Mike Rogoway

Hillsboro’s (OR) publicly supported internet project aims to undercut its rivals on pricing and substantially outpace them in speed. The city council has set pricing for its forthcoming service, called HiLight, offering superfast gigabit service for $55 a month. That’s about half what Comcast charges for the same speeds. Hillsboro says it will offer speeds up to 4 gigabits for $300 a month, the same price as Comcast’s 2 gig plan. The first homes will be online early in 2020, according to the city, about a year behind the initial schedule.

As internet speeds continue to lag in rural parts of the state, Oregon lawmakers are contemplating a new fee on cellphone service to help pay for expanded broadband in remote and underserved communities. OR House Bill 2184 would raise about $10 million a year to fund broadband projects through grants and loans. Advocates say it would cost cellphone subscribers between $4 and $12 a year. The bill will face fierce opposition from the wireless industry, though, which says it will fight to keep OR cellphone fees low.

Portland (OR) residents enjoy some of the nation’s fastest Internet speeds, but newly released Census data shows rural parts of the state continue to lag way behind. In some communities, fewer than half of the homes have fast Internet service. “With the rural markets the state doesn’t do well – or as well,” said Joe Franell, chief executive of Eastern Oregon Telecom, a small Hermiston company serving residents and businesses in seven communities. Overall, the Census found 87 percent of Oregon households were broadband subscribers in 2017.

You don't need a gig. That's the case Frontier Communications chief executive Maggie Wilderotter is making as Google Fiber readies a charge into the Portland (OR) area, perhaps as soon as 2015.

Frontier, which has had a monopoly on residential fiber in Portland's suburbs since acquiring Verizon's FiOS service in 2010, says Google is pitching something consumers don't understand, and don't need.

If Portland wants Google Fiber it’s going to have to give something up. Specifically, the city is going to have to abandon the idea that Google’s hyper-fast Internet service would be available everywhere in the city.

The Portland City Council takes up a franchise agreement afternoon for Google Fiber, which wants to string fiber-optic cable across the city -- and in five suburbs -- to provide Internet connections and cable TV service. A vote is scheduled for June 11.

The company promises “gigabit” speeds -- about 100 times faster than the average US download connection. But not for everyone. The franchise allows Google to pick which neighborhoods it wants to serve. The company says it will choose areas with a critical mass of customers, what the company calls “fiberhoods,” where residents have committed to subscribe to the service.

That makes sense from a business perspective: It will cost Google hundreds of millions of dollars to build out its network in the Portland area, and it wants to see a return on its investment. Choosing the most lucrative areas gives it the best chance of recouping its money.

From the point of view of individual residents, though, it means some areas will go without. Google says it’s committed to “digital inclusion,” and will work to expand Internet access to nonprofits and people who can’t afford its top-tier service. The company sent a specialist to Portland this spring to gauge how to work with community groups, but Google Fiber isn’t bending its core, market-based approach to determining which areas to serve.

Google set politicians and netizens abuzz in February when it suggested it might bring that fiber to the Portland area, perhaps as soon as 2015.

But building a faster network could invite years of disruption as Google installs networking equipment around the city and buries fiber along suburban streets. The service could also necessitate new rules about what’s allowed in the public right of way -- and open the door to other companies installing their own gear on public property.

“There’s issues,” said Portland city commissioner Steve Novick, who runs the transportation bureau, which oversees rights of way. “But we’re very hopeful we can work out the issues.”