HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 08/06/2002TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
**** August 6, 2002 ****
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison:
Kurt Kastein
Staff Liaison:
Liz Stroh
Chairperson:
Larry Bontempo
Phone: 484-3980
(W)
Members present: Larry Bontempo, Curtis Cramer, Rob Koellner, Braun Mincher, Herb
Saperstone, Greg Smith, Tim Tillson
I
Members absent: none
City Staff Present: Gary Gordier, Eric Dahlgren
Guests: Margaret Lejuste and Stan Reifschneider of AT&T Broadband
David Bonsett of the Poudre School District
Chair Larry Bontempo called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM
Approval of Minutes: Greg Smith moved to approve the minutes with the following
change: on the banner heading of the minute's form, the Chairperson should be Larry
Bontempo. Tim Tillson seconded, approved by unanimous vote.
Poudre School District CIO David Bonsett:
Presented a brief overview of the equipment, technologies, and status of the PSD
systems as follows:
- PSD rents PRPA/city backbone fiber via Yipes.
- Of 45 schools 29 are on the network.
- If the cost to hook up a school is less than $75K, it is put on the ring.
- Other schools are hooked up via frame relay from Qwest (T-1 speeds).
- Yipes is providing 3 meg to the schools, 12 meg to Admin Bldg.
- Using Extreme Network gear, approx. 3 years old.
- There's a 10meg link to CSU for Internet access.
- Currently installing a firewall and software to monitor network usage.
- Phones are Avaya Definity IP (?)
- There are some digital microwave radio applications.
- Approximately 6,000 computers on the network, 800 added this summer.
- Working on parental access via Internet to view certain records.
- Using Win 2K and Unix op systems, 35 servers.
- Working to deal with H-P/Compaq merger issues (support, certifications)
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- About 60 staff in IT, trying to have at least one tech in each school.
AT&T Update:
Margaret Lejuste introduced Stan Reifschneider, the new Northern Colorado Area
Manager for AT&T Broadband. Stan will oversee the area north of Longmont and will
report to Mary White, Sr. VP of Development, Front Range Region. Stan's e-mail
address is reifschneider.stan(a)broad band. att. com., phone number is 303-776-2108
x2011.
Margaret also discussed a letter that she had sent to Liz and Gary addressing several
issues that were identified during the Comcast/AT&T merger.
Access to property for non -emergency repairs. AT&T technicians and contractors
are required to follow specific notification procedures before entering on property to
perform work in easements. Please provide details regarding the specific
complaints, and AT&T will follow up with the technicians who do not follow those
procedures.
Drop Buries. AT&T will follow up with the drop bury contractors to ensure they are
following the correct procedures.
Complaint Resolution: AT&T will send written confirmation regarding the resolution
of the customer's complaint via e-mail within 15 days of receiving the complaint from
the City.
FCC Reports: Copies of all correspondence between local, state and federal
regulatory agencies regarding AT&T's cable operations within the City of Fort Collins
is sent to the City. While AT&T conducts all tests required by the FCC in
accordance with FCC timelines, we do not send or exchange the results of the tests
to the FCC. Rather, that data is held in a file open to public inspection. AT&T will
be pleased to work with the City to determine what documents the City desires to
review and provide that information from the files.
• Line Extension for new housing developments: Cable service to the Rigden Farm
subdivision is complete. Currently there are no new developments that meet the
extension requirements to which we are not currently building or providing service.
System Capacity — Problem with Leased Access. Problem with audio feed for a
leased access program. This incident was a solitaryproblem and has not been
repeated since. The problem and its resolution was not a technical nature. As we
discussed, the local presence of an Area Manager should help to prevent such
problems occurring in the future.
Local Presence: AT&T provides a toll free number that allows customers to speak to
a knowledgeable customer service representative who is able to resolve the
customer's cable -related problem twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-
two weeks a year. In addition, AT&T maintains a local customer sales and service
center at1201 University Avenue in Fort Collins. Service technicians and installers
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are located at that location. The presence of the new Area Manager will add
additional oversight to operations.
■ Local Programming: AT&T and the City are exploring the opportunities for an
equipment exchange as the City increases its efforts with local programming
Quarterly Reporting: AT&T submits quarterly reports to the City regarding trouble
calls, service outages, line extensions (when applicable) and subscriber complaints.
Cable service and regional disparities in service offerings available: The City has
communicated to AT&T of the City's intention to make this issue a solid item for
franchise renewal discussions.
Other Business:
Gary briefly discussed potential problems that may occur based on an announcement
from AT&T Wireless that they will discontinue selling CDPD service, and possibly
discontinue support sometime in the future. CDPD is used by several northern
Colorado Public Safety agencies for communications including the Larimer County
Sheriffs Office, Fort Collins Police, and CSU. AT&T Wireless is urging a move to 3G
technologies. This is a major issue for the city.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 PM, moved by Braun, seconded by Greg,
unanimous approval.
Larry
Liz Stroh, Staff Liaison.
02/10/03