Municipal WiFi
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Municipal WiFi Discussion:
Class notes, 3/13
Why have Municipal WiFi?
What problems are cities trying to solve?
- Economic Development
- Attract Young Talent
- But how effective is municipal wifi as a tool in this direction?
- "Drop in the bucket" - only a $20M profit
- Other factors may far outweigh this kind of program
- Education, esp. higher education
- Tolerance of diversity
- Social "buzz," network effects
- Attract New Business
- Conventions and other business meetings
- "A city on the move" - shed rust-belt image
- But see above; other factors are probably far more important to this perception.
- Be the first city to do it, leads to tourism
- Counterpoint: technology lock-in
- If wireless is turned into a public utility, then we might miss out on some technological improvements that would've been brought along by a free market.
- E.g. WiMAX - better than 802.11; should cities wait?
- The rapid advancement of network technology cuts both ways: going with any one could create lockin. But new developments come along so often; waiting too long would freeze up the whole process.
- Counter to the counterpoint: the need to exploit tech for profit creates its own lockdowns. See Bluetooth restrictions in Verizon phones.
- At the bottom, is the Internet different from electricity? Is there a reason that municipalities and states should (or shouldn't) stay out of network services?
- Network tech is currently developing much more quickly than electricity, and public services are (at least conventionally) much slower to develop.
- But, the Internet has piggybacked on existing public utility technologies for quite some time.
- Reasons for having public utilities in the first place: is it because they're important, or because the government is the only organization with the resources to get the infrastructure in place?
- Or, to ensure consistent access and universal use - don't want private entities e.g. restraining trucks from running on the roads.
- If wireless is turned into a public utility, then we might miss out on some technological improvements that would've been brought along by a free market.
- Attract Young Talent
- Bridging the Digital Divide