09-02-2011, 11:31 AM
Royall please at least share this via the email. I gave my input and cc'd all my local representatives, Kahele, Hanohano, Blas, and the mayor. In all my dealings with trying to get them to extend to Seaview, only Kahele and Blas ever bothered to respond. Sen Kahele actually had his assistant forward this information to me, which I was impressed by.
My input was as follows:
"I wish to register that I STRONGLY OPPOSE Oceanic's application as it currently exists unless the following changes are made:
1. The agreement should mandate that Oceanic extend cable TV/Internet to any area that meets a total density of 10 homes per mile of cable. This should be based on TOTAL distance from the closest interconnect and only count to the first home in a subdivision. Currently, it is 25 homes per mile AND THERE MUST BE 25 HOMES IN EACH AND EVERY SINGLE MILE! This means if there are 24 homes in the first mile and 25,000 homes in the 2nd mile, they could simply decide not to provide service. That is just crazy. There should also be a consistent definition of a home. In my neighborhood of Kalapana Seaview Estates in Pahoa, Puna, Hawaii Island, our Board does an annual walking census. This year they counted 253 homes on our 933 lots in the subdivision. This is conducted by people who live here, know the streets, know that some homes in jungle are not visible from the street, and are able to walk on every street. Oceanic did a drive by census and counted only 147 homes. They refused to include off-grid solar powered homes which would have no trouble paying for cable. They also stated they would need to lay 11 miles of cable to reach those homes. The reality however is that they would only have to lay cable about 4 miles from the closest interconnect in Leilani Estates, to reach the first home at the top of Kalapana Seaview Estates. This is a rapidly growing neighborhood with two other growing subdivisions within 1.5 miles. Those are Puna Beach Palisades and Kehena Beach Estates. Despite there being hundreds of homes in these 3 subdivisions, Oceanic refuses to extend cable to our neighborhood and they do not have to based on the monopoly agreement they have with the State.
2. Extension of cable must be equitable with regard to property values. On a recently trip to Kauai, I was shocked to discover that the remote, small village of Haena on the North Shore has Oceanic high-speed internet. The situation there is similar to my neighborhood, in that it is several miles from the closest neighborhood of some size, the town of Hanalei. However, they are all million dollar homes. Unlike my neighborhood, many of the homes are unoccupied because they are vacation rentals. I find it disturbing that they have cable internet to serve the rich and wealthy tourists while several hundred residents in the Kehena area of the Puna District have no high-speed internet whatsoever.
Our neighborhood is only served by HawaiianTel which provides DSL that when I had it was usually slower than 56k modems and they have refused to add more customers here for at least a couple years. We have the expensive option of wireless Aloha Broadband which provides "high-speed" internet in the sense of late 1990s standards. In these rural neighborhoods there are many people that work from home. Having high speed internet in these areas will increase property values, increase locally generated income levels and thus tax payments, and will greatly improve the lives of people in these areas."
My input was as follows:
"I wish to register that I STRONGLY OPPOSE Oceanic's application as it currently exists unless the following changes are made:
1. The agreement should mandate that Oceanic extend cable TV/Internet to any area that meets a total density of 10 homes per mile of cable. This should be based on TOTAL distance from the closest interconnect and only count to the first home in a subdivision. Currently, it is 25 homes per mile AND THERE MUST BE 25 HOMES IN EACH AND EVERY SINGLE MILE! This means if there are 24 homes in the first mile and 25,000 homes in the 2nd mile, they could simply decide not to provide service. That is just crazy. There should also be a consistent definition of a home. In my neighborhood of Kalapana Seaview Estates in Pahoa, Puna, Hawaii Island, our Board does an annual walking census. This year they counted 253 homes on our 933 lots in the subdivision. This is conducted by people who live here, know the streets, know that some homes in jungle are not visible from the street, and are able to walk on every street. Oceanic did a drive by census and counted only 147 homes. They refused to include off-grid solar powered homes which would have no trouble paying for cable. They also stated they would need to lay 11 miles of cable to reach those homes. The reality however is that they would only have to lay cable about 4 miles from the closest interconnect in Leilani Estates, to reach the first home at the top of Kalapana Seaview Estates. This is a rapidly growing neighborhood with two other growing subdivisions within 1.5 miles. Those are Puna Beach Palisades and Kehena Beach Estates. Despite there being hundreds of homes in these 3 subdivisions, Oceanic refuses to extend cable to our neighborhood and they do not have to based on the monopoly agreement they have with the State.
2. Extension of cable must be equitable with regard to property values. On a recently trip to Kauai, I was shocked to discover that the remote, small village of Haena on the North Shore has Oceanic high-speed internet. The situation there is similar to my neighborhood, in that it is several miles from the closest neighborhood of some size, the town of Hanalei. However, they are all million dollar homes. Unlike my neighborhood, many of the homes are unoccupied because they are vacation rentals. I find it disturbing that they have cable internet to serve the rich and wealthy tourists while several hundred residents in the Kehena area of the Puna District have no high-speed internet whatsoever.
Our neighborhood is only served by HawaiianTel which provides DSL that when I had it was usually slower than 56k modems and they have refused to add more customers here for at least a couple years. We have the expensive option of wireless Aloha Broadband which provides "high-speed" internet in the sense of late 1990s standards. In these rural neighborhoods there are many people that work from home. Having high speed internet in these areas will increase property values, increase locally generated income levels and thus tax payments, and will greatly improve the lives of people in these areas."