I think that if Chaska can do a wifi plan and make it work, that the population density of Minneapolis would make such a plan twice as successful.
However, I imagine that there is either some kind of clause in the Time Warner contract with the city that already grants an unnecessary degree of exclusivity to the company in term of cable access that prevents such an action. Or, even if there is no such clause, that the stink that TWC would raise at the prospect of a municipal service stealing their 50 dollar a month cable modem subscribers would be sufficient to squelch any such plan. The Strib article also points out a couple of other barriers that may arise - namely interference (but that seems to be a minor problem that has been dealt with many times over by existing wifi hotspots) and the desirability of waiting for an emerging protocol called winext which is supposed to be a big step up. What I don't understand is how my previous residence in Sauk Rapids had TWO cable companies competing (whoa!) for my business, but here in Minneapolis we get a an absolute monopoly. Rates reflected the competition, I might add. That's why I switched to satellite and dsl. aaron klemz cooper ===== ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Aaron Klemz, Instructor of Speech-Communication Century College White Bear Lake, MN Politix blog: www.bloggerk.blogspot.com Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
