macyh
Ex-Isp
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-24
Medina, OH
 ·Armstrong Zoom In..
| Great idea, politically tough to do
This is a great idea. However it's very tough to get any municipality that does not operate the own utility service now to even consider the idea. They just don't want to take on the expense and effort unless it has very broad taxpayer support. That's very difficult to get through any city council right now.
What has worked is the addition of cable and internet services where the municipality already has an operating electric utility... and the city is ticked off at the cable provider. Since the city already owns the poles and right of way, adding the necessary cable and head end equipment is a much easier to put into place...and far less expensive.
That's exactly what's happened in a nearby city, Wadsworth, Ohio, an suburb of Akron. They have Time-Warner, they were treated badly by TW and finally decided to so something about it. They've got a competing cable and internet system that really is doing a pretty good job on a very limited budget. They don't have much of a web page that describes their system, link is here
I've tried to get other area cities interested, but it's been damn near impossible to get support from the politicians. FYI, I sit on the "fiber optic access subcommittee" of the Medina Area Chamber of Commerce's Economic Development Committee, and we've tried very hard to get a Port Authority setup for a county owned fiber optic CLEC, and it's been very tough going. The County Commissioners just don't see a need or public demand. They feel that the four telephone and three cable companies service this county should do the job.
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Macy Hallock APK Net, Inc. Cleveland, Ohio |
