Cedar Ridge Ranch, Sonora CA

Is there anything that can be done in to get High speed Internet up in Cedar Ridge? I understand we are 6 miles from the CO in Twain Harte, but what about a remote terminal so we can get service? Dial-up is horrific and ISDN has decent latency, but you are still very limited and the download rate is still very very slow.

Comcast has said for the last 6 years Cable Internet is coming, the wireless tower up on Mt Lizzy basically serves the Phoenix Lake area, but that is still a problem because the bandwitch caps and 100+ people running off an overloaded tower.

What can be done here? Is there a petition we can start to get the ball rolling and let SBC know about fire and penicillin helps sick people? I understand the demographics and if SBC thinks it’s cost effective to add a remote terminal. But it’s beyond frustrating knowing we in Cedar Ridge are stuck with 1990s technology.

I will gladly gather petitions or do whatever needs to be done in order to get this area out of the 1990s technology trap.
--
Matt

Matt -
I support your efforts all the way.

FYI - This morning I was able to place an order (web form) with ComcastOffers.com for cablemodem access on Martingale. When I called the appropriate phone number to actually schedule the install, I was told that it is NOT available and since they had missed so many promised dates, they now have a policy against discussing their progress to upgrade the neighborhood.

Grrrrr.

- Larry

I am in too , I was going to order cable internet service thru comcast as well , but now I guess not ... I live part time there , but need on the weekends when im on call ... It took years just to get cable internet service in Tracy , i had to use ISDN , then I gave up cable ( bad service )\
and went satellite .. Internet I went wireless DSL.... Ill sign anything you want to get that service , let me know what I can do to help .... my neihbors in CRR dont like dial up either

Is there anything that can be done in to get High speed Internet up in Cedar Ridge? I understand we are 6 miles from the CO in Twain Harte, but what about a remote terminal so we can get service? Dial-up is horrific and ISDN has decent latency, but you are still very limited and the download rate is still very very slow.

Can you PM me with more details? thanks.

From where I live at the end of Mt Elizabeth, I'm 16,701 feet away from the Twain Harte CO. You need to be 15,000 away to get DSL. The remote terminal that was fired up is for Sonora only, SNRACA13DS1 is the SBC name. We are all on the Twain Harte CO, Bellview, PL Estates and East Sonora can all get DSL now due to that terminal being fired up.

There is a remote terminal, but SBC needs to fire it up, then once that's done if ever, we can all get DSL service. Just a little information for everyone

I listened to the Tuolumne Board of Supervisors meeting today (4/11/06) where they had a presentation from AT&T on the deployment of DSL in Tuolumne. I used my SLOW and COSTLY ISDN connection to do it.

At the onset of the presentation the woman from AT&T stated that the FCC would NOT allow AT&T to address their exact deployment plans for the county. (so what was the point of this meeting?). They only talked about the theoretical plans (motherhood and apple pie) for deployment. And the basic word was "Trust Me when I say you'll be getting DSL sometime in the future". So any hardware that AT&T has in place today is just part of a greater plan and not to be talked about by AT&T until they are ready to TURN IT ON.

She also said that 50%+ of their customer base is serviced by the Sonora CO, and therefore the focus of the extended DSL deployment will out of this CO. That's why we are seeing the Belleview and Lower Crystal Falls areas getting service now.

As for Twain Harte CO (that's us) they did not talk any specifics. But from the previous post in this forum, it appears that they have started the hardware deployment. The AT&T spokeperson said that the Remote Terminals require a fiber link back to the CO and that the CO requires additional hardware to fully connect the Remote Terminal.

So if you are waiting for any DSL deployment that hasn't been offically announced by AT&T I wouldn't be holding my breath.

As for COMCAST cable broadband. The Supervisors have it as part of the negotiations for Comcast franchise renewal since October 2005. But as noted in todays meeting there are several roadblocks. One, the franchise renewal isn't finished (gee you would think that 6 months would be enough). Two, it's 5 to 6 millon dollars of capital assests for Comcast. Three, there is no fiber link from Comcast to either Stockton or Valley Springs (via Angels Camp) and four, their current system does provide two-way communications. So don't hold you breath for these guys.

