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CenterFuse Broadband Feasibility Report <br />businesses due to fiber expansion undertaken by the local municipal PUD electric companies. Looking <br />to the west, the broadband in Seattle and surrounding communities is faster, with ISPs like Comcast <br />offering faster residential broadband than is provided by Charter in Ellensburg. <br />Businesses that will consider relocating will care about the overall broadband environment and not just <br />the broadband that is available to businesses. Employers want to have the option for employees to work <br />from home. They care that employees and their family can enjoy the educational and other important <br />benefits of good broadband. Businesses considering Ellensburg might be scared off by residential <br />broadband that is not as good as in other markets. <br />As mentioned earlier, there are numerous ways that CenterFuse could advocate for better residential <br />broadband. Following are some of the ways CenterFuse could help promote better residential <br />broadband: <br />A. Enhance Residential Fiber Networks <br />Bother Charter and Consolidated could do better. There are a number of ways that each ISP could <br />improve broadband in Ellensburg, and CenterFuse encourage the incumbents to do better: <br />• The speed test results and surveys indicate that there are likely physical or electronics <br />impediments in the Charter network that are creating pockets of the town where broadband is not <br />as good as elsewhere. CenterFuse could lobby directly, or join with others in the community to <br />push Charter to fix network problems. You might undertake gathering more speed tests to <br />document the problem. However, it's likely that Charter knows about its network problems and <br />weaknesses. <br />• Today, Consolidated still holds a significant market share in the city even with DSL technology. <br />In most cities the cable company has gotten a much larger share of the market than Charter has <br />achieved in Ellensburg. <br />There is no realistic way to make Consolidated DSL much better. There are newer DSL <br />technologies that could improve DSL broadband speeds to as much as 80 Mbps. But such <br />upgrades are expensive and telephone copper is a dying technology. <br />Consolidated is already serving businesses with fiber close to a number of residential <br />neighborhoods. Even today the company will provide fiber to a residence, but only at the same <br />high rates charged to businesses. Consolidated could reach a number of residences without a <br />costly construction program. Interestingly, Consolidated is building fiber to serve residential <br />customers in many other communities around the country. But the corporation doesn't have the <br />financial ability to build fiber everywhere. <br />Consolidated is like all ISPs and will pay the most attention to communities that can convince it <br />that building fiber is in its best interest. CenterFuse could work with Consolidated to help it find <br />ways to justify expanding fiber in Ellensburg. <br />B. Consider a Public -Private Partnership with Consolidated <br />Consolidated is new to Ellensburg, having acquired the market from FairPoint in 2017. Since the <br />purchase, Consolidated is reported as doing a great job of bringing better broadband to the <br />Page 13 <br />