Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

I agree with you in supporting this initiative.

In the last paragraph you mention sub-optimality, politics, technological innovation as characteristics of the Philly decision. I was hard pressed, frankly, to think of many/any, so called, free market decisions that couldn't be characterised as having the same features.

Don't you think the conventional conservative "market" meme is in need of a major re-framing? I seriously doubt that any of the attributes that we tend to mindlessly associate with it (and which are highlighted in your post) are anything more than cynically mythical for the practitioners, e.g., the Halliburtons of the world, and wishful thinking for its victims, e.g., just about anyone on the globe who has either tried "free-trade" with the US or, alternatively, been invaded by same for murky reasons that look suspiciously like an exhumed manifest destiny.

...edN

Over at Three-Toed Sloth, Cosma Shalizi has an item up about how the New Deal's electrification program enabled the appliance market to take off in the United States: http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/weblog/239.html

Why has this never happened with Cable Television? (Or has it?)

You write:

"I agree with my friends that free markets work better than governments when it comes to creating and delivering innovative technology."

I'm not an expert in this area, but look at cell phones. WHy are we so behind Asia and Europe? I believe I've hear it said it is because we just let the free market have free reign. We would have been much better off deciding on a standard and mandating that all carriers conform. Of course the free market true believers would have yelled that this was unecessary interference, regulatory oppression, etc. Also look at the success of Airbus. I wonder how well they would have been able to compete in the "free market" aginst Boeing without government support.

Just about all of the popular thinking about the so-called "free market" is pure bullshit.

I don't mean to pull the discussion off-topic, but government support is a reality in every country. The issue is how government support should be delivered. (As an example, Boeing, like Airbus enjoys a degree of government support, although it is delivered through research, defence programs and 'soft' financing rather than hard cash.)

The Philadelphia government should think about whether and how it is going to dispose of its network in a few years. Wireless doesn't strike me as a 'strategic' business for a government to be in for the long-haul (unlike fiber ducts, where a degree of government involvement is probably a good idea).

I'm in the biz of providing WiFi services at some SoCal installations. (RV Parks, coffee shops). It strikes me that it is not governments' job to provide telecom services, especially those that are currently provided through private enterprise. Do I want my city throwing ten million at WiFi? Uh...no. I'd rather they spend it on roads and cops. And I especially don't like the idea of government getting into a business (that has plenty of qualified players) and driving the market value down by givin the service away for little or nothing.

Personal opinion here: Government is here to serve public NEED. If it wants to foster innovation and investment in technologies, very cool. But it should not try to be what it is not: a fleet-footed technology-service provider.

Rondo

Hmm, now imagine providing VoIP over that!?!?

http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/z2004-09-03-WeinbergerPhillieWifiFreeMarket

municipal wifi

A couple of points:

The standardization and affordability of wireless access through laptops, etc that now come standard with wireless cards combined with the extreme user-friendliness of the software makes for a potential new, extremely large, class of citizens that can do their jobs, whether public or private, with much greater efficiency.

Free Market? I'am as big of a capitalist as any normal person BUT if Big Tel decides there isn't enough profit, they WILL NOT build out, thus leaving citizens in the technological dark whilst other cities who are "profitable" benefit and jump forward leap years.

Municipal Co-Operative WiFi ISP - We are looking for townships that are interested in private sector funding under Co-Op enviornment.

MUNICIPAL WIRELESS CO-OPERATIVE OFFER!!

To all rural communities, please contact us!

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mission Statement

To seek a cooperative arrangement from interested communities who desire to partner with Alarius-Net for the purpose of offering the local residents, the business community and the municipal government a 3rd choice for Broadband Internet Access, and the first municipal mesh wireless option that supports and provides a ubiquitous blanket of advanced wireless technologies that serve the entire community foot print.

Primary Goals:
To ensure that the communities contacted understand that we are not soliciting them to engage in a wireless endeavor costing the community millions of dollars to build an infrastructure and to then leave them to maintain it themselves. *This is always an option, but not one preferred by most rural or underserved communities with a small and tight budget.
To ensure that the communities contacted understand that little to NO capital outlay on the part of the town to build or run the proposed service is required for most of our Co-Op options. We finance and build the infrastructure, and run the Co-Op ourselves in most Co-Op scenarios.
To ensure that the new Co-Op introduces a less costly competitive broadband option for residents and businesses within the community’s foot print.
To provide wholesale or “Free” use of infrastructure for all Town offices. Depending on what flavor of “Co-Op” is selected by the municipality.
To provide a wholesale or a “Free” and dedicated network to support Public Safety needs. Depending on what flavor of “Co-Op” is selected by the municipality.

Primary Objectives:
Creation of a more competitive market for Internet Access which should drive better price points and value for the town.
To introduce a reduction in the Town’s operating budget due to cost savings introduced by the cooperative arrangement with the town being a “cornerstone client”.
To guarantee an increased efficiency of municipal operations with the introduction of “Wi-Fiber” gigabit+ licensed microwave technology.
To introduce public safety technologies like video surveillance, tag recognition, automatic WiFi “utilities” meter reading, High Speed Mobility for law enforcement, healthcare “Mobility” for telemedicine, Homeland Security WiFi Mesh, video conferencing and streaming and many other technological advances.

Desired Outcome:
To successfully gain an audience with your community leaders to review a number of proposed “Co-Op” options.
Ultimately, if any options qualify as a possible viable project, a movement to make up project plans is brought up at a subsequent town meeting.
Co-Operative Project Fruition and a satisfied Community.

Key Notes:
Alarius-Net partners with Agility Solutions for lease financing and WiFi consultation. Bill McNamara of Agility Solutions can be contacted for reference or questions concerning our infrastructure financing, technical consultation, implementation questions, and any other municipal or WiFi deployment or ongoing operational questions that you may want answered by our experienced consultants and subject matter experts.

http://www.agilitysolutions.net

Alarius-Net uses the finest carrier grade microwave hardware, towers and installation practices.
Alarius-Net partners with over 80 carriers for bandwidth and dial-tone “wholesale”.
Alarius-Net uses open source Linux servers and appliances for all email, file storage, SAN, DNS, IDS, VoIP IPBX, and other core applications.

PS

It's election time. lol

Laz Sanchez
Alarius-Net
407-756-7109 cell
laz.sanchez@yahoo.com
http://alarius-net.com

for more information on municipal WIFI check out this link

http://www.newmillenniumresearch.org/archive/wifireport2305.pdf