>>>>> "Sam" == Sam Churchill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Sam> I don't understand how PTP is going to land a deal with PP&L, or Sam> get a bucket truck, or manage a system even if the city decides Sam> to give PTP MetroFi's equipment for free. And why should they. I think the idea that Michael had was to not use street lights, but mount the gear on the buildings of willing property owners instead, which addresses the PP&L problem. The bucket truck and permission to use it is probably the biggest obstacle. I don't think "managing a system" is much of an obstacle. We've been managing networks around town for a number of years now on zero money, so I'd think we've demonstrated capability there. Sam> I don't see why you should assume MetroFi WON'T take their gear Sam> down. Mike Rogoway seems to be the only one suggesting that. Well, we can't be certain that MetroFi won't take down their gear and dispose of it themselves, but given the history I think it's prudent to be prepared with some ideas in case lightning strikes and they fail to fulfill their promises. It isn't even clear that MetroFi even still exists. Sam> But even if the city gets Skypilot gear -- and it's worth, say Sam> $500/each (600x500=$300,000), it would be a temptation to sell it Sam> on EBay for $200-$250,000. My guess is that their aren't 680 SkyPilot buyers willing to pay $500 each. The first one, four months ago, had a bid of $750. I think if you tried to dump them all on ebay at once, by the time you got to the 50th, they'd be going for $0.99 each, plus shipping. But perhaps I exaggerate. Sam> SEI, OneEconomy and PTP management could burn though that in a Sam> year. Then where's the revenue stream? I don't want to speak for the other organizations, but PTP management has been remarkably frugal with it's minimal-to-non-existent funds. There is no particular reason to think that we'd be less frugal in building a network out of the ashes of MetroFi's gear. Sam> Still, I like the idea of running 1-2 mile hot zones in a dozen Sam> areas throughout the city. Put up 250 Skypilots, sell the Sam> rest. That would be handy for rich people with iPhones and Sam> Androids. I don't think it's much of a digital divide solution, Sam> though. Too expensive. Too bureaucratic. Not enough penetration. Sam> The digital divide solution is 2150 and white spaces, not WiFi. Where does the gear come from? It isn't a digital divide solution if everyone has to go out and buy new end-user gear. The reason people use wifi is that potential users already have wifi equipment. And really, how many active users can one of these 10 square mile towers support? 10 square miles in Portland has a lot of people in it, on average about 40,000, probably 80,000 in some parts. Are you telling me that there is a single base-station of 2150 MHz gear that can support the network-using-fraction of 80,000 people at peak time? I am not an RF engineer, so maybe I'm just dumb, but I would find that rather impressive if not astounding. I'd certainly want to see it before I bought in. -- Russell Senior, Secretary [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/ Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate Archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/ Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette List information: http://lists.personaltelco.net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