One of the AT&T spokespeople said that the California PUC has set up a commission to figure out how to get Broadband deployed to 95% of California by 2010. (I hope I live that long). And that AT&T and Verison have contributed $60 millon to the effort. They are hoping form another $100 million for other sources to help get this effort started. Keyword here is "STARTED". The first meeting of the commission isn't for another six weeks.

A minor correction to the previous post: The AT&T spokesperson went to great length to explain that the CURRENT DSL reach is only 14000 feet (not 15000) and that those are wire miles not as the crow would fly (at least a smart crow). It's seems from her discussion that they had a lot of trouble trying to get DSL realiable beyond this distance.

I hope this sheds some light of where we are in our quest ffor Boardband access to the rest of the World.

I hope That I live that long too !!! Ill look forward to that service

Jay , by the way what street is that web cam facing ?? I am on Awahnee
here. just curious where I was always looking ... regards

The webcam the located on the front of the house and facing Oxbow Ln N, just above Awahnee and the ditch. It is facing roughly east.

I realize this is an old post but there are other means to hook up to the internet, I was told at the internet cafe in Sonora there were wireless connections in cedar ridge , there may not be total coverage http://www.motherlodeinternet.com/cs/cs_wireless.html

also there are Omnivision and wild blue satelite services as well
Wild blue seems Cheaper than Omnivision.. I have a friend in Jupiter
that has Omnivision and it works really well , its pretty pricey though but has options hopefully your southern view isnt blocked by the many trees
or your good at tree climbing and can put your dish up there ...

Just an update. I responded to an email asking about High Speed Internet connections in CR, so I though I would post my reply for all to read.

Currently we have available; dial-up, ISDN (by SBC) and satellite from several providers mainly Directway and Starband. There is also wireless available (several ISP’s; MotherLode, Goldrush are a couple) in certain areas of the Ridge; you have to have a line-of-site to the towers on Mt Elizabeth. Wireless offers about the transfer rates as DSL. The wireless availability may improve now that the county has approved more cell tows. But who knows with “Not in my backyard” folks controlling the show.

No DSL or Cable in sight for the near future. I think that we will see DSL before we see any cable solution. But there is no firm date on DSL. I’ve heard the remote terminal is installed and just waiting to get connected. But due to FCC regulations SBC is unable to confirm any rumors or give any dates for future DSL deployments. Not until they are ready to signup customers can SBC let the cat of the bag.

There is a dialup provider (inreach.com) that has X2 technology that seems to connect some Cedar Ridge lines at 40 KB+. But, you have to have and X2 capable modem. Otherwise, as you know, you are stuck with 23+ KB and lots of lost connections. SBC is in the process of replacing one of the main cables to the Twain Harte CO, so let’s hope that fixes some of our noise problems. Let’s also hope this cable has some fiber in it, giving us another step to DSL. The SBC guys say there is no fiber, but they were probably told to say that. We find it hard to believe that SBC would lay a cable these days that doesn’t contain at least some fiber.

I use SBC’s ISDN service, not a cheap solution (all in all about $100 a month), ISDN provides 128KB in dual channel mode and 64KB in single channel mode. I run mine in single channel (to avoid an extra ten to twenty dollars a month at the ISP end. SBC charges $200+ to install it and then $85+ a month for unlimited usage. Then you still have to pay an ISP to get connected. I use Goldrush and they are $209 per year for unlimited single channel usage. There is no connection delay with ISDN and the wire pair can also support a voice channel as well as the two 64k data channels. The error rate is good and I can stay connected for hours at a time. The data transfer speeds are the same in both directions, not something you get with cable or satellite. In fact, if you have lots of upload traffic then satellite is terrible, and in some case does even work. Even with ISDN, long downloads can be troublesome unless you use a download accelerator with retry. But even this only works if the download site supports retry. My effective download rate is about 7.5 to 8 KB using an accelerator.

Another cost of ISDN is the modem/router. These are getting harder to find and therefore they are priced accordingly ($150.00 – 500.00). You may not even be able to find a new one. I have an old Cisco that I replaced with a NetGear that had additional protocols that I use. The Cisco would probably be OK for browsing and downloading.

Put me on the list if there is any action to be taken. I use wireless internet to Mt. Elizabeth right now (my employer pays though). It is $99.00 per month. I am one of the lucky ones to have a view of Mt. Elizabeth. I would really like to use DSL or cable which would be less expensive. I telecommute so use the internet at least 5 days a week.