 
Mactron
Happy 4th
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv
| Foresight ? "State law allows the city to take ownership one year after they've been abandoned."
Someone had the foresight to see that this business model was a non-starter ? 
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If only the Verizon CSRs worked this well. | |
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LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Re: Foresight ? said by Mactron  :"State law allows the city to take ownership one year after they've been abandoned." Someone had the foresight to see that this business model was a non-starter ? But the city isn't going to run them after taking over. They are going to dismantle them and maybe sell them for parts.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? | |
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N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Has any city ever been successful in getting one of these wide area Wi-Fi mesh networks up, running, and even moderately profitable?
I can't think of one off the top of my head...
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Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… | |
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| | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| Re: Foresight ? said by N3OGH :Has any city ever been successful in getting one of these wide area Wi-Fi mesh networks up, running, and even moderately profitable? I can't think of one off the top of my head... When the mesh has 8 APs and in a CBD of a 5K population town. | |
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| | elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
join:2006-08-30
Toronto, ON | In Toronto the local Hydro company has set up a wi fi mesh in the downtown core.
Works quite well | |
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gomer1701ems
join:2001-08-23
Minneapolis, MN | The one in Minneapolis hasn't made the front page of DSLR (yet).
I don't know if it's profitable, but it is still up and running.
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"Don't argue with stupid people; they will beat you with experience." | |
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| | | PDXPLT
join:2003-12-04
Banks, OR
1 edit | Not really needed Portland is well-served for broadband by Comcast and Qwest (which does very good job of deploying basic DSL in its territory, in comparision to someone like Verizon, which has done only selective deployments in their territory).
'not sure what "problem" this Metro Wi-FI was intended to solve. In contrast, in Hermiston, Oregon, the Wi-Fi deployed is very popular, as there is no commercial alternative. | |
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Viper007Bond
Premium
join:2002-09-26
Portland, OR | Re: Not really needed Tell that to my mom who lives in a very busy part of SE Portland but who can't get DSL. Hell, I can barely get it (I'm right on the edge).
And Comcast's prices are nuts. | |
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| RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | That's not an uncommon lease term especially when dealing with public property like street lights or utility easements and poles. | |
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| Seaboogers
join:2004-11-01
Sarasota, FL | Metro-Fi should wait until the last minute...then take down all the antenna's.
They offered the in-place system to the city for a cost...which balked...and is going the "welfare" route.
Typical though...wanting something for nothing. | |
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Michael Weinberg
@omcastbusiness.net
| Re: Foresight ? The city chose not to purchase the equipment with the understanding and expectation that MetroFi would remove it by the end of July. Instead, MetroFi stopped returning calls and essentially turned off and abandoned the equipment. At this point it is basically litter in the Public Right of Way.
The city is going to have to pay at least $30K to remove it, from what I've read. They are waiting until the equipment is legally forfeit in order to avoid the legal fees that would come with trying to remove it sooner. | |
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dddrt
@windomnet.com | muni wireless buffalo Minnesota has been up for about 5 years works well. I have borrowd the signal and was very happy with speed. Windom MN has a very good FTTH system running. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Good Idea said by pnh102 :$894K is a lot of money and unlike the Feds, state and local governments cannot simply print money. It is just best for the City of Portland to let this thing die before any more tax money is spent on it. Let's see Portland pop 568,380 cost $894,000 or $1.57 per person. Yeah REAL hard to come up with $1.57 from the population. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Good Idea said by Ed_Gee : "Let's see Portland pop 568,380 cost $894,000 or $1.57 per person. Yeah REAL hard to come up with $1.57 from the population." Infants, children, and a sizable portion of the adult population in general do not pay taxes. The cost per taxpayer would be notably higher... and even in the Liberal Portland area, voters are not keene on implementing more taxes. 
$6.28 for a family of 4. What's that, 2 lattes at Starbucks? I bet many people spend more than that on ciagarettes everyday in Portland. You keep coming up with lame excuses. | |
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| patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| said by pnh102 :$894K is a lot of money and unlike the Feds, state and local governments cannot simply print money. It is just best for the City of Portland to let this thing die before any more tax money is spent on it. But state and local governments get pork. | |
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xenophon
join:2007-09-17 | Metro/Muni WiFi is dead, WiMAX is here WiFi was not designed for city wide coverage. WiMAX is ready now. If cities were willing to fund wifi rollouts, they may as well help fund the WiMAX rollout as it is designed for city wide coverage. | |
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phoneboy3
@shawcable.net
| WiMAX vs WiFi The problem with WiMAX is it is bloody expensive and will continue to be for many years. The appeal of WiFi is it's cheap. Both will coexist. WiFi will be a great option for using in WiMAX dead spots and it continues to be a great option indoors. The new N wifi standard fixed most of the problems with interference, speed, and coverage. | |
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klipko
join:2006-06-28
Portland, OR | Re: WiMAX vs WiFi I'm glad that the city hasn't spent any money on this venture. They spend enough on other needless items the people don't want. How much did we waste in attempting to bring MLB to Portland? | |
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erth64net
@gbcomputers.com | MetroFi's website is now dead... See www.metrofi.com, it's now a parked site with GoDaddy.com's ads plastered all over it. | |
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blahblahbla
@comcast.net
| Know what you're talking about first!! All this "wimax is here, wifi is dead" talk is so uninformed its not even funny. Apples & oranges, and because you can do one, you cannot necessarily do the other.
Wimax is so great? in what frequency? 2.4? 5ghz? 900? PUHLEASE... it is no better than WiFi in unlicensed spectrum. | |
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plattypus1
join:2005-04-08
Riverside, CA
·Charter Pipeline
| Riverside's wifi works Riverside, CA has a free ad-driven wifi network operated by AT&T Metro-Fi, rate-limited at (I believe) 512k. Faster, paid service is available, rate-limited to 1.5Mbps (and free to AT&T residential customers and "Freedomlink Premier" subscribers). The service works well, is up and running throughout the city, and doesn't seem to be suffering the problems that all the other metro-wifi projects are suffering.
www.smartriverside.com | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Question: If it's going to cost 60K to remove them.... ... why remove them at all?
Over time, the various sites will be replaced, remodeled, rebuilt, etc and the old equipment would go away for free.
Oh and here's an interesting idea.
What if they simply offered a "Come take it away for free" offer. IE an operator somewhere else or someone who needed certain equipment could come and remove some (at their own expense) and keep what they take, no charge.
This would cost the city nothing, too.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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new company
@comcast.net
| new company to take over Portland wifi A new company is in 'testing' mode beginning October 18th.
A local market research company is taking on participants to try the wifi network for free if they take part in the research.
Can't say who yet- but their first name is Clear----
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Portland Lets Wi-Fi Network Rust
Good Idea
Re: Good Idea