Ripton Broadband Cooperative

Addison Independent
Jan. 4, 2007

Ripton goes wireless
By JOHN S. McCRIGHT

RIPTON — Bill Biederman likes living in Ripton, but the mountains that surround his home often make communicating with the outside world difficult. He hasn’t owned a television for 25 years because the reception is so poor and he describes his use of the Internet over a slow, dial-up connection as “incredibly painful.” And then, of course, when the phone lines get knocked out by inclement weather even that is gone.

But all that changed on Dec. 6 when the Ripton Broadband Cooperative (RBC) began offering wireless, high-speed Internet access to the first 50 co-op members.

“My son came down to me and said, ‘Geez, Dad, I was just watching English soccer on the Internet, this is fantastic,’” Biederman said.

Advocates for providing more high-speed Internet access in the state say the experience in Ripton is a prime example of how the technology could be broadly distributed in order to provide not only more entertainment options for Vermonters but services that could boost education, business and the economy. At least one local company has plans to extend high-speed access to more Addison County residents in the next few months.

Biederman pointed out that his son used the high-speed access, also called broadband, at his home to complete a research project on volcanoes. Jeremy Grip, chief operations officer at Middlebury-based North Branch Networks (NBN), which is working with RBC, ticked off a number of services that can be provided over high-speed Internet connections: online banking, voice telephony over the Internet, downloading videos and online gaming.

“There is the efficient use of email and the ability to receive and forward large attachments much more quickly,” Grip said.

Biederman added that having a replacement for the telephone makes sense given Vermont’s sometimes punishing weather.

“You’re not tied to the phone company,” he said. “If you are off the grid or have some kind of way to generate power and everything goes down you still have communications.”

All these benefits come at no little expense in terms of both money and effort. Biederman, who is chair of the RBC board, said setting up service in Ripton took much longer than expected. The idea for bringing broadband to Ripton was conceived in 2003 and interested residents began meeting to discuss implementation that September. They found many technical, regulatory and legal hoops to jump through.

“We basically had to create our bylaws for our co-op from scratch because no one has done a co-op this small,” Biederman said.

What they ended up with is a system that looks like this: TelJet Longhaul LLC connects NBN to the Internet via fiber-optic cable fed underground to the NBN offices in Middlebury’s Battell Block, where it is converted into a wireless signal. From the Battell Block the signal is broadcast to the roof of McCardell Bicentennial Hall at Middlebury College, and then is redirected to a 110-foot wind tower in West Cornwall. From there, it is redirected to a second wind tower in Ripton and then down to customers in Ripton. For customers who live down in hollows or behind other obstacles, the signal will be bounced off additional access point transmitters.

“That’s the kind of thing you have to do in Vermont because every time you turn around you have something in the way,” Biederman said.

During the startup phase, NBN put in “innumerable hours” providing consulting and technical expertise to the project, Biederman said. At one point last fall the co-op had to organize volunteers to put up the signal tower in Ripton. The tower-raising turned out to be “very much a community event,” he added.

In addition, NBN received additional expertise and assistance from a long list of sources that ranged from the Vermont Small Business Development Center to Otter Creek Brewing founder Lawrence Miller and Bryan Alexander, director of research at the National Institute on Technology and Liberal Education. Grip said that “NBN was deeply appreciative of the cooperation of all the people involved in this co-location from a relay at Bicentennial Hall.”

The reason Ripton residents had to work so hard themselves to get broadband is simple.

“There isn’t enough money there to start a private business,” Biederman said.

The RBC, which Biederman said is aiming to sign up 70 members, received a $25,000 grant from the Vermont Broadband Council (VBC). It then and secured a loan of $12,500 from the Addison County Economic Development Corp and also secured a $40,000 line of credit from the Vermont Economic Development Authority.

RBC’s success in making high-speed access a reality in Ripton should be a motivator for other communities who want broadband, according to Jack Hoffman, executive director of the VBC.

“(Ripton is) so remote it shows that almost any community in Vermont can do this,” he said.

Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, has been working in the Legislature to help find money and expertise to get broadband access to more Vermonters who live in difficult-to-serve areas like Ripton. For instance, in each of the last two years Legislators have put $100,000 in the capital bill to fund a grant program.

