New on BroadbandCensus.com | Lessons Learned from Municipal Failures
Chuck Sherwood
-------- Original Message --------
| Subject: | New on BroadbandCensus.com | Lessons Learned from Municipal Failures |
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| Date: | Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:22:27 -0400 |
| From: | Drew Clark (BroadbandCensus.com News) <ne...@broadbandcensus.com> |
| To: | Drew Clark (New on BroadbandCensus.com) <ne...@broadbandcensus.com> |
News
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Freedom to Connect Panelist Probe Municipal Failures, Contemplate Lessons Learned
By Jesse Masai, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
SILVER SPRING, Md., March 31, 2009 – Not all attempts to deploy municipal wireless networks across the country were failures, panelists said at a packed Monday afternoon session of the Freedom to Connect conference here.
Rather, the speakers said, an attempt must be made to appreciation of the nuances of the experience.
Esme Vos, founder of the MuniWireless.com web site, said that public opinion had been too harsh on some of the city-sponsored networks in the United States.
The failures of Philadelphia and Earthlink, she said, could still offer vital lessons for the future, and were not without value. Additionally, wireless automated meter reading in municipalities was a vital development, she said.
Sascha Meinrath, research director at the New America Foundation, said that a more urgent question posed by the failures is “who will set forth a compelling alternative agenda to central mass media.”
Meinrath castigated broadband systems that do not meet the needs of the communities they purport to be serving.
Continued advocacy would be important in availing this technology to more people, he said, adding that “the right to communicate is an inalienable right to civil society.”
The critical question at the dawn of this century, he said, is who will control local connectivity.
He said America has a unique body politic, predicated on an engaging civil society and massive government intervention for major technological changes, though he added that there exist “cautionary tales” to learn from.
Novarum’s Ken Biba said municipal failures were testament to “the impracticability of free lunch” and “the perils of technology hype.”
A new paradigm, he said, would require: investment, not freedom from cost; an aversion towards technological hype; trust, but verification; and competitiveness.
Aaron Kaplan, one of the founders of FunkFeuer.at, a fully meshed and free wireless network in Vienna, Austria, shared the European experience. Vienna attempted to get things right at municipal levels through a call for research, public presentations competing ideas in telecommunications during the process of development and deployment.
Dewayne Hendricks, CEO of Dandin Group and of Tetherless Access, said that reviews of the failures should be cognizant of the historical and regulatory environment, and an appreciation that “tools make rules.”
News
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Municipal Networks Offer Reachable Challenge of Serving the Unserved
By Jesse Masai, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
SILVER SPRING, Md., March 30, 2009 – The morning session of the Freedom to Connect conference here probed the status and conditions of broadband quality and access in municipal America.
Tim Nulty of East Central Vermont Fiber said that there might, finally, be a consensus on “a reasonable model” for municipal telecom in the United States right now.
“Close to 60% of the population in rural areas and municipalities still does not have access to broadband,” Nulty lamented.
Nulty castigated those dismissing the need to develop and deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, saying their rationale was intellectually dishonest.
The idea that broadband for such areas was “infeasible” was mistaken, he said. It would be easier and cheaper to deploy fiber networks for the new technology much in the same was as it was to deploy copper lines for electricity countrywide.
Nulty said opposition to broadband development was coming from incumbent telecommunications companies with so much financially invested in the status quo.
Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve’s chief information officer, urged a community model that might satisfy competing local interests.
Gonick said that counties, schools, local and regional governments, public and private libraries, and museums all stand to gain if broadband technology is deployed in underserved and unserved areas.
“Education and health care would be particularly important,” Gonich said, noting that those two policy areas are still a major concern in rural and municipal America.
During the public comment session, audience members said that if broadband development in rural America is going to be subsidized by public funds, it would be necessary to complement the effort with “public accountability.”
Others asked for a deeper examination of the social dimension of the telecommunications. Others called for consideration of future technological discontinuations.
In response, the panelists called for open access, due regard for underserved communities, and creating an enabling platform for a competitive community and strategy for the country.
Press Releases
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Collins, Peter
Is Comcast a municipal cable provider?
Why do we insist on calling wireless networks owned by the private sector (EarthLink, MetroFi, etc) municipal wireless?
This misnomer continues to be used by the “Rizzos” of the world as a way to blame private sector failure on the evil “government.”
Change the term and take away the argument.
Regards,
Peter I. Collins
Information Technologies Manager
City of Geneva, Illinois
22 South First Street
Geneva, Illinois 60134
Phone: 630.232.1743
Cell: 630.742.7829
Fax: 630.262.0867
Bio: http://tinyurl.com/5d2gpw
"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."--Edmund Burke, British politician, writer
This message and any files or text attached to it are intended only for the recipients named above, and contain information that may be confidential or privileged. If you are not an intended recipient, you must not read, copy, use or disclose this communication. Please also notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete all copies of it from your system. Thank you.
P Please do not print this email unless it is absolutely necessary.
Collins, Peter
In fact, I’ll even coin it… “Pri-Fi”
Regards,
Peter I. Collins
Information Technologies Manager
City of Geneva, Illinois
22 South First Street
Geneva, Illinois 60134
Phone: 630.232.1743
Cell: 630.742.7829
Fax: 630.262.0867
Bio: http://tinyurl.com/5d2gpw
"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."--Edmund Burke, British politician, writer
This message and any files or text attached to it are intended only for the recipients named above, and contain information that may be confidential or privileged. If you are not an intended recipient, you must not read, copy, use or disclose this communication. Please also notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete all copies of it from your system. Thank you.
P Please do not print this email unless it is absolutely necessary.
Jim Baller
That’s really cool, Pete.
Jim Baller
The Baller Herbst Law Group
2014 P Street, NW
Suite
200
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 833-1144 (phone)
(202) 833-1180 (fax)