[wirelesstoronto-discuss] NYT editorial - citywide wireless internet projects

[j.roks]

let's do let's find replace and repost.

=j


On 7-Apr-08, at 10:22 AM, Hanna <cho.hanna at gmail.com> wrote:

> a nice editorial from the NYT last week.  replace "American" with  
> "Canadian", and "Earthlink" with "Toronto Hydro", and we have a  
> comparable  commentary that could be applied to our own city's  
> situation.  Toronto Hydro is sniffing around for buyers, looking for  
> their own 'strategic change in direction'...i.e. they're not turning  
> a profit, so lofty rhetoric, potential of its infrastructure, and  
> promises bedamned?
>
> ====================
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/opinion/29sat4.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
>
> March 29, 2008
> Editorial
> Broadening Broadband
>
> The big problem in providing Internet service to rural America is  
> often called "the last mile" — the difficulty in reaching the smalle 
> st communities and farthest-flung houses and farms. In cities, that  
> problem might be called "the last block" — the difficulty in reachin 
> g every neighborhood, no matter how poor.
>
> For a while, many American cities, caught up in a tide of  
> technological and fiscal optimism, promised to try to make Internet  
> coverage available to all by making it citywide, wireless and low- 
> cost or even free.
> That has proved to be harder than it seemed at first. EarthLink, an  
> Internet provider that was partnering with Philadelphia, has pulled  
> out of a much-heralded project there, and other service providers  
> are rethinking similar projects.
>
> EarthLink is calling it a change in strategic direction. What that  
> phrase means, simply, is where's the profit? It is a reasonable  
> question. But for the people who have been left without Internet  
> service as municipal wireless plans have collapsed, there are no  
> reasonable answers, only an all-too-familiar barrier between them  
> and the information age.
>
> The neighborhoods that most need low-cost, public wireless service  
> now find themselves largely dependent on Internet access through  
> public libraries. This may not sound like a terrible thing, but have  
> you seen what's happened to the budgets — and the operating hours  
> — of public libraries?
>
> To cities and Internet providers, municipal Wi-Fi looked like an  
> ideal partnership. Philadelphia gave EarthLink free access to  
> utility poles for mounting wireless routers. EarthLink promised to  
> build hot spots, offer low-cost residential service and provide  
> still lower-cost access for the poorest customers.
>
> The costs of building a network turned out to be higher than  
> expected — at a time when prices for private Internet service were d 
> ropping. It also hurt, in Philadelphia's case, that there was a majo 
> r change at EarthLink, which went from being an advocate of municipa 
> l Wi-Fi to a company determined to cut costs.
>
> Broadband service is no longer a luxury. It has become a basic part  
> of the infrastructure of education and democracy. EarthLink should  
> fulfill the commitments it made. Even in these tough economic times,  
> cities should keep pushing municipal Wi-Fi and looking for partners  
> and plans that can make it a reality.
>
>
> -- 
> hanna
>
> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
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