Mactron
el camino Real
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv |  Again !!!
Let the anti Muni WiFi rants begin.... Again.  |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| said by Mactron  :Let the anti Muni WiFi rants begin.... Again. Why is it wrong for all sides of the government-provided internet issue to be presented?
I think the editors are doing everyone here a good service by showing which projects have been successful and which have been failures.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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pinot noir6
Premium
join:2007-04-23
Columbus, OH
| said by pnh102 :said by Mactron :Let the anti Muni WiFi rants begin.... Again. Why is it wrong for all sides of the government-provided internet issue to be presented? I think the editors are doing everyone here a good service by showing which projects have been successful and which have been failures. I agree. I know I would want to learn about all sides of muni-wifi before I was willing to have my hard-earned tax dollars spent on it. The municipalities would only present the positive (overly optimistic) side. The common muni-wifi problems should also be discussed. |
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FiL
Premium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to pnh102
True. No point in posting up articles that preach to the choir. That would become boring.
But I am all for community wi-fi. I like the fact that just living in a wi-fi area gives the community internet access. Here in downtown Silver Spring, its easy to connect from libraries, coffee shops, the many parks in the city, plus all the condo's and homes that can access the service. I think its great, I don't even live in coverage area. Wish I had though. But who am I to do away with another man's chance to connect to the internet. If that was my only lifeline out to the world, then by all means bring it. But its not, and you don't hear many of us over hear in S.S. complainin'!
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| I remember Silver Spring's free Wifi... I think that is paid for by the shops in downtown and not the county government but I am not sure. When I was living in downtown Silver Spring last year I could not access it though.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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suckered
@spcsdns.net | wimax
Poor cities got suckered into a technology intended for a 300' radius. WiMAX is the way to go. Enough with the muni WiFi BS. Get WiMAX out the door. Looking forward to Sprint's coming within next year. |
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firephoto
KDE
Premium
join:2003-03-18
 ·Verizon west (ex G..
| reply to Mactron
Re: Again !!!
said by Mactron :Let the anti Muni WiFi rants begin.... Again. They never rant about the private company that is providing these wifi services in most of these news reports do they?
Any news on muni-wifi projects that are deployed and operated by the municipality and not a private company?
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Location: +48° 5' 23.40", -119° 48' 30.00" |
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Done_Posting
Shoot to kill
Premium
join:2003-08-22
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable
| MetroFi = Hype
The telecom I work for put a competitive bid in to deploy WiFi here in Toledo, and so did MetroFi (the guys doing Portland). Rather than go with Buckeye (who has been providing our community with cable / telco / broadband for decades), Toledo actually decided to go with MetroFi. Never mind the fact that it would have created additional jobs for Toledoans and kept the money in the community. From what I've read, MetroFi's service is finicky at best, and very tough to use indoors.
The whole thing smells to high hell of kick backs in my humble opinion.
- Tate
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Happiness is an OC-48 in your basement... |
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FiL
Premium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD
1 edit | reply to pnh102
Re: Again !!!
Nah man, Im pretty sure its county money going into that. I remember seeing a county website with a area map of access points and such, aluding to it being a county thing. But I'm sure in the downtown area, you've be covered in the blanket even without muni-wifi with all the starbucks, panera bread, Borders, to name a few 'urban-centric' spots.
Your right about the early problems, and they have ironed out a lot of the log in problems. The downtown areas damn near close to being fully ravamped... Ever get a chance to see the renovations? Impressive, but still lacking. Still though, I'd rather see half that money go to public schools and helping out students in Montgomery College.....
And now Rockville's 'main street' like almost exactly like S.S., but they've got more likely hood of having a fully blown wifi service; hell I'd bet money I'd probably be able to access their wifi 30 miles away the way money gets thrown aroundup there....
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FiL
Premium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to Done_Posting
Re: MetroFi = Hype
Sounds like to me someone at MetroFi's funding certain Toledoan's home renovations.
If Buckeye provided a good enough service to be IN service for decades, Toledo should have gone that route. Im a big fan of keeping local monies LOCAL. Your right, instead of outsourcing, they could have created new jobs in your city.
But in reality, you know why it went the other way... |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to FiL
Re: Again !!!
I actually lived out on Cameron street so i was not able to pick up the signal, of course this may have been changed.
Overall, I am really happy with the changes in downtown Silver Spring in the past few years. I remember back in the 1980s when the whole downtown area was a dump. They really did a good job in bringing it back to life.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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Ahmerr
@spiretech.com
| Portland and Metro-Fi
Here in Portland it's said that the service works well if you're in the hi-density downtown central urban core and outdoors.
Inside, even downtown, the signal strength drops rapidly.
In the urban residential fringe where I live, the nodes only serve one or two nearby houses, adequately, and a few more can connect with an external booster (user supplied.)
I think this is worse than no service at all... because when Wi-Max (or something beter) comes around, the pols won't want to admit their mistake and we'll continue to be stuck with this under-performing system.
[An aside: This whole Metro-Fi operation has all the earmarks of a train wreck coming down the tracks... I'm glad it's not my money on the line.]
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Machi
@aracnet.com
| works well 30% of the time
I've encountered variable results from Metro-Fi in Portland. Some access points are reliable, and when the service works, it works well and is a pleasure.
I live across the street from an access point on NE Glisan, and use a Ruckus indoor booster on an iMac, as well as a MacBook which doesn't need a booster. Metro-Fi's service from this access point is constantly cutting in and out, often it will show strong signal strength but no ability to connect to the internet, or it go out altogether. When contacting Metro-Fi, I receive prompt, courteous email responses, but I am baffled that weeks go by and they cannot repair or re-program this access point, even as they have candidly stated they are aware of the issue. |
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