Session Date/Time: 07 Nov 2022 13:00

gaia

Summary

This session featured three presentations covering diverse aspects of internet access and infrastructure. Jared Moch detailed his grassroots effort to build and expand a fiber-to-the-home ISP in rural Michigan, highlighting innovative construction, funding strategies, and policy challenges. Tim Genders presented Project Seizeway's work in South Africa, addressing digital inequality with a community-driven, pay-as-you-go Wi-Fi model, sharing lessons from various funding approaches and the socio-economic impact. Finally, John Suiter introduced an initiative to develop a clear, measurable standard for Internet Exchange Point (IXP) neutrality, outlining its principles, draft requirements, and the importance of broad stakeholder consensus. Curtis then provided an update on the Seattle Community Network, focusing on its use of CBRS spectrum, a novel federated core network architecture ("D-Off") for horizontal scaling, and its "teaching network" approach to community empowerment.

Key Discussion Points

Connecting Michigan (Jared Moch)

Rural Broadband Challenge: Jared highlighted the significant gap in broadband access in rural Michigan, where incumbent providers still offer speeds comparable to 20-year-old T1 lines.
Grassroots ISP Solution: Jared self-funded the initial fiber build to his home, then expanded to serve over 50 additional homes, offering symmetrical gigabit services at competitive prices ($65-$140/month) and achieving high take rates (over 50%, with 100% in some half-mile stretches).
Innovative Construction Strategies:
- Always Build Extra Conduits: Emphasized that conduit material costs are negligible compared to labor, making extra conduits highly valuable for future upgrades (e.g., higher count fiber cable).
- Leveraging Existing Work: Negotiated with AT&T contractors replacing copper to co-locate his own conduit at discounted rates as a registered telephone company.
- Fiber Swaps: Engaged in fiber swaps with other carriers (e.g., cellular companies) to extend his network footprint.
Funding and Expansion:
- Initially secured funding from residents who prepaid for internet service to cover construction labor costs, allowing for a 1-1.5 mile expansion.
- Successfully bid for and was awarded $2.6 million in ARPA grant money through his county's RFP process to connect an additional 412 homes.
- Stressed the importance of communication and marketing, noting that a "construction crew out in front of somebody's house" is the most effective marketing tool.
Broadband Mapping Inaccuracies: Criticized historical FCC maps (census block-based) for failing to reflect true availability. Praised Washington County's proactive approach of physically surveying 113,000 parcels. Noted that new Broadband Data Collection (BDC) maps, while improving, still pose challenges for wireless ISPs requiring propagation certification.
Public Policy Impact: Discussed how greenbelt initiatives, while preserving open space, can inadvertently create "digital deserts" by forming barriers to infrastructure expansion.
Network Operations: Utilizes Ubiquiti PON hardware (with plans to migrate to Nokia) and redundant DHCP servers (Raspberry Pi, Intel NUC). Operates with high market penetration and a growing installation queue. Does not rate-shape subscriber traffic.
Return on Investment (ROI): Acknowledged that many rural broadband projects have a >10-year ROI, necessitating subsidies or grants. Highlighted the challenge of building to isolated homes (e.g., sole resident in a half-mile stretch).
Service Demarcation and Support: Provides and maintains external equipment (Poe brick) and offers initial configuration and at-cost wireless routers for indoor connectivity. Also offers Wi-Fi extensions to barns for specialized use cases ("fiber to the cow").

Uncapping Africa (Tim Genders)

Digital Inequality and "Digital Apartheid": South Africa, one of the most unequal countries, faces severe digital disparity. Only 10% of homes have fixed broadband. The poor pay 100 times more for mobile data ($15/GB) than the rich ($0.15/GB), creating a "digital apartheid" that risks widening socio-economic gaps.
Community-Driven Pay-As-You-Go Model: Project Seizeway's solution is a 30-cent/day ($5 Rand/day) uncapped, pay-as-you-go internet model, empowering local communities to build and operate their own Wi-Fi networks. This model effectively addresses non-payment issues.
Lessons from Funding Models:
- Municipal Funding (Shwanee Municipality): Demonstrated success (600,000 users/month) but proved unsustainable due to political volatility and short-term contracts.
- Corporate Social Responsibility (Glencore, IPPs): Corporations fund free Wi-Fi for community upliftment, proving sustainable and generating positive social impact (e.g., improved education, job access, reduction in petty crime due to increased in-home entertainment).
- Emerging Partnerships: Collaborating with an alcohol supplier to leverage taverns for mental health support via connectivity.
Technology and Payment Solutions: Moved from Facebook Express Wi-Fi to Splinks (Czech company) for network management, utilizing Cambium equipment and CM Maestro for OSS. A small team manages 45,000 monthly active customers. Villa Coin, a blockchain wallet, facilitates peer-to-peer buying and selling of Wi-Fi credits, boosting revenue and community adoption.
Socio-Economic Impact and Local Innovation: The Umenyi project showcases how connectivity spurs local economic growth and innovation (e.g., online cooking business leading to international opportunities).
Spectrum Challenges: Experienced self-interference due to high AP density, necessitating a call for liberalization of 6GHz Wi-Fi spectrum (like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, US) to alleviate congestion.
Sustainability and Replication: The Lamontville project is demonstrating a growing revenue model, aiming to spin off a sustainable, locally run business that can be replicated across Africa.

