Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to mrbueno
Re: Rosy muni-WiFi stories getting fewer and fewer
It can't really be a horrid failure, as it originally was built simply for municipal and emergency use. Have they even converted that to residential access yet? That transfer deal just happened.... |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail  :Not all that long ago, there were many, many stories about how muni-WiFi was going to change the face of broadband and that the people were all going to have free access to download all their porn and free music and those evil corporations were all going to go broke. The difference is that the evil corporations know that broadband internet by itself is not a viable product.
You have to use internet access as an add-on product to sell something that is profitable (like phone or tv).
The problem is not the government involvement itself, the problem is the business plan is a loser from the start.
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Geographic Information Science researcher |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| To add to my case, take a look at municipal bundled projects, just sticking to the state I know well, Iowa:
Algona
Alta
Bellevue (about to install FTTP)
Cedar Falls
Coon Rapids
Hawardin
Lenex
Muscatine (bought out the incumbent company)
Spencer
Waterloo
Webster-Calhoun-Gowrie
There are dozens of more cable systems besides these; these are just the ones I know have successfully deployed bundled broadband services.
»www.cableyellowpages.com/US_Cabl···s_IA.htm
Nearly all of these developed since 1995.
The secret behind every last one of these ventures? None of the broadband projects by themselves make money. The money makers are the video, phone, and electric services provided in addition to the broadband services. Altatec telecom even provides water and sewer services!
Several cities are even investigating wireless now (West Des Moines and Bettendorf). Scott Community College has quad cities wide wi-fi, though access is only for students (and the fees support it pretty easily and the college owns its own spectrum, making it even easier).
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ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher |
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