A while back, I raised the question on this List whether Minneapolis was venturing into the provision of high speed wireless internet connection.� I found out it was and I just got an update from Bill Becker at the city�s Office of Information Technology, which has been working on this for about a year. What I learned is very exciting and worthwhile sharing:
1) The City is indeed moving forward in providing wireless internet service in the city. 2) But not alone. It will be a partner, not the owner or provider of the service, as it does not have cash to do so (and my guess is it doesn�t want to contend with lawsuits from existing cable and DSL franchise providers). 3) It will soon release a Request for Proposal (scheduled for March), seeking for vendors to build the infrastructure and provide low-cost wireless internet service to the entire city � residential and commercial service.� A consortium of vendors working with the city may be a likely arrangement for building the system and providing the service.� 4) �Low-cost� is the key word here. While the RFP will apparently not specify the cost of service, Mr. Becker informed me that the cost benchmark is �clear� across the country and ranges from $16 � 24/month � significantly lower than our current cable or DSL service monthly costs. A key goal of the city is to ensure internet access by residents currently underserved (i.e. those who cannot afford current high-speed internet service); but also, wireless service doesn�t need to cost more than this.� 5) This begs the question of whether our cable and DSL providers will be unhappy with such an arrangement. It seems that Qwest and Time Warner are already making their unhappiness known.� Bill Becker clarified that the city has been careful in its approach (e.g. it�s not owning nor operating the service) to ensure that it is not vulnerable to law suits. 6) Minneapolis is one of 170 cities nationwide to be at some stage of progress in considering/providing wireless internet service, and hopes to have service up and running by year end or early next year. That�s good news! For more specifics, you can contact Bill Becker (he gave me permission to write this) at 673-3190. Jeanne Massey Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