For the past few years an ad hoc committee of state representatives and senators interested in the health of rural communities have met weekly to discuss how they can further that goal. The group plans to continue meetings in the session that started this week.

“Having that group weigh in on issues is helpful in getting the attention of the leadership, Jewett said. “It means that it’s not just a few legislators.”

CO-OPS A GOOD MODEL

The smaller, independent phone companies are doing a good job providing broadband Internet access to their Vermont customers, according to Hoffman. But for smaller towns not served by these companies, which is most of Vermont, a co-op business model is a good way to get such services and maintain control over them, he added.

“It’s a good model in Vermont,” Hoffman said. “It is good for communities to have some control over the services they get. As all our telecommunications services migrate to a single wire — pretty soon your television, telephone, Internet are all going to be coming into your house on one wire — as a matter of public policy we ought to think about who owns that.”

But NBN also is ready to jump into that breach in parts of Addison County.

The company expects to roll out broadband service in Salisbury this month. Grip explained that it will be able to do this by bouncing its wireless Internet signal off the West Cornwall tower.
In the spring it plans to add service to most of the rest of Addison County and parts of neighboring counties. The signal for that service will come from microwave radio transmitters BNB will place on the tower atop Chipman Hill in Middlebury. The exact coverage area is available at www.nbnworks.net.

“Our primary market is those people who have no broadband option now,” Grip said. “We fully expect to be running a service as fast if not faster than current DSL and considerably faster on the upload side than cable offerings.”

COST OF SERVICE

NBN hopes to have 2,500 subscribers within two years. Customers will pay a $99 installation fee plus a monthly charge. Pricing for that service, which provide downloads at speeds up to 1,500 kbps and higher depending on the product the customer chooses, will be similar to that paid by RBC customers, Grip said.

Pricing for RBC services runs from about $35 to $55 per month for residential customers and $45 to $75 per month for small businesses.

VBC’s Hoffman hopes that these recent developments are only the first of many to come.

“What we should push for in Vermont is as much capacity a possible,” he said. “If were going to have all this content — especially television — we need a lot more capacity.”

Ripton Broadband Cooperative goes live on Dec. 6th!

RIPTON, VT — The mountain-dwellers of Ripton now have high-speed internet service. After three years of working through permit, grant, and loan applications, forming an alliance with Middlebury College, and organizing a cooperative, the Ripton Broadband Cooperative (RBC), the service went live for the first time on Wednesday, Dec. 6. This is a true example of how Vermont citizens can work with institutions such as Middlebury College to develop community projects.

A fiber optic signal enters the Middlebury office of North Branch Networks (NBN). The wireless signal is broadcast from the roof of the Battell Building to the roof of McCardell Bicentennial Hall on the Middlebury College campus, and is then redirected to a 100-ft. wind tower in Cornwall. From there, it is redirected to a second wind tower in Ripton. RBC broadcasts directly to most of Ripton, though low-lying households will be reached by bouncing the signal off additional access points (AP). Using the latest radio technology, RBC and NBN are delivering downloads at speeds from 96 kbps to 1500 kbps, depending on the type of service the customer chooses.

The process began in the spring of 2003 when a group of Ripton residents began meeting to explore ways to bring high speed internet to this little town surrounded by mountains. Numerous promises from phone companies and internet providers to deliver service failed to materialize. So it came down to the citizens of Ripton, including Jeremy Grip and Paonia N’Shaiha of NBN, to deliver high speed internet.

The early organizers realized that a co-op would provide an affordable model that could involve the town’s people and ensure that there was control over the delivery of the service. It was a lengthy process with numerous permit applications, grant applications to the Vermont Broad Band Council, and loan applications to VEEDA and ACEDC. There were a great number of people who helped, including Jack Hoffman at VBBC; David Howe on behalf of VEEDA; Jamie Stewart of ACEDC; Steve Paddock of Vermont Small Business Development Center; Willem Jewett, our Vermont state representative; Lawrence Miller of Peer to Peer; Barbara Doyle-Wilch, Tom Corbin, Dave Donahue, Howie McCausland, and Tim Wickland of Middlebury College; Bryan Alexander of NITLE; the RBC board, and numerous others.

