Municipal wireless fails because they could not profitably fund all the talent and training it takes to not only start one up but to actually operate one. I haven't seen a business plan that is profitable within 2 years of startup and that's with people willing to work 60-80 hour weeks for little or no pay. Imagine what those numbers look like with union costs and wages, benefits, etc...
Now add in the specialization of the staff versus the multi-technical capabilities of a typical WISP operator and the average staff. If people can't keep up, we get different people until we find those that are good for the business. Municipalities don't do that and their average employee is usually not the best and brightest with nowhere near the motivation of private industry staff. Rory -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Seth Mattinen Sent: Tuesday, November 7, 2017 3:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Muni Network On 11/7/17 10:37 AM, Adam Moffett wrote: > Most water systems are municipal. A handful of electric companies are > municipal. In principal there's no reason a municipal internet > service couldn't succeed. > > I think municipal broadband hasn't often worked out because people > involved underestimate how difficult and/or expensive it's going to be. > We could think up plenty of sarcastic ways to say this, but I think > that's the root of the problem. > With water and electricity if the customer has a problem on their side of the meter there's an entire industry of electricians and plumbers that will fix it or make changes. Also, the customers generally accept such as fact, and will call an electrician or plumber. And often the plumber or electrician won't be able to come out the same day. Now with internet service, customers generally seem to expect that their ISP should handle everything end to end plus anything tangentially related to the interwebz immediately. ~Seth
