Hawaiian Telcom has resurrected their proposed IPTV service. I strongly doubt Hawaiian Telcom’s existing last mile infrastructure will reliably support video. In addition, there is many homes with old inside telephone wiring. So, this service will likely face two main obstacles:
1. Aging last mile copper loop facilities will limit the availability: Potential customers have to live within 5,000 feet of the central office or remote terminal to qualify for video service.
50% of their customers qualify for the DSL service tier offered at that distance.
2. Old inside wiring in customer homes: This issue seriously affected my DSL service. So, I recently switched back to Road Runner because my parents house has old telephone wiring.
Hawaiian Telcom could replace the copper loops with fiber-optic cables to solve this problem. However, I doubt they have the financial wherewithal to do this.
Related items:
Hawaii’s Broadband Speeds Are Absolutely Pathetic
First look observations on Hawaiian Telcom’s video service.
Hawaiian Telcom’s updated cable franchise application
Hawaiian Telcom Is Incapable Of Offering Gigabit Speeds According To Smoking Gun Evidence
Lastly, HELCO filed a memorandum in opposition to Tawhiri Power’s motion to intervene in the HELCO/PGV 8MW PPA docket.
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:01 AM
Bring-on the County, State and Feds to help install the best available line to make Hawaii a world leader in info technology. This is one of my favorite topics that you cover and I agree with you that it is hugely important to Hawaii.
June 26th, 2011 at 2:18 PM
You must live within 3000 feet of CO/remote unit to get a good video service. All bets are off on rainy days.