Continuing advances in technology have not yet allowed Internet users to experience flavors.
In the next three months, Santa Cruzans, however, may have a “taste” of the next generation in Internet access at a handful of select sites.
This week, the city and local Internet service provider Cruzio received word that it would get a jump-start on efforts to bring high speed Internet to every part of the city, though in a limited capacity. Israeli company Siklu announced it has chosen Santa Cruz to provide 10 of its wireless radios that will magnify some existing customers’ Internet speeds, temporarily bypassing a need for the new fiber-optic cable installation at each site, which will come later.
Cruzio and Santa Cruz economic development officials are in the midst of talks to build a gigabit fiber-optic communications network, infrastructure designed to connect some 22,000 city properties. The citywide Santa Cruz Fiber project, requiring as much as a $52 million, 30-year city revenue bond to fund, is still years in the making. The proposal’s premise is that Cruzio would pay the city a set fee for every household and customer who opts in for gigabit service, paying off the city bond. If at the end of the term, Cruzio was unable to pay the full bond amount based on new customer accounts, the company would guarantee coverage of at least 80 percent of the bond. Under the proposed plan, subscribers would pay an estimated $60 to $75 a month for the service, though more subscribers would mean lower overall monthly bills, officials said.
“The fact that we’ve been able to move very quickly and connect with Siklu and get this type of real tangible win for the city so quickly, it’s come about because of the relationship Cruzio and the city built over the last year or two, while we’ve been working on the fiber project,” said James Hackett, Cruzio’s business operations and development director, also at the Austin conference.
The small-scale version of the program is expected to be operational within three months at 16 or 17 sites ranging from the Louden Nelson Community Center and City Hall to the Tannery artist studios and Pacific Avenue business complexes. The free service upgrade would amplify the city’s limited existing supply of gigabit broadband fiber-optic cabling to sites only within a couple miles distance of the source. This narrow new offering sends the high-speed signals from point to point, mimicking traditional wiring to a customer’s modem, which can then be broadcast out to users as Wi-Fi. The grant program, offering about $50,000 worth of equipment, has a stated focus on underserved areas, economic development and public access.
“If a grandparent is taking a digital literacy class at Louden Nelson and learning how to Skype with her or his grandchildren in another part of the world and experiencing, ‘I feel like I’m right in front of my grandkids somewhere else on the planet,’” city Economic Development Manager J Guevara said of what is coming to Santa Cruz, speaking by phone from the Broadband Communities Summit in Austin, Texas. “Those kinds of experiences are possible now, but sometimes they have hiccups.”
To move forward, the Santa Cruz City Council will need to approve the award at its April 12 meeting.
Guevara said the new Siklu technology does not replace the needed Santa Cruz Fiber project’s network of fiber infrastructure backbone, but it does work well with the technology.
“This compliments our pursuit of a fiber-to-the-home build, so everyone has access to fast, affordable, high-speed Internet,” Guevara said. “This is not replacing Santa Cruz Fiber and does not take us off our task. We are currently finalizing our negotiations for Santa Cruz Fiber.”
In the long term, once the Santa Cruz Fiber projects is complete, the Siklu wireless radios are expected to offer Internet service redundancy, particularly in case of an emergency or other gaps in service, Guevara said.
Future Gigabit Sites
The project is designed to upgrade select Internet service connections from existing speeds to 1 gigabit speed.Community:
- Louden Nelson Community Center: Upgrade from 30 megabits per second service.
- Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium: Upgrade from 30 Mbps.
- City Hall: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Tannery Artist Complex: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Tannery Artist Studios Building 1: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Tannery Artist Studios Building 2: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- 2030 N. Pacific Ave.: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Riverwalk housing complex: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- McPherson Center: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Branciforte Plaza office complex: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- 1200 Pacific Ave. office building: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Cooper House Office Building: Upgrade from 100 Mbps.
- Galleria Office complex: Upgrade from 300 Mbps.
- University Town Center: Upgrade from 300 Mbps.
- 1205 Pacific Ave.: Upgrade from 30 Mbps.
