[1st-mile-nm] Muni Wireless Is Dead. Here Comes a New Way to Connect

[Richard Lowenberg]

Quoting Gary Gomes <ggomes at soundviewnet.com>:

> This article from Wired lays out a way forward - now all we in New Mexico
> need is the deep pocketed donor(s) to kick-start the process. :-)
> Gary
------

Not so fast, Gary.
     A link to the OneEconomy announcement was also posted to this list last
week.  I don't have time to address all of the initiatives cited in the Wired
article, but do know this:
     OneEconomy has been doing good work for many years, and this new 
initiative
to provide broadband in partnership with AT&T, to 50,000 people is a good
project.   But it is not going to answer our needs in New Mexico.   As they
have to date, they will be working in major urban centers (possibly
Albuquerque) to bring connectivity to poor apartment complexes, 
primarily.  This means improved access, but not fiber speeds, to an 
average of 1000
residents in 50 cities; or greater numbers of high density dwellers in NYC,
Phila., L.A., Oakland, Chicago, etc., with fewer in smaller cities.
     Computer training and access centers, educational outreach programs, and
improved urban connectivity are important pieces of the grand broadband
networking puzzle, but I doubt that the programs cited in the article are the
answer to our rural and urban New Mexico needs and possible solutions.  
  I have
not contacted the program staffs, yet.   If you or others do, and find 
out that
they want to help in this region/state, please let us know.
      The 'open fiber' model that Las Cruces and a few other NM 
communities have
been looking at, will make a lot more sense, in that if properly 
structured, it
can pay its own way, generate added revenues, and provide true broadband to a
great many residents, businesses and institutions.
Richard

-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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