Tag: "Wireless"

Is Publicly Owned Information Infrastructure A Wise Public Investment for San Francisco?

Posted April 30, 2009 by christopher

San Francisco has launched an initiative to provide wireless access everywhere in the city. A number of Supervisors and residents have raised the possibility of the City following in the footsteps of over 200 other U.S. cities that already own information networks. To date, the City has not addressed that question, or at least no such study has been forthcoming.

Media Alliance invited the Institute for Local Self-Reliance to investigate the economics of a publicly owned information infrastructure. This report contains a preliminary financial analysis. Without complete information from the City, the numbers are not precise. But we think this analysis could serve as the basis for an informed discussion. We urge the City to undertake its own more detailed examination and make it public.

Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options

Posted April 2, 2009 by christopher

The United States, creator of the Internet, increasingly lags in access to it. In the absence of a national broadband strategy, many communities have invested in broadband infrastructure, especially wireless broadband, to offer broadband choices to their residents.

Newspaper headlines trumpeting the death of municipal wireless networks ignore the increasing investments by cities in Wi-Fi systems. At the same time, the wireless focus by others diverts resources and action away from building the necessary long term foundation for high speed information: fiber optic networks.

DSL and cable networks cannot offer the speeds required by a city wishing to compete in the digital economy. Business, government, and citizens all need affordable and fast access to information networks.

Today's decisions will lay the foundation of telecommunications infrastructure for decades. Fortunately, we already know the solution: wireless solves the mobility problem; fiber solves the speed and capacity problems; and public ownership offers a network built to benefit the community.

FAQ

Posted September 2, 2008 by christopher

FAQ

  1. What exactly is a Community Fiber Network?
  2. Who offers services?
  3. What does public ownership mean?
  4. Why publicly owned? Aren't private companies more efficient?
  5. I heard there is tons of dark fiber available - why isn't the City using that?
  6. What if a better technology comes along in a few years?
  7. Doesn't fiber break easily?
  8. Don't Comcast and Qwest already have fiber networks?
  9. Comcast has DOCSIS 3, isn't that as good as fiber?
  10. Should government compete with the private sector?
  11. Do we really need faster connections?
  12. Symmetric? Asymmetric? Huh?
  13. Why not wireless?
  14. What happened to the whole muni-wireless thing?
  15. What about WiMAX?

Answers

  1. What exactly is a Community Fiber Network?

    A Community Fiber Network is a community-owned broadband network that uses fiber-optic cables to connect all subscribers (the fiber cable goes all the way to the home, apartment, or business). It can offer phone, television, and Internet access. The capacity on the network is so great that it could offer tens of thousands of television channels while allowing thousands of people to talk on the phone while still offering Internet access at faster speeds than a cable modem system or DSL currently offer.

    2. Return to top

  2. Who offers the services?

    In some communities, the city government (Monticello) or local utility provides services (Chattanooga). In others, the network is only open to private service providers who compete for customers on equal terms (this would be an open network, Report: Open Access: The Third Way). Some cities have used a hybrid...

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