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The Star Tribune loves municipal wi-fi. Okay we get the message. You guys on the editorial board can keep pushing wi-fi in Minneapolis all you want. I have no doubt that the city is going to accept the network because they have to save face. The CIO ain’t going to risk her job over this. At PUSH this week not one, not two, but three different people told me they dropped wi-fi because it was way too unreliable. I hear this same story at least once a week. I know this service either works for you or it doesn’t. I’m not dumping on the USI guys because I believe they are trying hard to make this model work. The problem is that I think this technology is going to be short-lived. I wonder if the city has any provisions for getting out of this contract within the next 5 years?
The Star Tribune recently reported that US Internet is finishing the roll-out of WiFi services to the Minneapolis area. I don’t mean to dismiss the efforts by all the vendors involved but I think this is a case of too little too late.
Comcast is rolling out DOCSIS3 in the cities and advertising 50Mbps Internet. Qwest is fumbling its way through an ADSL2+ FTTN implementation and promising 12 and 20Mbps. Sprint, Verizon, and others are building out high speed wireless networks.
I’d hate to be competing against those big boys even with a monopoly contract. They can market you to death. They can trench in fiber and eventually tap unlimited bandwidth. And they can refresh their technology faster.
Wireless internet access will ultimately be driven by mobile devices rather than people looking for cheap access from their stationary home. I can access the net using the Sprint network on my 8830 blackberry all over the world. Why do I need municipal wifi?
The biggest benefit to this wifi service is that it provides people with another option (and a lower cost option at that) for connecting to the net. I’m just uncertain the business case will survive long term.
