Is free municipal wifi good?
Philadelphia is considering investing $10M to blanket 135 square miles with wifi coverage.
Some people for whom I have the highest respect, and from whom I’ve learned a lot, I anticipate are going to denounce this. Their argument is that the government is exactly the wrong entity to make decisions best made by the market. Why? Because:
Government agencies are ill-equipped to make technical decisions.
Governments are corrupt. The incumbents have too much influence.
Even if Philadelphia makes the right decision, it will lock the city into one technology that will be hard to displace.
There is no such thing as “the” right solution. That’s why markets propose multiple solutions.
Providing government subsidized access kills innovation. New ideas won’t be able to compete.
Access prices are already dropping. The market will solve this problem without the corrupt and leaden hand of government.
If people want access, generally they can get it. Most of the country already is within range of a broadband access provider, and most people could afford it if they thought it were worthwhile.
No, providing broadband access is not like building highways. The nature and economics of real property are far different from the nature and economics of bits.
These are serious arguments (which I’ve abridged too much) and I find them persuasive. And yet, both my head and my heart say “Woohoo! Go, Philadelphia!”
I agree with my friends that free markets work better than governments when it comes to creating and delivering innovative technology. I take that as a rule of thumb, not a principle: It’s what we should assume is the case unless there are reasons to think otherwise, but there’s no taint to violating it when it makes sense to do so.
And in this case, I think delivering free (or very cheap) wifi to Philadelphia for $10M makes too much sense.
It would knock one rail off the fence of the digital divide. It would hurt the market’s ability to innovate at the infrastructure layer but give a huge boost to citizen innovation at the creative works layer. And, by the way, I bet there would still be market innovation in providing services that are economically feasible only if wifi is made a part of the assumed infrastructure of a city…just as the market will start providing infrastructure innovation that, yes, competes with free. Most of all, once a physical metropolis has virtual connectivity as part of its geography, we will see unpredictable, emergent effects, especially in group-forming.
I am certain that Philadelphia will make a sub-optimal decision about how to deliver on the promise. I am certain that the decision will be tainted by political considerations, including some marginally corrupt ones. I am certain that within 2 years, the market will have advanced significantly beyond how Philadelphia has implemented wifi. But the potential benefits are big enough to make this worthwhile. And I have enough faith in the market to believe it will jump in at the first chance to improve and extend the government-issue connectedness Philadelphia may provide its citizens.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
Municipal Co-Operative WiFi ISP – We are looking for townships that are interested in private sector funding under Co-Op enviornment.
MUNICIPAL WIRELESS CO-OPERATIVE OFFER!!
To all rural communities, please contact us!
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Mission Statement
To seek a cooperative arrangement from interested communities who desire to partner with Alarius-Net for the purpose of offering the local residents, the business community and the municipal government a 3rd choice for Broadband Internet Access, and the first municipal mesh wireless option that supports and provides a ubiquitous blanket of advanced wireless technologies that serve the entire community foot print.
Primary Goals:
To ensure that the communities contacted understand that we are not soliciting them to engage in a wireless endeavor costing the community millions of dollars to build an infrastructure and to then leave them to maintain it themselves. *This is always an option, but not one preferred by most rural or underserved communities with a small and tight budget.
To ensure that the communities contacted understand that little to NO capital outlay on the part of the town to build or run the proposed service is required for most of our Co-Op options. We finance and build the infrastructure, and run the Co-Op ourselves in most Co-Op scenarios.
To ensure that the new Co-Op introduces a less costly competitive broadband option for residents and businesses within the community’s foot print.
To provide wholesale or “Free†use of infrastructure for all Town offices. Depending on what flavor of “Co-Op†is selected by the municipality.
To provide a wholesale or a “Free†and dedicated network to support Public Safety needs. Depending on what flavor of “Co-Op†is selected by the municipality.
Primary Objectives:
Creation of a more competitive market for Internet Access which should drive better price points and value for the town.
To introduce a reduction in the Town’s operating budget due to cost savings introduced by the cooperative arrangement with the town being a “cornerstone clientâ€.
To guarantee an increased efficiency of municipal operations with the introduction of “Wi-Fiber†gigabit+ licensed microwave technology.
To introduce public safety technologies like video surveillance, tag recognition, automatic WiFi “utilities†meter reading, High Speed Mobility for law enforcement, healthcare “Mobility†for telemedicine, Homeland Security WiFi Mesh, video conferencing and streaming and many other technological advances.
Desired Outcome:
To successfully gain an audience with your community leaders to review a number of proposed “Co-Op†options.
Ultimately, if any options qualify as a possible viable project, a movement to make up project plans is brought up at a subsequent town meeting.
Co-Operative Project Fruition and a satisfied Community.
Key Notes:
Alarius-Net partners with Agility Solutions for lease financing and WiFi consultation. Bill McNamara of Agility Solutions can be contacted for reference or questions concerning our infrastructure financing, technical consultation, implementation questions, and any other municipal or WiFi deployment or ongoing operational questions that you may want answered by our experienced consultants and subject matter experts.
http://www.agilitysolutions.net
Alarius-Net uses the finest carrier grade microwave hardware, towers and installation practices.
Alarius-Net partners with over 80 carriers for bandwidth and dial-tone “wholesaleâ€.
Alarius-Net uses open source Linux servers and appliances for all email, file storage, SAN, DNS, IDS, VoIP IPBX, and other core applications.
PS
It’s election time. lol
Laz Sanchez
Alarius-Net
407-756-7109 cell
[email protected]
http://alarius-net.com
for more information on municipal WIFI check out this link
http://www.newmillenniumresearch.org/archive/wifireport2305.pdf