The Economist on Swindon’s muni Wi-Fi plans
Swindon (UK) is getting a municipal Wi-Fi network, thanks to a joint venture with a local firm. News reports say that the network will cost £1 million and require 1400 access points, but details are sketchy and there is skepticism about the ability of Swindon and the service provider to pull this off.
Despite that, The Economist felt compelled to weigh in with its own opinion about muni wireless:
Unlike many of the American municipal Wi-Fi schemes, which aim to bring the internet to the unwired poor, this one is explicitly commercial. The project is a joint venture called Digital City UK, split between the council, Rikki Hunt, a local businessman, and aQovia, a technology firm. Free access will be restricted to a few hours a day. Those wanting more can pay for an unlimited service that will be faster than that offered by mobile-phone companies. Mr Hunt reckons that bits of local government, such as the police force and the local NHS, will want to use the network, giving it a ready-made customer base.
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1M pounds for 1,400 APs works out to about 700 pounds per AP – and that’s including the outdoor AP itself, installation, backhaul, back-end (SW & HW), internet connectivity, maintenance etc. Does this sound reasonable to anyone?
Hi,
We are deploying 4-Radio Wireless Routers (with antennae/cable et all) at around $500 each (around 32k of them) in India. I dont see why it cant be done at 700 pounds.
Unlikely a very good radio at that price. Probably an indoor 100MW radio stuck in an outdoor enclosure.
Assuming that other Home based WiFi AP’s are in the area the user experience will be bad as the noise floor will be too high.
In english…you probably will be able to see the AP’s on your “available networks” page but not able to talk to it with a Laptop or iPhone….
The vendor supplying the radios will probably be out of business within 2 to 3yrs. Big issue in the USA. Ask Spokane WA.
You get what you pay for……..