  TKJunkMail Enjoy the sun Premium join:2002-03-03 Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| City-wide WiFi won't be fought against by Verizon
Wonder of wonders. Verizon won't be opposing this rollout. I guess they feel they can win a fight against another private company in that marketplace.World Airwaves will pay the city a $10,000 franchise fee plus 20 percent of subscription revenues. The arrangement is similar to the deals municipalities strike with cable companies, said Jim Barnes, Harrisonburg's assistant economic development director for technology.
Private Internet providers have occasionally opposed government-operated broadband service. A spokeswoman for Verizon, which offers broadband service in Harrisonburg, said the company prefers private-public partnerships. "This isn't the city building one on their own. They've gone out and sought private partnership," said Christy Reap of Verizon. It is beginning to look like all these city/county-wide WiFi networks are starting to follow a standard business model. It goes out to bid; they pick a winner; and the private company builds, maintains, and charges access fees to the network. The city kicks in free access to poles, conduits, etc. And the winning bidder gets to charge other providers for access. And the city eventually gets a cut of the profits(if any) that the winning bidder makes and maybe some free access for police, fire, utility departments, etc.
The long term viability of this business model will depend on whether the winning bidder gets enough subscribers to cover their costs(capital and operating) and make a small profit. To date none of the existing WiFi projects has been around long enough to determine whether this is going to work or not. I guess we'll see. -- -- Join Red Room Forum My Web Page | |
|  nasadude
join:2001-10-05 Rockville, MD | uh oh looks like the incumbent telco was asleep at the switch here and let one of these muni things slip by. | |
|   bokamba Chengdu Rocks Premium join:2002-04-05 Falls Church, VA
·Verizon Online DSL
| A little background Harrisonburg is home to James Madison University, so the college students will probably be happy about this. The total population of the city is estimated at around 42,000. It's a little sparse, but not mountainous, so the signals will probably carry well. Here's the city's web page: »www.ci.harrisonburg.va.us/ | |
|   lupinia Premium join:2004-08-24 Harrisonburg, VA | I'm Out Of The Loop Holy crap, I live in Harrisonburg, how come I never heard about this? Sounds cool, I may sign up, we'll see how the pricing and speeds look  | |
|  |  lillitnn92
join:2004-09-18 Harrisonburg, VA | Re: I'm Out Of The Loop yup, was on local news at least a month ago. watch some TV once and a while  | |
|  |  |   lupinia Premium join:2004-08-24 Harrisonburg, VA | Re: I'm Out Of The Loop LOL, I only watch TV when I have nothing better to do  | |
|   inteller Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08 Tulsa, OK | before we all start cheering... ...this isnt free. The telcos really only fight against the free offerings. -- "WHEN THE LAUGH TRACK STARTS THEN THE FUN STARTS!" | |
|  | |  |
|
|