Rural Oregon Leads the Way for Large-Scale WiFi

atkulp writes "While cities and incumbent telecommunications operators are fighting it out over municipal WiFi, it looks like rural Oregan is leading the way for large-scale deployments of WiFi and WiMax." The privately funded $5 million dollar wireless network services a modest 700 square miles and seems to be the only show in town.

Comments

The U.S. government is very corrupt.

[Futurepower(R)]

If you read about it, the U.S. government is far, far more corrupt than the average person thinks. Huge amounts of money are borrowed and embezzled. Some people say the money is not stolen, but it somehow makes it to the pockets of the rich, making the rich richer.

The U.S. government is very violent: History surrounding the U.S. war with Iraq: Four short stories. The violent way is preferred because it is more profitable: Ike Was Right About War Machine. ("Ike" is former President of the U.S. and former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces General Dwight D. Eisenhower.)

Here is the same video, but with no transcript, and it requires watching a commercial: Andy Rooney on the Iraq War. Here is an MP3 file of the same broadcast: Andy Rooney on the Iraq War. Here is a transcript from the publisher: Ike Was Right About War Machine.

The U.S. government is for sale to whomever has money: Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.

From reading about the U.S. government, I've found that many agencies operate efficiently and sensibly, but that the corruption caused by the military-industrial connection is more than one person can completely understand, there is so much material.

Re:Surveillance?

[GrigorPDX]

As an Oregonian and a government employee I have a few things to say about this:

1. I believe the "surveillance" is at least in part connected to the disaster preparedness/early warning system for the Army's Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot.

   The high desert around Hermiston also happens to be the home of one of the nation's largest stockpiles of Cold War-era chemical weapons. Under federal guidelines, local government officials were required to devise an emergency evacuation plan for the accidental release of nerve and mustard agents. Now, emergency responders in the three counties surrounding the Umatilla Chemical Depot are equipped with laptop computers that are Wi-Fi ready. These laptops are set up to detail the size and direction of a potential chemical leak, enabling responders to direct evacuees from the field. Traffic lights and billboards posting evacuation messages can also be controlled remotely over the wireless network.

   As someone who lives downwind from that, I'm more than happy to have that surveillance piece in place.
   
2. Did you actually read the story?

   But here among the thistle, large providers such as local phone company Qwest Communications International see little profit potential. So, wireless entrepreneur Fred Ziari drew no resistance for his proposed wireless network, enabling him to quickly build the $5 million cloud at his own expense.

   The government is not doing it. It's partly funded by government dollars in that local agencies are paying for access to it, but it's not a government project.
   
3. I'd also like to point out an important point: "large providers see little profit potential". Many rural areas don't even have local 56k dialup access, let alone broadband, because there are too few customers in the area to make it profitable for a commercial entity to build the required infrastructure. Government very definitely has a role in situations like this to provide access for things like education and economic development. If government wasn't doing it, nobody would and the economies and residents will suffer.