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Municipal WiFi Costs Outweigh Benefits
TheSync writes "JupiterResearch claims that muni WiFi costs outweigh benefits. It can cost up to $150,000 per square mile over five years, which may not even provide each user a benefit of $25 a month. They suggest that such projects only be taken on as public-private partnerships."
ive heard the same said about public transportation a few times, and im sure it was said about the power system(which is municipal, at least in some areas)
Honestly, wi-fi in general needs to work better before people are going to use it exclusively. We just stopped using our town's free wi-fi because it sucked. And, I stopped using it in my house a few months back, also. I've never seen a solid, stable, fast wi-fi implementation. It's fun and cute for people checking their email quickly at Starfucks, but wi-fi still isn't there (from everything I've seen) for a regular, dedicated connection.
Hear me before it is too late! SHUN the evil of the Three P's, Public Private Partnership! Turn ye either to the left, to publically funded projects, or to the right, to the blessed land of private enterprise -- but walk not the middle path, the path of the Three P's!
Once, this land of England was fair and pleasant, with mighty Industry and caring Government working hand in hand! Then came the Three P's! They promised us cost savings and social responsibility, but they delivered nothing -- nothing save gigantic invoices and permanent damage to the environmental and social fabric of the nation!
Turn aside, oh turn, I beg you, America, from this path of wickedness! For the evil of Bloated Government Inefficiency is in them, and the sin of Greedy Private Contractors they likewise have! And the private half shall spend, yea spend and spend, and the public half will know not nor care where the money has gone!
Repent therefore, repent before they do unto you as they have unto Europe!
My words have the semblance of jest, but the danger is deadly serious.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Did anyone else see anything funny with a WiFi story being posted at 8:02.11 in the morning?
Nathan
...or any of several small communities in this state if they'd prefer an inefficient WiFi network to no broadband at all.
Qwest has the DSL rights in Colorado pretty well locked up, and simply won't give service in the rural towns until it's damn good and ready..and that won't be anytime soon, because it hasn't even finished wiring Denver yet. Meanwhile, it's lobbying for a state law to ensure that its monopoly will continue to await Qwest's whim.
rj
150,000 per square mile over 5 years.
so that works out to 150,000/5 years/12 months = 2500 per square mile per month.
Which means that if you have 100 users in a square mile, which is far more than reasonable, you will be getting equivalent costs to benefits.
Let's say I misunderstood it, and it was 150,000 per square mile per year over 5 years. So then it would be 150,000/12 = 12500 ~ 500 users would be needed, again, really small number for a large city.
Finally, let's say I'm completely wrong and that 150,000 is per month. Then it would require 6000 users for there to be benefit. Which in a city like New York or San Francisco, is far more than reasonable.
Unless, of course, Jupiter is stating something way off, their math makes no sense at all. The cost they are giving is way more than reasonable for the benefits to the general population.
~ kjrose
Let me put my "I have a business degree" spin on this (I do).
5-year projected statements are the norm for a consultant, especially one with an agenda. They might have a contract on the back burner with a telecom carrier to project the same project if they were to do it as a private project.
Second, they're making a lot of assumptions, such as internet service penetration at a given price point (estimating demand accurately is hard). Their net benefit figure probably comes from a weighted average of those on dialup and broadband, paying their respective rates currently.
Also, they're estimating cost on a project where the exact technology used probably hasn't even been determined (for instance, WiMax doesn't yet fully exist), and doesn't take into account existing infrastructure (poles, etc already exist in many places).
I agree that this is a half-assed article. I'm just trying to shed some light on what makes it a half-assed article, from the economic consulting point of view.
Corporate types have been successful in convencing the average person that they run stuff better than Government. So people keep pushing privitization to their own detriment. (fire the city workers, then pay for their welfare)
They forget that government pays more for each worker, corporations just take all the profits to the people on the top. When people see the guy on the bottom makin money they claim he don't deserve it and its waste. But when the guy on the top does, they don't complain.
Its whack. Besides, every new business should expect to loose money its first several years...