Sigh.
They mention a need for a new business model, their's being apparently to improve education via working with 30 universities.
Home users have been stuck with broadband being a secondary service.
- Telephone land lines => DSL
- Cable TV => give a channel or two to internet & phone services
- Cellular => LTE hopefully, MyFi for now.
This is really odd when the model should be fast internet (100Mb or so) which would serve for TV, phone, and internet .. but that requires a new service rather than modifying an existing one. There have been some interesting community based stunts like internet over power line.
Cybermesa, the local Santa Fe ISP, is exploring a WiFi deployment using modern antennas with neighborhoods sharing the wireless space to a landline, likely fiber.
I guess the question is the consumer at this point. We are already paying HUGE monthlies for cellular and cable, less so for landline phone. Why are they willing to pay these large bills but not willing to pay for higher bandwidth? It does seem to me that there is a business waiting to happen.
I know its unfashionable to look to consolidation, fast internet replacing landline, cellular and TV. But it seems to me that if it could be delivered, reducing the overall cost of these three, it would have a chance. I'd certainly jump on a reasonable solution.
After all, Planetary Resources and SpaceX are willing to take a chance on asteroids and space, why not something as simple as internet?
-- Owen