nanog mailing list archives
Re: Muni Fiber and Politics
From: Aaron <aaron () wholesaleinternet net>
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:27:16 -0500
So let me throw out a purely hypothetical scenario to the collective:What do you think the consequences to a municipality would be if they laid fiber to every house in the city and gave away internet access for free? Not the WiFi builds we have today but FTTH at gigabit speeds for free?
Do you think the LECs would come unglued? Aaron On 7/21/2014 8:33 PM, Miles Fidelman wrote:
I've seen various communities attempt to hand out free wifi - usually in limited areas, but in some cases community-wide (Brookline, MA comes to mind). The limited ones (e.g., in tourist hotspots) have been city funded, or donated. The community-wide ones, that I've seen, have been public-private partnerships - the City provides space on light poles and such - the private firm provides limited access, in hopes of selling expanded service. I haven't seen it work successfully - 4G cell service beats the heck out of WiFi as a metropolitan area service.When it comes to municipal fiber and triple-play projects, I've generally seen them capitalized with revenue bonds -- hence, a need for revenue to pay of the financing. Lower cost than commercial services because municipal bonds are low-interest, long-term, and they operate on a cost-recovery basis.Miles Fidelman Aaron wrote:Do you have an example of a municipality that gives free internet access to it's residents?On 7/21/2014 2:26 PM, Matthew Kaufman wrote:I think the difference is when the municipality starts throwing in free or highly subsidized layer 3 connectivity "free with every layer 1 connection"Matthew Kaufman (Sent from my iPhone)On Jul 21, 2014, at 12:08 PM, Blake Dunlap <ikiris () gmail com> wrote: My power is pretty much always on, my water is pretty much always on and safe, my sewer system works, etc etc... Why is layer 1 internet magically different from every other utility? -BlakeOn Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 1:38 PM, William Herrin <bill () herrin us> wrote:On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:20 AM, Jay Ashworth <jra () baylink com> wrote: Over the last decade, 19 states have made it illegal for municipalitiesto own fiber networksHi Jay, Everything government does, it does badly. Without exception. There are many things government does better than any private organization is likely to sustain, but even those things it does slowly and at an exorbitant price. Muni fiber is a competition killer. You can't beat city hall; once built it's not practical to compete, even with better service, so residents are stuck with only the overpriced (either directly or via taxes), usually underpowered and always one-size-fits-all network access which results. As an ISP I watched something similar happen in Altoona PA a decade and a half ago. It was a travesty. The only exception I see to this would be if localities were constrained to providing point to point and point to multipoint communications infrastructure within the locality on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis. The competition that would foster on the services side might outweigh the damage on the infrastructure side. Like public roads facilitate efficient transportation and freight despite the cost and potholes, though that's an imperfect simile. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William Herrin ................ herrin () dirtside com bill () herrin us Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/> Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
-- ================================================================ Aaron Wendel Chief Technical Officer Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097) (816)550-9030 http://www.wholesaleinternet.com ================================================================
Current thread:
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics, (continued)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Constantine A. Murenin (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics goemon (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Blake Dunlap (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Matthew Kaufman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Aaron (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Ray Van Dolson (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Ryan Wilkins (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Aaron (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Matthew Kaufman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Miles Fidelman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Aaron (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Miles Fidelman (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Constantine A. Murenin (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics - ENDGAME Jay Ashworth (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics - ENDGAME Mikael Abrahamsson (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics - ENDGAME Bruce H McIntosh (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics - ENDGAME Mikael Abrahamsson (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics - ENDGAME Jay Ashworth (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics - ENDGAME Michael Hallgren (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Ray Soucy (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Scott Helms (Jul 22)