Standard for Internet Exchange Neutrality (John Suiter)

The Need for IXP Neutrality Standard: Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are crucial for internet growth and performance, with nearly a thousand globally and major content providers connecting to hundreds. However, the term "neutrality" is vague and inconsistently applied, leading to confusion.
Project Goal: To establish a clear, objective, measurable, and verifiable standard for IXP neutrality, with criteria suitable for external auditing and certification in the future.
Process and Principles:
- Inspired by the MANRS initiative, the project uses a fast-track, community-driven approach to ensure broad acceptance and adoption.
- Involves a working group of IXP operators and users from diverse backgrounds.
- Core principles: equal and fair treatment of IXP participants, and transparency in IXP operations.
Draft Standard Examples:
- Self-Statement Requirement (Mandatory): IXPs must publish a statement detailing their transparency and neutrality practices.
- Published Service Portfolio (Mandatory): Requires IXPs to list all services, options affecting pricing, delivery times, and SLAs.
- Published Price List (Mandatory): Calls for a comprehensive and clear price list, acknowledging this is a controversial point as some IXPs operate on negotiable pricing.
- Optional Clause Example (Strongly Encouraged): Referencing PeeringDB for transparent information on connected networks.
Security and Transparency: Discussion included the importance of transparency regarding security incidents and government surveillance (e.g., mirroring or tapping). The concept of a "warrant canary" was raised as a potential mechanism to assure participants of an IXP's integrity.
Beacon Effect: The standard aims to encourage market liberalization in regions where telecommunications are less open, providing a trusted model for interconnection beyond traditional state-owned entities.

Seattle Community Network (Curtis)

Addressing the Urban Digital Divide: Even in tech-rich Seattle, 5% of the population lacks internet access due to poverty, disability, language barriers, age, and race. Existing discounted plans often have barriers for marginalized communities (e.g., proof of residency, income verification).
Community-Centered Approach: The Seattle Community Network (SCN) provides free or low-cost internet access through local community centers, libraries, and high schools, empowering these organizations to connect their constituencies.
Leveraging CBRS Spectrum: The availability of Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) General Access (GAA) spectrum since 2020 has been a game-changer, overcoming historical barriers to cellular spectrum for small operators. Equipment costs have also commoditized, making deployment more accessible.
Horizontal Scaling with Federated Core ("D-Off"):
- Problem: Community organizations often don't want to become large-scale ISPs; their core mandate is community support. This limits network growth.
- Solution: A novel "D-Off" (Distributed Authentication and Roaming Framework) that allows numerous small community networks to federate, providing wide-area coverage without each organization needing to scale vertically.
- Technical Details: D-Off uses small, low-cost core networks (e.g., Intel NUCs) at each partner site. It handles network instability through redundancy and overlapping coverage. It pre-computes "authentication vectors" that allow users to roam and authenticate across partner networks without direct sharing of network keys, working on commodity handsets.
"Teaching Network" Model: SCN operates akin to a teaching hospital. It offers practical internet access while serving as a living lab for research and education.
Community Empowerment:
- Service Learning: Students and community members lead educational workshops ("hack nights," "disco techs") to teach internet literacy and device usage.
- Digital Stewards Program: Trains youth and adults in foundational networking skills (radio configuration, cabling) and community engagement, enabling them to assist with network installation and maintenance.
Operational Status: The SCN is operational with seven sites. The D-Off solution is still in the research phase and not yet in production, given the challenges of deploying research code in an active network. Teaching materials are well-tested and openly available.
No Spectrum Interference Issues: Currently, CBRS spectrum is underutilized, and SCN has encountered no interference issues, including with the Navy's operations. The decreasing cost of CBRS gear is expected to drive international interest in spectrum liberalization.
Monitoring Challenges: While basic monitoring exists, advanced measurement for LTE's complex scheduling and spectrum sharing (especially client-side performance) remains an area for further development. The network uses a VPN back to a central egress for IP address management.

Decisions and Action Items

IXP Neutrality Standard: The working group will continue drafting the IXP neutrality standard, incorporating feedback from a wide range of stakeholders through planned outreach events. Each clause's mandatory status will be actively debated, and the security/transparency aspects will be further explored.
Project Seizeway: Continue to develop the Lamontville project as a sustainable, locally-run business model for replication across Africa. Advocate for 6GHz Wi-Fi spectrum liberalization in South Africa.
Seattle Community Network: Continue research and development of the D-Off federated core network architecture, aiming for eventual deployment in the operational SCN. Expand the digital stewards and teaching network programs.

Next Steps

IXP Neutrality Standard: Engage with IXPs, participants, and associations (e.g., NOGs, RIRs) to gather feedback on draft clauses. Explore mechanisms for signaling trust, such as "warrant canaries," regarding government surveillance.
Project Seizeway: Collaborate with academics (e.g., University of Columbia) to conduct scientific studies on the socio-economic impact of connectivity, including the observed reduction in crime. Explore alternative blockchain payment solutions (e.g., David Johnson's crypto).
Seattle Community Network: Refine the D-Off architecture and seek opportunities for phased deployment. Enhance client-side measurement capabilities for LTE networks. Continue engaging with students and community members to expand the digital stewards program and build local technical capacity.
Gaia Working Group: Co-chairs will issue a call for presentations for the next IETF session in Japan.