The NYTimes article is not very well researched, there is another company in San Diego, that I have some experience with Lightpointe
that makes these units and has sold 400 or so. These guys target companies with multiple buildings in an office park or within a few blocks of eachother in a city. These lasers mounted on each rooftop are going to be much cheaper than tearing up the ground and laying fiber so it's almost a no brainer as far as costs go. The biggest issue with these is the weather (snow, rain, fog) but these can be accounted for with stronger lasers and shorter distances. Don't try and max out the range of these units in a city like Seattle, but in Houston or dry hot places you could push the limits of them a little more.
Here in MN the Body Ventura is offering, (and I'm not sure on the specifics) incentives for companies to bring high speed access to farm country to give farmers the advantage of "ecommerce" as he put it. So if that plan proves successful it may start in other areas as well.
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The NYTimes article is not very well researched, there is another company in San Diego, that I have some experience with Lightpointe that makes these units and has sold 400 or so. These guys target companies with multiple buildings in an office park or within a few blocks of eachother in a city. These lasers mounted on each rooftop are going to be much cheaper than tearing up the ground and laying fiber so it's almost a no brainer as far as costs go. The biggest issue with these is the weather (snow, rain, fog) but these can be accounted for with stronger lasers and shorter distances. Don't try and max out the range of these units in a city like Seattle, but in Houston or dry hot places you could push the limits of them a little more.
Here in MN the Body Ventura is offering, (and I'm not sure on the specifics) incentives for companies to bring high speed access to farm country to give farmers the advantage of "ecommerce" as he put it. So if that plan proves successful it may start in other areas as well.