Comments on: Broadband in the Boonies Gets a $267M Boost

By: Joe Wargo

Joe Wargo — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:23:45 +0000

As an owner of an outdoor wireless integration company, when the announcement of stimulus funding for rural broadband was made, we saw a mad dash from wireless broadband manufactures to receive their “Buy America Status” under the USDA. The requirements to be considered for certification are extremely light. Many companies outside of the USA qualify if they are part of NATO for example. Otherwise all a hardware manufacture needs to do is load their firmware here in the USA and they can get certification.
We were also contacted by a lot of so called service providers that were going after the stimulus funds. Most if not all of these companies were not established companies at all. Most were a few people that came from larger telecom entities, which quickly established an S-Corp and started grabbing licenses for the 3.65GHz band in various rural areas. This way they could have a better chance at getting funding or be able to sub-lease the spectrum. These companies need our expertise to put together a design for submission. Note: we rejected many of these start up firms.
It’s a shame that the funds were given out so quickly to many unqualified companies that do not have the engineering nor staff levels to deploy a legitimate long term WiMax solution. Unfortunately I believe a lot of money will be lost, but some fortunes made!

By: PoDunk

PoDunk — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:30:10 +0000

Rural broadband? Come on. Fort Collins, Colorado (pop - 137,000, home to a state university, and 48% of the population has completed 4+ years of higher ed), Loveland, Colorado, Longmont, Colorado? These towns are hardly rural and as of March 30th 2010, Open Range has no subscribers. Their installation has gone terribly - possibly due to non-industry standard techniques (evidence of a company with no prior experience) and bad hardware (Alvarion).

I wondered about this company when I started doing work for them. Government funding that doesn't deliver what it promises. Certainly stinky...

By: » Alvarion, Open Range Sign $100 M WiMax Deal Sidecut Reports

» Alvarion, Open Range Sign $100 M WiMax Deal Sidecut Reports — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:31:05 +0000

[...] Alvarion’s mysterious $100 million WiMax gear deal is with planned rural WiMax provider Open Range Communications, and not Clearwire as previously [...]

By: Another $100 Million for Rural WiMAX Operator

Another $100 Million for Rural WiMAX Operator — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:39:47 +0000

[...] though it had lined up this financing as far back as March 2008. The company had previously secured $267 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Utilities Program. With this new [...]

By: WiMAX Broadband is Coming To The Boonies - GigaOM

WiMAX Broadband is Coming To The Boonies - GigaOM — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:44:48 +0000

[...] the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to offer wireless WiMAX services using its spectrum. Earlier this year I wrote about Denver-based Open Range Communications that got a hefty $267 million loan from the [...]

By: Kimberly Johnson

Kimberly Johnson — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:49:06 +0000

Om,
Thank you for reading and posting a link to my story. I’m doing more research into this company, as I’ve received several comments about the company. Open Range has all but taken down their website following these reports. Strange.

By: Amitabh Kumar

Amitabh Kumar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:18:14 +0000

Rural broadband does not need such loans. Services such as Surfbeam or wildblue delivered over satellite can do much better. WiMAX can be a local extension in an area, but perhaps only in the next two years when wimax customer devices are much easier to obtain.

By: Wee-Fi: Topless Meetings; Projects-Fi; Boston Launch; Rural-Fi; Chrysler-Fi; Wi-Fi Chip-Fi

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:01:25 +0000

[...] Open Range Communications gets $267m loan for rural broadband: The funds are intended to push service into an extraordinary 518 rural areas across 17 states. They’ve raised $100m privately, too, GigaOm reports. They won’t deploy just one set of technology, but will sublet spectrum and use a satellite range for ground service, Om Malik writes. [...]

By: Seaowl

Seaowl — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:48:18 +0000

There needs to be accountability for these companies that are getting loans under this program. We need to establish strong service quality standards and consumer protections. Providers should be made to publicly report the actual speeds of the services they offer. Cost to consumers should be monitored so that the service is truly affordable for all.

These are some of the goals of the Communications Workers Of America’s project Speed Matters. Check out their website at http://www.speedmatters.org for more information.

By: Cows, Farmer’s Daughters Get $267 Million Broadband Boost | Submiter - science news,breaking news and digitas news

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:25:40 +0000

[...] —-end—- Thanks: [USDA via GigaOM] [...]

By: ShelterWatch

ShelterWatch — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:13:01 +0000

Agree. It is odd that a company which just got a large loan from the Feds doesn’t have office staff to answer the phone during businss hours(I called last week the multiple numbers on their website) and now have basically a non-functioning website. This website was fully-functional last week and you can probably access the archives on http://archive.org.

By: News » Cows, Farmer’s Daughters Get $267 Million Broadband Boost [PCs]

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:09:17 +0000

[...] If your Internet surfing gets cut constantly because a cow kicked over a lantern and burned down the barn or worse-because you use DSL, help could be on the way. Denver-based Open Range Communications is hoping to eliminate rural DSL Internet surfing with a substantial $267 million loan it received from the Department of Agriculture. The loan is part of the USDA’s Rural Development Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, and will provide broadband service in 518 rural areas in 17 states, including Illinois, Alabama, Arkansas and Wisconsin. This is great news and a long time coming for the rural communities of the US because, if anything, they’ve consistently shown a great thirst for knowledge, science and the unknown. [USDA via GigaOM] [...]

By: bj

bj — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:33:00 +0000

Dave, I hope you're wrong. But this PR firm, Percepture, located in Parsippany NJ, is known for representing Telecoms and is only around 10 miles, as the crow flies, from the Verizon Operations Center in Basking Ridge NJ (former home of AT&T Longlines.)

Is anyone else picking up a whiff of stink? ;)

By: WiMax, Rural Broadband, the Spectrum Auction and the USDA

WiMax, Rural Broadband, the Spectrum Auction and the USDA — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:28:29 +0000

[...] The company secured USDA financing to the tune of $267 million for the purpose of rolling out BroadBand to Rural Areas. This announcement comes fast on the heels of two other news events– the wrapup of the [...]

By: Dave Burstein

Dave Burstein — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:11:52 +0000

I don't know this outfit, but am glad someone like you is looking for the details. Many of the USDA loans have gone to projects based on nearly impossible to achieve subscriber rates. Others are political. The result: an enormous percentage of the RUS loans went into early default.

All of which I hope isn't true for this one, where I have no data.

By: DailyWireless » Blog Archive » Friday Links: In-Flight Cell Phone Use, Treo 800W

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:32:19 +0000

[...] Open Range Communications is bringing broadband to rural areas of the country. Gigaom reports that they recently received about $267 million in funding to do [...]