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CenterFuse Broadband Feasibility Report C. The Technologies This section of the report discusses the broadband technologies that are in use in the city today. Existing Technologies There are several technologies used in the city today to deliver broadband. Each of these technologies will be explained below. • Consolidated Communications serves the city with copper telephone wires using DSL technology. • Charter (Spectrum) uses hybrid fiber/coaxial (HFC)technology to provide the triple play services. • City Fiber operates an active Ethernet network to connect to anchor institutions and to sell retail to businesses in downtown Ellensburg. • Consolidated Communications and Charter also both provide Active Ethernet fiber to serve businesses. • Long-haul fibers run close to the city along Interstate 90, and one provider NoaNet owns some local fiber in the city. • Central Washington University operates broadband within the confines of the University grounds. It buys broadband from the Washington State K20 Network. • Symplified and Kittitas Broadband deliver broadband to some customers in the city using fixed wireless technology. • Some homes get broadband using the data on their cellphone plans. Active Ethernet(Active E) Active Ethernet is used in the city by Consolidated and City Fiber to serve businesses and anchor institutions. Charter is also using this technology to serve at least some businesses in the city. This technology is sometime referred to as Metro Ethernet—a term that distinguishes last mile fiber from long-haul fiber. There is also long-haul fiber that passes into the city provided by NoaNet. NoaNet does not sell retail broadband today. It does provide backhaul to City Fiber and other telecom carriers. The company also builds networks to serve cellular sites. This technology provides a direct data connection to a single customer. An Active E network is essentially a fiber"home run" from the Central Office or other node, meaning that one fiber goes from the electronics core directly to the customer. This technology has several advantages and is well-suited for serving large businesses where the customer requires more stringent network uptime and higher bandwidth. An Active E network also can provide symmetrical data capabilities (upstream and downstream data rates are the same)at high data speeds. The downside to Active E is that more fibers are required in the network since fibers are not shared between customers. Electronic costs are generally also higher since there is a dedicated laser at both ends of the connection to every customer. Active E also has higher data capabilities and can inexpensively provide for data rates up to 10 gigabits per second. Faster speeds are possible, but with significantly higher electronics costs. One of the biggest advantages of Active E is that it's easy to change the connection to a single customer as customer Page 67