Re: Bait and Switch?

Thanks for the clarification. It's less about the anchor's function after
the fact, and more about commitment (and money) before the profits start
rolling in, then.

Makes sense, now that I know that Metro-Fi's executive board all come from a
background of sales, not technical. Meh.

On 05 Oct 2007 10:34:16 -0700, Russell Senior <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
> >>>>> "Brian" == Brian Moon <[email protected]> writes:
>
> Brian> What does "anchor tenancy" mean? What does it look like?  My
> Brian> first thought was of a shopping mall: a bunch of stores, mostly
> Brian> small, with a large store (Macy's or Sears, for example) as a
> Brian> big draw.
>
> Brian> But I don't know how that would work for municipal wireless.
>
> MetroFi gives away "free" wifi, but it also sells it, either without
> ads or in fixed-wireless service.  What MetroFi is asking for,
> essentially, is for the City to buy some amount of service so as to
> provide a funding stream to make themselves either solvent or perhaps
> more profitable than they are now (I have no way of knowing anything
> about their finances).  It looks like they are willing to walk away if
> the City doesn't do it.  However, the Willamette Week carried a story
> in August with this:
>
>    Kleier [the City's project manager] says that about six months ago,
>    the company asked him to buy more network subscriptions than the
>    city "could possibly afford."
>
> "We said our contract didn't have any commitments. And that was the
>    end of that discussion," Kleier says.
>
> This network was a business risk.  That's what makes America great,
> right?  The City has been admirably effective at insulating itself
> financially from that risk.
>
>
> --
> Russell Senior, Secretary
> [email protected]
>
> --
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