ON-LINE OLYMPUSNET NEWSLETTER March, 2000

• Broadband Access
• Broadband via DSL
• Broadband via Wireless
• When will OlympusNet offer broadband access?
• Will OlympusNet offer Internet access over Cable?
• Are you thinking of switching to Cable?
• Who are typical Cable, DSL, and Wireless users?
• What will happen to dialup access?
• How is the new billing system progressing?
• What are OlympusNet's long term plans?
• OlympusNet Terms and Conditions
• Calling all photographers

Broadband Access
This newsletter discusses OlympusNet's plans for high speed (broadband) Internet access. It has been sent to all OlympusNet customers. If you are interested in broadband connections, please read the newsletter and then fill out the Broadband Questionnaire.

Fast Internet, otherwise known as "broadband", is coming to the north Olympic Peninsula. In the next several months US West will connect the Sequim/Port Angeles fiber optic cable to the Port Townsend/Port Ludlow/Bremerton fiber optic cable that is now in place, but not yet working.

This fall the Bonneville (www.noanet.net) fiber optic cable should reach the PUDs of Jefferson and Clallam counties. The PUDs will then wholesale the data to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as OlympusNet, and to municipalities. In April, Congress will determine whether it is within Bonneville's charter to resell their excess capacity on their network to rural counties.

Broadband comes in six "flavors" - Cable, DSL (stands for Digital Subscriber Loop; uses telephone lines), Wireless, satellite, fiber optic cable, and finally the old-fashioned but reliable Frame Relay which also uses telephone lines. The availability of these technologies is as follows:

• Cable will be available in the Port Townsend area soon. No dates have been set for Cable access in Clallam County.
• DSL is currently available in Port Angeles and Sequim but is also expensive. We expect DSL to be available in Port Townsend in the next few months. (We expect the price to drop when wholesaler Fairpoint Communications (www.fairpoint.com) reaches our area.)
• Wireless is currently not available.
• Satellite is not popular because of its high cost.
• Fiber optic cable distribution of Internet data is practical for municipalities. It is to be hoped that builders are installing fiber conduits in all new developments. The City of Port Angeles and Clallam County are considering whether they should install a fiber optic cable community backbone.
• Frame Relay has been with us for years but is little used as it is expensive.

Broadband via DSL
OlympusNet will most likely offer DSL when wholesaler, Fairpoint Communications, installs equipment locally. Fairpoint intends to invest heavily in our Peninsula infrastructure, putting switches and DSL equipment in the US West Central Offices in Sequim, Port Townsend and Port Angeles, perhaps in August. (Businesses can now get discounts on phone rates from Fairpoint's local representative at 360-379-0625.) Another DSL wholesaler, www.newedgenetworks.com, is offering DSL locally, but OlympusNet has decided not to resell their DSL because of their high prices. DSL is not available in the local Sprint territory.

Broadband via Wireless
In addition to offering DSL, OlympusNet plans to offer broadband Wireless Internet access which can deliver speeds higher than DSL less expensively. Wireless is also a good alternative in certain areas where the low quality of telephone lines* and long distances from the US West Central Office** precludes DSL. Wireless Internet uses a low power (less than a watt) microwave radio about the size of your hand connected to a flat antenna. The antenna is attached to the side of a building and can be painted the same color as the building. To see a picture of such a flat antenna, visit: http://www.olympus.net/wireless/

Wireless, like the other forms of broadband such as Cable or DSL, is always on and can deliver data faster than DSL and at a lower cost since no wholesaler is involved. It is simple and fast to install and involves putting a flat antenna on an outside wall. The antenna needs to be in line-of-sight to the distribution antenna and must not have trees in the way.

When will OlympusNet offer broadband access?
Assuming that Fairpoint's rates are reasonable, we will offer DSL access when Fairpoint turns up their local service, now planned for August. We need to help change the Port Townsend and Jefferson County Wireless ordinances. Those ordinances were written to prevent cell phone tower blight and parts of them are not appropriate for the low power microwave radios that we will use.

Will OlympusNet offer Internet access over Cable?
We have talked to Millennium about offering Internet access over their Cable, but because they offer Internet access themselves, they have not opened their Cable to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as OlympusNet. Northland Cable in Sequim and Port Angeles is not ready to offer Internet access. We expect that one day the Cable companies will recognize that it makes sense to sell Cable access to ISPs.

Are you thinking of switching to Cable?
Are you concerned about losing OlympusNet's reliable email and great technical support if you switch to Cable for your Internet access? Consider using a Cable (OlympusNet Non-dialup) account for your email. The account costs $10 per month ($30 per quarter)

Who are typical Cable, DSL, and Wireless users?

• Cable users are typically residential whose security needs are not as high as the security needs of businesses. (The same Cable with the same data goes into each house or business in a neighborhood.) Cable offers high speeds if the Cable company keeps up with the loads on the system. Millennium's pricing encourages conservative use.
• DSL users will be a mix of business and residential, though usage will remain low until the price is reduced.
• Wireless appeals primarily to businesses with local area networks because of Wireless' high speed (faster than DSL), low recurring cost, and quick installation. Businesses are more likely to be able to afford the expensive installation in exchange for the lower recurring costs and have line-of-sight to a distribution antenna. Wireless also appeals to those individuals and businesses who cannot get DSL because of SLICs**.

What will happen to dialup access?
Dialup will be around for a long time. Some people will not need extra speed or the "always-on" features of broadband nor want to pay broadband prices. Others will want to keep dialup for when they are on the road.

How is the new billing system progressing?
We have almost completed the first phase in which the new billing system duplicates the old one. Phase two will be to tie our customer database into the billing system. In phase three we will automate the setup of our servers with the billing system. Finally, we will give you more control over your billing as well as enable you to make changes to your mail and web accounts.

What are OlympusNet's long term plans?
We will extend our Internet Service Provider business into the Application Service Provider arena. That means that we will offer advanced messaging and business management as well as group and community collaboration web software. We will use our web development tool, WebKeystone, as well as other tools for those applications. We plan to share with our WebKeystone customers the same technologies we use for in-house design to help our customers build complex web sites. Maintaining our high level of customer service and preserving our customers' privacy will remain top priorities.

OlympusNet Terms and Conditions
Use of OlympusNet implies that you agree to the Terms and Conditions specified at OlympusNet Terms and Conditions.

Calling all photographers
We greatly appreciate our customers' submissions of photos to use on the OlympusNet home page. We change the photo each week, and would especially like to see more images from Clallam and Jefferson Counties. Please tightly crop your images on the subject and send them to @olympus.net.

*The over-stressed telephone infrastructure is due in part to the low rate of return that US West is paid for its residential lines.

**DSL customer sites need to be within a five mile (as the phone lines travel) radius of the nearest US West central office. They need to be free of "bridged taps" and their phone lines must not originate in a "SLIC". A "bridged tap" is an additional phone line that is connected to a customer's phone line but is not in use. Multiple bridged taps on phone lines are common in our area and each one must be removed for a phone line to carry DSL. A "SLIC" is a kind of telephone repeater used to expand phone coverage in areas distant from a central office.

Ned and Kate Schumann and the staff of OlympusNet
support@olympus.net