News, Technology

UPTUN needs you to sign letter about needed broadband improvements

33 Comments
Photo by Gavin. St. Ours via Creative Commons/Flickr.
Upping Technology for Underserved Neighborhoods (UPTUN) needs your help by signing a letter requesting changes that would make it easier for new broadband investments to come to Beacon Hill (and other neighborhoods), improving the speed and reliability of broadband service available to Beacon Hill neighbors.

Here is an appeal from UPTUN’s Robert Kangas, asking neighbors to sign a letter to the Seattle Department of Transportation. To sign the letter, post here with your name (real name, please) and your affiliation — for example, “John Doe (Beacon Hill resident)” or “Jane Doe (Owner, Doe’s Beacon Hill Widgets).”

Hey all, UPTUN’s going to be sending a letter to SDOT to try to force some change to the Director’s Rule that’s effectively blocking new broadband equipment from rolling out in Beacon Hill and the other underserved areas of Seattle. Most of us are stuck with the choice of a cable provider or nothing for high-speed internet. Well, we’re all tired of it. It’s time to take action.

Here’s the letter we’re sending to SDOT / the City of Seattle:
http://www.uptun.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SDOT-letter-July-2013.pdf

We’re looking to get as many cosigners as possible before we stick copies of this in the mail on Saturday. Will you add your name to the list of supporters of this letter? The more supporters we get, the better the chances of a good, timely outcome. The time to act is now.

Will you put your name down? Will you get your fellow neighbors / nearby business owners to do so, as well? If you’re going to do so, please give me your name and what organization / business or part of the city you belong to. For example: Robert Kangas (UPTUN member) or Robert Kangas
(Beacon Hill resident).

33 thoughts on “UPTUN needs you to sign letter about needed broadband improvements”

  14. Add us, please;

    Jeff Baldwin (Beacon Hill resident)
    Lauren Berett (Beacon Hill resident)

  18. Eric Spivack (Beacon Hill Resident and owner of Soaring Crane Massage & Acupuncture)

  19. Add Nick Farwell and Amanda Quinn, (Beacon Hill residents who depend on good broadband for their livelihoods.)

  21. I still think I am missing something here. Why would I want to make it easier for one (Century Link) of many internet providers to install, out-of-date and ugly above-ground boxes in the public right of way on Beacon Hill to support their legacy, phone-line based system? I have had high speed internet to my house from two different providers in the past (neither were Century Link) without new boxes and it sounds like several new options are coming. I am not trying to attack CenturyLink but why would I want more permanent structures in parking strips when we can get the same service other ways? This letter makes it seem like either we got the ugly boxes or Beacon Hill stays in the dark ages. What am I not understanding?

  22. Doug… first off, do a google image search for “comcast utility boxes”. All of the providers have utility boxes in order to provide high-speed internet to homes. Some providers are able to put some equipment up on the light poles, but it just depends on the base technology used for their infrastructure.

    And… we’ve been working on this issue for years. Gigabit Squared is going to have to have some sort of equipment placed too, they just haven’t published what sort of footprint it’s going to occupy.

    There are plenty of us that are fed up with the choice of only a single provider, or sometimes no providers, for service. Unless something is done about the regulations, we’re going to be another 10 years out and we’ll be in the same situation we’re in now.

    you’re totally entitled to your opinion, but those of us who want change are entitled to ours too. Thanks for your comment.

  23. Add me – Wendy Chin, Beacon Hill resident
    A note: to those who do not read the BHB on a daily basis, it would be helpful to define deadlines of what you need in time for you to send the letter. I may be too late but it was difficult to determine if this is now old news.

  25. “We’re looking to get as many cosigners as possible before we stick copies of this in the mail on Saturday” — they meant Saturday the 27th.

  26. Thanks Wendi for clarifying. If you’re a supporter, please still leave your name. It’s important to know how widespread the support is, even though the letter has been sent.

    And, I did mail off the stack of letters on Saturday, so it should have hit the SDOT’s, City Council’s, and the Mayor’s desks today. No response as of yet.

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