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Municipal Wi-Fi - A Promise Unfulfilled?
An anonymous reader writes "Jeff Merron at InformationWeek writes about the problems with municipal Wi-Fi, and how despite the high hopes of cities across the country there hasn't been much success deploying it in reality. He also examines the few successful applications of the technology, and tries to explore why more projects don't make it out of their infancy. 'Thus far, there have been a few true municipal Wi-Fi success stories and several spectacular failures. But more than half of municipal Wi-Fi networks remain only in the planning stages. The broad consensus among analysts and providers is that the only viable business models will be centered around municipal government applications, which appear to be able to provide cities with the ability to provide both better and more cost-efficient services for residents and increase city revenue. This will ensure that providers like EarthLink can recoup their capital costs within a few years.'"
But then the problem arises (and please correct me if I'm wrong) of users not having the correct hardware to connect to the better WiFi standards. My university has done a fairly good job maintaining a 802.11g network that services thousands of us at a time with little trouble, and plenty of people connect with plain-ol' wireless B. I know the university paid a lot for that, though, which is probably more than most municipalities are willing to pay per block.
Towns and cities can do this easily. It's so easy that it's trivial.
It's so easy that people deployed it themselves in disaster relief scenarios despite opposition from the government, rebellious little municipalities with practically no budget deployed it themselves, hell, soldiers are able to drop a bunch of little scurrying robots and set up a wireless mesh network in a blasted urban war zone.
The technology renders large amounts of infrastructure obsolete, turns the technology into a piece of infrastructure no different from roads and sewage, and makes some very profitable businesses defunct.
This is why established businesses oppose it and politicians are paid to prevent it. That's pretty much the sum of it.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
My fair city recently fell for this kind of scam. 802.11x is basically the absolute worst wireless spec to try and deploy over any area larger than a medium-sized house. Massive interference; everything from cordless phones to microwave ovens. Leaves destroy 90% of the signal. Leaves with fresh rain on them completely destroy even multipath.
Our city tried so that it could attract high-tech workers. They were gunning for a "revolutionary" wireless deployment using IP6 so they could do multicast groups with video. Over WiFi backhaul. F'ing brilliant. Even though Harrisonburg has some truly epic fails, in *this* case they did okay. They gave permission for a private company to do it, but refused to actually *pay* for them to do it. Naturally, the company failed.
The system was originally pitched as an offshoot of the electric company's fiber ring. The municipal wireless wasn't supposed to be about ubiquitous laptop and PDA internet. They were going to use Better Stuff (Motorola Canopy, or Navini, maybe) to create a city utility network. ISPs could sign up to provide internet and pay the city a fee per customer that signs up. In that way, fixed broadband last-mile backhauls *actually make sense*, though perhaps not financially.
Somehow, though, it turned into a "WiFi Cloud".
This is mostly due to one technology "adviser" from the local university that is a *complete* moron. I'm not sure how much money he makes off of recommending worthless technology ideas, but we'll just say that "Harrisonburg IP6 Wireless Network" was not his dumbest idea by a long shot.
As my sainted grandmother would say, "Bad cess to them!"
668: Neighbour of the Beast
The question we need to ask is if broadband access is required utility that is needed by everyone for economic development but isn't cost effective for private business. Should it be supplemented like roads, buses, trains and run by the government? Should it be a regulated monopoly like gas, water and electric? Non-profit co-op like some other utilities? Heavily regulated private business like airlines and railroads? Or remain what it is now.. unregulated and private?
Putting your faith in big corporations is crazy. They will screw you over every time, and not because of any particular person but a "good" corporation is built to screw its partners, suppliers, and customers out of every penny possible.
I actually don't condone putting your faith in the government or the private sector. In any case you have to get involved and keep a watchful eye. People tend to be inefficient, lazy, ineffective, and generally bad at getting things done. It really doesn't matter which type of organization they "work for", public or private, they're not going to do a good job unless someone keeps them on their toes.
Close... but Ile Sans Fil (Wireless Island) is apparently a non-profit group trying to bring free wireless to Montreal. Check out http://www.ilesansfil.org/
I strongly disagree. The difference between access when I bring my laptop to the park or library and access in my home and every other place in the area with a laptop or desktop; is enormous. Free wi-fi can replace existing internet access packages from local duopoly. I currently pay Comcast about $45 a month for internet access and I have to deal with their constant outages, outright blocking of VPN traffic to work (I have to SSH tunnel instead), and poor customer service. They are the most affordable option currently on the market.
My county is rolling out tiered wireless for the entire county including a low-speed access for free and several higher speed packages for $15 and $30 respectively. In my mind, the availability of such access will not only benefit me directly, but also benefit all the local businesses by removing their cost to provide such access, as well as allowing them free or cheaper access for business use. It may also help with the housing market slump, by providing additional incentive for people to move to this county. I'd say the cost is significant, but the benefits are also significant, although a lot harder to easily calculate.