The co-op was also groundbreaking in that no other coop had yet been formed in Vermont on such a small scale for this purpose. The charter and bylaws were created from scratch by attorneys Laddie Lushin and Mark Goldey with the help of the RBC board.

Ripton Broadband Co-op update, June 16, 2006

Members of the Ripton Broadband Cooperative,

This update finds us making good progress toward our goal of providing you broadband internet service in Ripton. At the same time, we are still working through bureaucratic obstacles that have delayed our projected roll-out. This is frustrating, we know, but we are doing our best to help us reach our goal. Each of us on the board is in the same position as you -- looking forward to the day we switch our network on and finally retire the dial-up!

The good news is that, at long last, we received the funds from our VEDA loan. This process began in September 2004. This allocation has allowed us to place equipment orders, and all the hardware for Ripton households has arrived. Boxes of antennas and radios are stacking up!

We are in the final stages of preparing a membership packet that will contain all the information you need in preparation of beginning service. Topics include a sheet of safe computing guidelines, info on what hardware and software you'll be provided (and what you'll need), a list of tech support resources in Addison County, a copy of our by-laws, your contract, and your stock certificate in the Ripton Broadband Cooperative. There will also be a form for your Automatic Withdrawal information, although, of course, this will not be initiated until service has begun.

The hurdles right now involve securing the first link in the signal path from downtown Middlebury to your Ripton home. We continue to wait and wait for final approvals for the colocation on the Chipman Hill tower which we were told to expect months ago.

In the meantime we continue to work with the folks at the College to finalize an agreement to put a repeater on the top of Bicentennial Hall on the Middlebury College campus. The College, always a partner in this project, now appears to have chosen to wait for Verizon, who again claim to be preparing to bring bandwidth to the Breadloaf campus on the ground. How soon this will happen is anyone's guess, but with the Worth Mountain tower no longer in the plan, we are figuring out how to get the last few eastern-most members covered.

If any member receiving this is in a position to help accelerate the process for either route (Bicentennial or Chipman), please contact us at info@ripton-coop.net. The plan is to have both paths available to us in the end, creating some system redundancy. Thank you!

*******

As we approach roll-out, we will send updates at mid-month. Of course, if there's any big news we'll notify you right away. We appreciate your patience with this often protracted process, and welcome comments or questions.

Sincerely,
Winslow Colwell
Board Member, Ripton Broadband Cooperative

April 15, 2006

Greetings to all Ripton Broadband Co-op members, to any prospective members, and to other Vermont readers. Best wishes for mud season.

We have more progress towards community broadband to report since our last update. We expect to be holding beta tests by the end of this month, and should make service available to the town in late May.

We're adding more equipment to the setup down in the valley, including a generator and antennae.

On the financial front, we received our funds from Addison County Economic Development. The state grant funds are due to arrive late this week or early next, which will allow us to place the radio and equipment order. Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA; http://www.veda.org/) funds will follow when we can present them with the invoices from the equipment. This should help carry us over the launch period.

Questions? Please email Bryan at bryan.alexander@gmail.com. Or find him, or other Board members, in person. If your email address has changed, or you know someone whose address needs to be updated, let us know, please.

December 3, 2005

Greetings to all Ripton Broadband Co-op members, and to any prospective members.

This is an update about the Co-op's status and work since our last update. We have more success to report.The Ripton zoning board decided to give us a permit to install an antenna upon the forthcoming tower at the Hansons´. This occurred after a good community discussion at their meeting. Congratulations to all involved!

This means that our current priority is completing the tower. We are still looking for volunteers to help. Please contact Jeremy Grip to share your schedule, if you're willing and able, and haven´t contacted him yet. Once again, he's looking for both skilled and unskilled construction labor, and a few to several hours' time. His email: grip@nbnworks.net; his phone, 388-0863.

We're even closer to our goal of turning on a broadband zone for a good chunk of Ripton, friends.

