[1st-mile-nm] Cities Struggle With Wireless Internet
Andrew Cohill
cohill at designnine.com
Wed May 23 06:46:00 PDT 2007
On May 21, 2007, at 10:45 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote:
> Here's a fairly long article from today's Houston Chronicle and the
> AP.
> It expands on an issue that I briefly mentioned at a small meeting
> held
> today in Santa Fe, to discuss and generate interest in a city fiber
> net.
>
> The economic model for muni-wireless deployments is increasingly being
> questioned, as some early deployments do not fulfill their
> intentions and
> promises.
>
What I am finding is that in some cases, the initial cost of wireless
(i.e. first year expenditures) are being compared to the thirty year
cost of fiber to "prove" that wireless is cheaper. A fairer
comparison would look at the thirty year cost of wireless with the
thirty year cost of fiber. When you do so, fiber becomes very
attractive price-wise. Over thirty years, the wireless radios and
equipment will have to be replaced several times. Fiber electronics
also have to be replaced, but in a fiber network, the electronics
represent a much smaller portion of the total system cost.
Richard's point about the economics is also appropriate. We're doing
very detailed cost analyses of service-oriented networks extended out
over many years, and it is very difficult to make wireless-only
networks perform financially. Video of all kinds, including business
videoconferencing needs, add substantially and positively to a
community broadband business model. Even newer N and WiMax wireless
systems can't handle ubiquitous video access and services, and the
rapid transition to HD video is accelerating the bandwidth gap faster
than the new wireless solutions can keep up.
Andrew
-------------------------------------------------
Andrew Michael Cohill, Ph.D.
President
Design Nine, Inc.
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