Re: Fwd: [BDPA-DigitalDivide] Philly Considers Wireless

Edward Cherlin <[email protected]> asks,

> Don't you think we could do it cheaper?

Could they not build and install quality access points for about $500/each?
If you had 10APs/sq mile that would be 1350x$500=$675,00.

Don't how to calculate the wiring costs.

My guess is they'd wire the APs to a few central places and then buy some fat pipes to the Internet.

But still $10M seems a bit high.


> ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
> 
> Subject: [BDPA-DigitalDivide] Philly Considers Wireless Internet 
> for All
> Date: Wednesday 01 September 2004 06:49 am
> From: "J. Edwin Sapp" <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> 
> Philly Considers Wireless Internet for All
> 
> By David B. Caruso
> The Associated Press
> Wednesday, September 1, 2004; 6:53 AM
> 
> 
> PHILADELPHIA -- For about $10 million, city officials believe
>  they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the
>  world's largest wireless Internet hot spot.
> 
> The ambitious plan, now in the works, would involve placing
>  hundreds, or maybe thousands of small transmitters around the
>  city - probably atop lampposts. Each would be capable of
>  communicating with the wireless networking cards that now come
>  standard with many computers.
> 
> Once complete, the network would deliver broadband Internet
>  almost anywhere radio waves can travel - including poor
>  neighborhoods where high-speed Internet access is now rare.
> 
> And the city would likely offer the service either for free, or
>  at costs far lower than the $35 to $60 a month charged by
>  commercial providers, said the city's chief information
>  officer, Dianah Neff.
> 
> "If you're out on your front porch with a laptop, you could dial
>  in, register at no charge, and be able to access a high speed
>  connection," Neff said. "It's a technology whose time is here."
> 
> If the plan becomes a reality, Philadelphia could leap to the
> forefront of a growing number of cities that have contemplated
> offering wireless Internet service to residents, workers and
>  guests.
> 
> Chaska, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis, began offering citywide
> wireless Internet access this year for $16 a month. The signal
>  covers about 13 square miles.
> 
> Corpus Christi, Texas, has been experimenting with a system
>  covering 20 square miles that would be used (for now) only by
>  government employees.
> 
> Over the past year, Cleveland has added some 4,000 wireless
> transmitters in its University Circle, Midtown and lakefront
> districts. The service is free, and available to anyone who
>  passes through the areas.
> 
> Some 1,016 people were logged in to the system at 2:20 Tuesday
> afternoon, said Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Case
>  Western Reserve University, which is spearheading the project
>  and paying for a chunk of it.
> 
> "We like to say it should be like the air you breathe - free and
> available everywhere," Gonick said. "We look at this like PBS or
>  NPR. It should be a public resource."
> 
> In New York, city officials are negotiating to sell wireless
>  carriers space on 18,000 lampposts for as much as $21.6 million
>  annually. T- Mobile USA Inc., Nextel Partners Inc., IDT Corp.
>  and three other wireless carriers want the equipment to
>  increase their networks' capacity.
> 
> One part of the 15-year deal is cheap Wi-Fi phones for
>  neighborhoods where less than 95 percent of residents have home
>  phones. IDT, which has agreed to market the cheaper phone
>  service in those neighborhoods, would pay lower rates for poles
>  there than other companies would in wealthier areas.
> 
> Wireless technology has improved by leaps and bounds in recent
>  years and become drastically less expensive.
> 
> The new "wireless mesh" technology under consideration in
> Philadelphia has made it possible to expand those similar
>  networks over entire neighborhoods, with the help of relatively
>  cheap antennas.
> 
> Neff estimated it would cost about $10 million to pay for the
>  initial infrastructure for the system, plus $1.5 million a year
>  to maintain.
> 
> Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street, a technology buff who carries
>  a wireless handheld computer everywhere he goes, appointed a
>  14-member committee last week to work out the specifics of his
>  city's plan, including any fees, or restrictions on its use.
> 
> 
> ? 2004 The Associated Press
> 
> -- 
> Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist
> Encore Technologies (S) Pte. Ltd.
> The Village Information Society
> http://www.ryze.com/go/Cherlin
> 
> 
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