Information and news about RBC can be found here:
http://www.ripton-coop.net/RBC_updates.html

Contact info: email Bryan Alexander with any questions, at bryan.alexander@gmail.com. Or find me in person. If your email address has changed, or you know someone whose address needs to be updated, let us know, please.

Novermber 18, 2005

Greetings to all Ripton Broadband Co-op members, and to any prospective
members. Best Thanksgiving wishes.

This is an update about the Co-op's status and work since our last update. We have success to report on the tower front.This week the Ripton zoning board granted the Hansons permission to erect their wind tower, after two balloon tests and a good deal of healthy community discussion. Congratulations to all involved!

This sets the stage for another zoning board meeting, this Tuesday, November 22nd, where the board will decide about giving us a permit to install antennas on that tower. Given its importance to our efforts, it would be great if interested Riptonites attended the meeting. It starts at 7:30 pm on the 22nd, in the town offices (perhaps in the community house, if the crowd is large enough). Once we pass this hurdle, it's all building.

Speaking of building, now that zoning has been granted, tower construction awaits! We're looking for volunteers to help. Please contact Jeremy Grip to share your schedule, if you're willing and able. He's looking for both skilled and unskilled construction labor, and a few to several hours' time. That's Jeremy Grip, email: grip@nbnworks.net; phone: 388-0863.

We're in sight of turning on a broadband zone for a good chunk of Ripton, friends.

Information and news about RBC can be found here:
http://www.ripton-coop.net/RBC_updates.html .

November 2, 2005

Greetings to all Ripton Broadband Co-op members, and to any prospective members. We hope you had a fine Halloween.

This is an update about the Co-op's status and work since our last update. Things are progressing, especially on the wind tower project.

The second balloon test for the Hansons' wind tower is scheduled to occur this weekend. The test matters to us, since we hope to attach a broadband antenna to the wind tower, fifteen feet below the balloon's height. Our zoning board will meet this November 15th to receive comments. The Ripton zoning board will also meet a week later, this November 22nd, to decide about giving us a permit to install an antenna.

Given its importance to our efforts, it would be great if interested Riptonites attended the meeting. It starts at 7:30 pm on the 22nd, in the town offices.

We're looking for volunteers to help with construction. Please contact Jeremy Grip to share your schedule, if you're willing and able. He's looking for both skilled and unskilled construction labor, and a few to several hours' time. That's Jeremy Grip, email:

grip@nbnworks.net; phone: 388-0863.

Our Website has been revised and updated web, thanks to Win Colwell. Information and news can be found there: http://www.ripton-coop.net/RBC_updates.html.

About these updates: we are continuing with our strategy of emailing these, along with printouts posted to the General Store and at recycling, roughly twice each month.

October 14, 2005

Greetings to all Ripton Broadband Co-op members, and to any prospective
members. Best wishes for a fine autumn.

This is an update about the Co-op's status and work since our last update, two weeks ago.
RBC has been responding to comments and questions from out last update - keep them coming, folks!

RBC has also been working to advance infrastructure. The Hansons' wind tower has arrived, somewhat ahead of approval processes. A second balloon test is planned for the near future. Following that should be applying to the town for an antenna permit. Our timetable is therefore extended into November. Please stay tuned for updates.

We mentioned winning a Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) loan last time. Disbursement is in the works.

On these updates: we are continuing with our strategy of emailing these, along with printouts posted to the General Store and at recycling.

October 1 , 2005

Greetings to all Ripton Broadband Co-op members, and to any prospective
members. Best wishes for a fine autumn.

This message is an update about the Co-op's status and work. It's also an update about our update mechanism (see below).

RBC has been working on several projects, each one a piece of the bigger Ripton broadband puzzle. The short story is we have one successful pilot, an impending connection for many Riptonites, and a couple of efforts on top of those.

Some of you know that we successfully installed a highspeed connection at the Ripton elementary school. This uses a satellite connection to bring online a connection fast enough to watch streaming video. While small in size, it's a heartening success to have under our belts.

After a successful balloon test, the Hanson wind tower is on track for an October build and we anticipate being permitted to co-locate our antennas shortly after it's up. This location will provide service to all but a few members who will have to wait for the Middlebury College tower at the Snow Bowl, and we've talked with most of them already. The tower will also hold a wind turbine, which looks like this:

http://www.ripton-coop.net/wind/index.html

Stay tuned for updates.

