Comments on: Commentary: Will Broadband Projects Dodge the Missteps of Municipal Wireless?

By: Joe Citizen

Joe Citizen — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:36:47 +0000

Craig, your insightful article was weakened by your choice of examples. The Jackson TN ftth is a text book case of what not to do. Il conceived, corrupt leadership, poor execution, and bad management. Just look at what the local Gannet owned newspaper (Jackson Sun) had to say about them on May 11th 09, http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090511/NEWS01/305110015&s=a
They’re broke! It’s not that we do not desparately need an alternative to the RBOC, we just do not need government run ISP’s!

By: Rory Conaway

Rory Conaway — Sat, 09 May 2009 08:38:02 +0000

Craig, you are correct in stating that OpEx is a very large portion of the Capex. However, there are several ways to reduce that signficantly. One way is to reduce or eliminate manufacturer required warranties and support agreements. The second is to utilize standard windows based monitoring and management software. For example, our design utilizes hardware that requires no hardware contracts and equipmnet costs are less than $100 per radio if one fails. Secondary, management is handled by Windows based applications that doesn’t require specialized servers and training that can be done in a few hours, not days. If by using your numbers and our design, installation costs (in the west) are $10,000 per square mile then yearly costs are less than $2000 per square mile per year. That makes it significantly easier for Municipalities to afford that management fees. This type of system can also be upgraded to continuously take advantage of newer technologies at minimal costs for additional capacity and capability. That solves one financial problem that cities will have to address.

By: Craig Settles

Craig Settles — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:25:58 +0000

Kim,

I didn’t mean to overlook your role and contribution. I made the leap to the conclusion that Michael was there from the beginning without actually asking him since he was referred to me as “the person in charge.” I didn’t ask him how the project got started. I apologize profusely because I believe in giving everyone their just due for these efforts.

By: Kim Kersey

Kim Kersey — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:07:15 +0000

Mr. Settles,

I enjoyed your article regarding community collaboration for broadband stimulus funding applications. I agree that it will be the larger, compelling projects that deserve, and receive, the most attention.

I noted, with a bit of a wry smile, the comment about Michael Johnston driving JEA’s fiber project since its inception. I recently retired from JEA as Senior Vice President of Telecommunications after implementing and managing JEA’s project for nearly eight years. Michael came on board as a VP of IT for JEA midway through the project and was quite helpful in managing the technical functionality of our network. Michael is a very talented young man, and I appreciated his assistance.

Thanks for the good article.

Kim Kersey