In response to this article by Jeremy Harrell in Long Island Business news covering part of Steve Levy's State of the County speech, (may be behind the costwall now) I wrote a letter to the editor regarding the exec's initial proposal of a wireless network blanketing Suffolk County. Folks from outside this area that I showed my letter to thought I made some good points, but my immediate colleagues said, "I guess you don't want to do any business with the County, eh?". To an extent, my colleagues may be right, but when you see that the direction of a project may not be starting off on the right foot, do you keep your mouth shut, even if it may affect your business negatively? As a technologist, existing wireless internet service provider and a taxpayer, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. One of my faults. My letter to the editor is quoted below.
I realize that it was just two lines in a speech, but the
accompanying statements in the article show a breathtaking lack of awareness by
our leaders of what is going on in the county and the country with existing
small businesses, the technology, and the market. Let’s do a network that really addresses our
needs, instead of copying Philly.
Most of the municipal networks in progress or proposed have
grown out of the lack of broadband in their regions. We’ve got one of the highest penetration rates
of broadband in the nation. Cringe at the price, but the product
outclasses anything else. Verizon is in gear, which promises two data
gushers into every house that can afford it. Wireless carriers
offer mobile broadband from Manhattan to Montauk. Small WISPs have bootstrapped themselves and built networks
that cover much of the county, including the Hauppauge Industrial Park.
At least two serve it today. You could have custom built them a net for the price
of the study mentioned. Is the county exec going to invite a goliath in
at below-market rates to squash the home team? There are already
companies that have bought licensed frequencies in the WiMAX bands that will
bring a third pipe into the house. What about BPL, which may be a fourth
pipe? There's no shortage of private and quasi-public efforts to cover the
county.
Take a focused approach that brings basic broadband to households that can't
currently afford $45.00/month, like Wyandanch, Riverhead, and North
Amityville. Do innovative
projects surrounding transportation and downtown revitalization, broadband on
mass transit, or net equipped van pools to get folks out of their single
occupant cars, which we’re choking on. That’s true innovation and
progress. Integrated systems matching commuters to destinations and
schedules, combined with networked jitneys that offer the prospect of a
productive commute. A visionary would offer service to the areas where folks
can't afford broadband, use the internet to get people on mass transit and into
the downtowns, rather than throwing a useless blanket over us. I wrote this stuck on a delayed LIRR
train. I couldn’t send it until I got home, because the MTA hasn’t been interested in proposals for bringing wi-fi to
rail cars. We could have put free wi-fi on every new railcar the MTA has for
less than what it cost them for the holiday giveaway, which didn’t help us out
here.