MuniWireless

My trip to Ghana was unexpected and I was given a couple of days to prepare for a 5800-mile flight to Accra. I was asked to participate in the West Africa ICT Road Map to Opportunities Conference. Since I have spent much time in Eastern Europe over the past 4 years, this trip presented itself as an opportunity to catch up on the changes which have been taking place in Africa since my visit last year to Senegal. To say…

Prestonsburg, Kentucky (pop. 4000) is delivering free Wi-Fi service in the center of town for a mere $8500. The secret: they are using Meraki’s inexpensive wireless access points. The city had issued a public tender for its network but the bidders were asking too much money (in some cases over $100,000). Meraki’s equipment is used by in San Francisco and in many developing countries where wireless mesh equipment from mainstream vendors is simply too expensive for the local ISPs.

Rural towns…

Recently, I had the honor of speaking to city managers across the state of Ohio presenting:  “Economic Development and Broadband – A Marriage Made in Heaven.”  The response to this presentation was overwhelming.  Here is a summary.

Wireless is, of course, about improving productivity through technical applications and human resource management.  But, how clear is the role that broadband and wireless play in creating and attracting jobs and tourism to today’s City Managers and Mayors?

Today’s economic development environment demands a focus…

Craven County, North Carolina (pop. 95,000) is deploying a wireless broadband network that will initially connect five schools in rural areas. It will also be used for the police and fire departments. Recently, the county installed a fiber optic network but it does not reach all communities. As a result, they will also use wireless to connect those towns without fiber. Craven County has hired Windchannel to deploy the network.

Deploying wireless broadband networks makes sense in a lot of rural…

Om Malik posted an article today about American ISPs offering metered broadband plans. He says that Time Warner will be the first major US cable company to offer such a plan. I supposed if all you do is check email and occasionally look at websites, it’s not a bad idea. However, from what I’ve seen in the past, I would never go for metered broadband and I hope that it never takes hold anywhere.

A look back at history

When I moved…