Re: Data Center Facility Costs

On Fri, Mar 07, 2008 at 01:39:57PM -0500, Alex Rubenstein wrote:
> > I can say with nearly absolute certainty that the bandwidth, and access
> > to it, are non-issues (as long as you aren't doing this at the old
> > family farmstead that is 20 miles away from any Telephone central
> > offices :-).
> 
> Why would a "telco centrol office" be involved?
> 
> If you build a datacenter with the intent of using the local LEC as the
> means of capacity, you have already lost.

Since some telco people don't understand this, I'll elaborate my 
experience and unstanding of the telco business as one of the largest 
customers in my area.

The local LEC, (NET&T, Nynex, Bell Atlantic, Verizon, and soon to be 
Fairpoint) hates ISPs, takes away our account representative every so 
many months, as they reorganize or downsize, a certain percentage of the 
unionized guys doing the actual work of the LEC badmouth us behind our 
back (others quietly and professionally do their good work). The LECs 
lobby the FCC and local PUCs to take away fiber access and limit 
wholesale access and opportunities. You find something useful and high 
capacity a CLEC can get, and it's a matter of time before the LEC 
changes the availability or prices for the worse.

If you are right about something and they are wrong, and it's important 
to your business, be prepaped to spend 6 digits and 2 years in court 
and at your state capitol for something normal people hash out over a 
beer or coffee in an hour or two.

They sell DSL at less than wholesale rates in the built up areas, and 
put big barriers to entry for DSL in rural areas (remote serviced areas) 
that would prevent any sort of return on investment. Verizon has more 
political skill and ability to get their way at the state level than 
either political party. I'm afraid to understand their national clout. 
Rural areas get the hand-me-downs from the big markets when it comes to 
technology. 

Atop all this, Verizon, the biggest LEC, doesn't want to be in rural 
areas doing wholesale or traditional services at all. They want to cash 
out billions and invest it in their cell phone business, leaving a debt 
ridden lesser successor to patch up the existing problems and get caught 
up with the times. Real rosy picture of big bandwidth in rural areas 
huh? Anyone complains, they promise DSL eventually.

The Independent telcos are truly independent and do exactly what they 
want, and find a way to charge for it under the NECA tariffs. If it's 
not NECA tariff material, they aren't terribly motivated to invest. I do 
DSL in the service area of one, and they charge me $2K/month for a t3 to 
go across the street, and another $2K/month for the t3 to crossconnect 
within their CO to their ATM switch. They do overbuild a little into the 
Verizon area, but aren't motivated to sell me any more dark fiber there, 
since they are getting tight on capacity and aren't yet willing to 
increase their capacity and build out on 1 pole on the 1/2 mile existing 
route I need. Apparently this recession isn't making them any more 
hungry, or the million dollars a year they get from the universal 
service fund for switching is sufficient to ensure their stability 
without them needing to persue new business opportunities.


-- 
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