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County-Wide Wireless To Be Deployed in Michigan
alien88 writes "Late last week, the Washtenaw County Board approved Wireless Washtenaw Advisory Board's recommendation of 20/20 Communications to cover the entire county with wireless by the end of 2007. This includes Ann Arbor, the home of University of Michigan and future home of Google's Adwords division. The wireless network will be free for speeds up to 85kbps and $35/month for 500kbps. 20/20 Communications estimates it will take around 6,000 radios to cover the county.
This initiative is being funded without taxpayer dollars and is one of the most ambitious wireless deployments in the U.S. Will it succeed or will it fail? Check out the county's wireless website for updates on the project." Of course, the real reason this is worth posting is it's because this is the county where Rob, myself and a number of the others live.
This initiative is being funded without taxpayer dollars and is one of the most ambitious wireless deployments in the U.S. Will it succeed or will it fail? Check out the county's wireless website for updates on the project." Of course, the real reason this is worth posting is it's because this is the county where Rob, myself and a number of the others live.
and the telcos used their lobbying dollars to CRUSH the effort. Good luck Washtenaw!
I am not left-handed, either!
...this is the county where Rob, myself and a number of the others live in.
... and work as professional editors.
People who disagree with you are not automatically evil, greedy, or stupid.
If this can work in the U.S., presumably it would work even better in the UK with similar internet usage and a much higher population density.
Probably not. Wikipedia:
c higan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washtenaw_County,_Mi
lists the area of the county at 723 square miles and the summary says 6000 radios. 723/6000 is 0.1205. So a typical tower is going to cover just over a tenth of a square mile, which is less than 2000 feet on a side. Unless you are flying pretty low, you aren't going to get much of a signal.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
People are acting like the money is free. Trouble is a great many people in that county are going to be taxed for a service that a good number will never get to use.
So? A great many people never go down to the public parks, or use the public baseball fields or drive on that county road out in the middle of farm country. The question is not whether everyone will use it, but whether the benefit to the people will be greater than the expense. Will the people benefit by the increased tourism, real estate sales, and reduced cost to local businesses this will provide even if they don't use it directly? It seems likely.
Sorry, if even one trailer exist at a local school it should the first thing addressed.
The public schools in Washtenaw country are well funded.
Quit diverting money from projects already starved of cash.
What projects would those be that people want more?
Internet access at reasonable speeds in Washtenaw county as in many places is provided by the Cable company ($60/month) or the phone company (DSL is $70/month). These outrageous prices hurt everyone. I'm happy the county is instituting public wireless. It saves me money and my neighbors' money and local businesses' money. The general public may not need internet access, but they don't need parks either. The public does want it and so do the businesses. It will almost certainly be cheaper than the current system. I'd rather some of my tax dollars were wasted subsidizing internet access for the poor and those in more rural areas than help fund the monopoly telecos that are bleeding me for money now.