The Miami Herald has a good article about small towns that act as utility companies, bringing broadband to their residents. The article points out that the development of broadband today mirrors that of electricity in the early 1900s when electric companies concentrated on bringing electricity to large cities and refused to expand service to rural communities. The Miami Herald has a good article about small towns that act as utility companies, bringing broadband to their residents. The article points out that the development of broadband today mirrors that of electricity in the early 1900s when electric companies concentrated on bringing electricity to large cities and refused to expand service to rural communities.
The Herald writes:
By the 1930s, 90 percent of urban residents had electricity, compared to 10 percent of rural dwellers. Some power companies said farmers couldn’t afford electricity and balked at the expense of stringing wires to rural homes. President Roosevelt’s Rural Electric Administration helped create 417 cooperatives to electrify the backwoods.
Proponents of municipal broadband say traditional providers, such as telephone and cable television companies, have been unwilling to upgrade their systems to serve rural customers. They compare it to the reluctance of power companies a century ago to expand beyond cities.
I see two trends. One is the push from the municipality itself to devote public funds to creating a wireless or wired broadband network. This resembles the traditional municipal utility role. The trouble with this approach is that it tends to be slow because it requires approval from the local government and can get stuck in the political process, especially if the project involves a very expensive wired infrastructure such as fiber to the home. Already we have seen how Qwest has successfully lobbied the Utah Senate to create roadblocks for Project UTOPIA in Utah. Municipalities may have to focus on bringing wireless broadband which is cheaper and faster to implement.
The other trend consists of individuals using their own money to set up municipal-wide wireless broadband networks using inexpensive hardware and open source software. Kenny Bain of Fastline Internet in Louisiana and Texas has unwired several towns; Richard Lander of Locustworld has done the same in the UK. Fastline uses gear from Locustworld. Unless municipalities deploy broadband networks, wired or wireless, in large numbers around the world, rural areas will have to rely on private initiatives such as Kenny’s and Richard’s. Fortunately, a number of community volunteer groups – BARWN in San Francisco and Portland Personal Telco – are leading the push towards privately deployed city-wide networks.
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