
> lawyers.
>=20
> And I'm in the burbs a half dozen miles from Washington DC. God help
> folks in a truly remote location.
>=20
>> Why is layer 1 internet magically different from every other utility?
>=20
> It isn't.
>=20
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
>=20
>=20
>=20
> --=20
> William Herrin ................ herrin@dirtside.com bill@herrin.us
> Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/>
> Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