Meanwhile, Middlebury College is planning to have another tower site for us to use, probably this spring. They too had to jump through a series of hoops. This antenna should cover some households not covered by the first tower's antenna. We'll be in touch with updates during the winter.

Last, but not least, we have just won a significant loan from the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA). This is the final piece of our financing puzzle. Winning it means that broadband network rollout is just around the corner.

About these updates: we'd like to keep all of you well informed about our work, and want to do a better job. So, to start off, we'll send out these emails twice a month, by the day of trash. Additionally, we'll print up a copy of this and post it to the board at the General Store.

Moreover, please don't hesitate to contact me, Bryan Alexander, with any questions. Email me at bryan.alexander@gmail.com. Or find me in person. If your email address has changed, or you know someone whose address needs to be updated, let us know, please.

August 14 , 2005

Valued Co-op Members and Friends,

The good news is that we are at 48 members, with many more residents who have expressed intent or interest.

We received our incorporation paperwork from the Secretary of State's office and are completing account setup at the First National Bank of Middlebury.

The draft Subscriber Contract and Fair Use Policy is almost complete.

As North Branch Networks had agreed to provide service to the Ripton School starting in July, they installed a new a Ka-band satellite package--the first of its kind in New England-- to provide high-speed access until the wireless system is operational.

Perry Hanson's application for a wind tower has been approved with reasonable conditions, and we will be scheduling test balloon for visibility issues shortly. This location is atop the hill just across the road to the East of the school. We will probably go ahead and apply for a Certificate of Public Good from the Dept. of Public Service so that the Hansons have the option of a grid-tied “net metered” system as well.

The College's schedule for building the Worth Mt.infrastructure has slipped. The photovoltaic array required for the off-grid power installation was larger than they had anticipated, and they came to realize that placing it at the previously designated location (in the middle of the trail at the top of Allen, for those of you who know the'Bowl) was not going to work (especially since orienting the array to the South put it crossways to the trail). After exploring other options, they have decided to rewrite their Act 250 application, moving the site off-trail and going with a somewhat taller tower. Given the probable design/engineering cycle, it appears that if everything were to go right, it would be possible for the 250 application to be approved in time to complete construction before winter. If not, the College has no real need to be finished before next years summer season at Breadloaf. It should be emphasized that our contacts at the College have assured us that their commitment to accomodating the Co-op’s needs in the revision remains absolute.

Initially, these developments threw us for a loop. But we got to work and started mapping potential sites where we could temporarily locate the relay gear that will eventually go to the Worth location. We have found a location in West Cornwall that has radio line of sight to and the Hanson tower; this location will allow us to "turn up" the central access point in town and hit 80-90% of members and potential members. (Unfortunately, those few members who can be reached only from the Worth location will be stuck until the College's buildout.)* We are finalizing the arrangements for this new location. At the same time we are verifying the technical requirements which will change the details of the business plan slightly, so we’re preparing those changes for the August meeting of the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) Board. With some luck, we will turn this into a one to two month delay; we now anticipate being able to begin service in October.

*We’ll be contacting members who might fall into this group individually.

September 27, 2004

Greetings all!

The big news is Ripton was asked to move on to the next stage of the grant
process for the state broadband grant. We are very excited by this and
again want to thank everyone for their help on the pre-application. The
drafting of the final grant application has now begun.

Bryan Alexander, as well as Paonia will be meeting with the Select Board on
September 27th to bring them up to date on the project as well as to get their ok to proceed with the final application. The meeting is at 7pm if anyone wishes to attend to show their support.

In other news, testing continues. The results so far have been very
encouraging. We wish to thank both Jeremy Grip, and Ceredwyn Alexander for
their assistance with the testing. Once testing is complete we will
provide you all with more details.

North Branch is interested in training people in the various technologies
we are going to be using and potentially in the installation procedures as
well. If you, or anyone you know, is interested please contact Paonia.

More news as it becomes available.

Sincerely,
Paonia & Emmie N'Shaiha
Ph: 388-2960

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