Check-Out the latest Gimmick to INTERCEPT your WiFi Signal --- [ Here ]
Would you want a POLITICIAN listening in on your email ?)
Wireless network gains steam
Study says W.S. can offer access for
less than residents pay today
By Alex Babcock |
July 08, 2005 (Seminole Chronicle)
WINTER SPRINGS - The City Commission appears poised to push forward with a plan to provide wireless Internet access citywide following a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the concept. The network, which could have a startup cost of about $2.9 million for the first year, could provide access for $5 or less per household.
( The WiFi system is one of the most INSECURE internet systems offered in today's sophisticated electronic world, but that doesn't bother Blake the commissioner (it might be his last time for his play-room role.)
The technology would allow residents to use the Internet whether within their homes or at a bench in a park, while theoretically improving the efficiency of city staff in the field. If the City Commission gives the go-ahead at its meeting Monday, the city will embark on a study to create such a network, and begin accepting bids to build it.
( He
has proposed it in a way to get around the law just passed by
allowing Winter Springs residents to access the system for
NOTHING.
Right now the City MAKES money
off the internet systems provided within its boundaries with
HUGE service tax charges.
Blake wants to eliminate that
tax revenue --- spend another 2.9+ million dollars --- so he can plug in his
tax payer provided lap-top computer while he guzzles coffee at a local diner
--- if you can find one in "Tiny Town".)
"I absolutely believe we should begin going down this road,"
Commissioner Michael Blake said. "When you look at the dollars we've
spent on a park, and you look at the numbers we've talked about
spending on a pool ... I don't think you can begin to measure the
different type of return the provision of knowledge and intelligence
on an equal basis to everybody in our city can be.
( It would
really be an eye opener if somebody
DID look at what has
been spent/wasted on the City's parks. It's
already known about the BOGUS
2 million dollar bond for the Wincey Property. The
probable use of this WiFi system by others than the politicians might
reach around 100. That would be estimated to
be over $31,000 per user
of everyone's tax moneys. )
The commission heard a presentation by Jonathan Baltuch of Marketing
Resources Inc., a company that previously has helped St. Cloud develop
its own citywide wireless network. Baltuch said the company has since
become an expert at creating such networks, by working in partnership
with technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard, to develop networks
that rely on tiny antennas, about the size of a shoebox, mounted on
already standing light poles throughout communities.
Orlando tried out a similar technology in the downtown area around
Lake Eola Park. That program has ended, but Baltuch said Mayor Buddy
Dyer is interested in pursuing a permanent network for the city in
some form.
Remember that
Orlando did away with the same service for lack of participation, and
Blake thinks spending
2.9+ million dollars of
YOUR money will generate ----
WHAT?
It must be that the word "IGNORANCE"
is spelled ---- D-A-I-S !
Baltuch said the technology has become increasingly popular - and he
told commissioners if they had to hold a vote to get authority to pay
for such a system, "it would be a landslide, because people want it."
Commissioners embraced the concept at the meeting, touting its benefit
to citizens as a way to bridge the "digital divide," a phrase to
describe the societal separation between those who can afford Internet
access and those who can't.
The system in Winter Springs could be delivered free for residents, if
the city chooses. That would help leaders to escape a recently imposed
set of legal hurdles written into law this spring by the Florida
Legislature and passed by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Those hurdles, aimed at preventing cities from losing money investing
in the new technology, were seen by some local leaders as a means of
preventing governments from providing telecommunications services.
Baltuch told the commission that he fought hard to prevent the
original, more restrictive version of the legislation from passing.
What the city will face if it decides to charge for wireless Internet
access - something that would be voluntary, as are water and sewer
services - are a series of steps to prove that its citizens want such
a service, and that they can afford to pay for it.
The city would need to hold a series of forums to receive public input
on what the network should be able to do, and to gauge how popular the
idea would be. Following that, the city would need to show citizens,
and the state, that it has a plan it believes will make its wireless
network profitable, or at least keep it from losing money, within four
years.
Should the city get approval from the state to build the network, it
would be allowed to provide the service at the price of its choosing.
The city could either supplement that cost with other forms of city
revenue, charging enough to break even, or even by charging market
rates, which Baltuch said average about $40 peer month per household
for high-speed access known as "broadband." Such service already is
provided by local cable, satellite and telephone companies.
Marketing Resources estimates that about 15,000 Winter Springs
residents use lower-speed dial-up Internet access, and 7,000 don't
have any access at all. The city has about 32,000 residents.
City Manager Ron McLemore offered some objection to the plan,
questioning why the city would want to get into the business of
providing telecommunications services when so many private companies
want to. He was countered by Blake, who said there's no incentive by
companies to lower their prices in a low-competition market.
Blake described the hold that the dominant broadband providers -
cable, telephone and satellite - have as an "oligopoly," a monopoly on
services held by a small group of companies, who have no concern about
outside competition.
He said that's the reason the services cost $40 or more. Baltuch
clarified that there are other fees involved, such as the costs
incurred by the companies to upgrade older technology when they buy up
smaller service providers.
Based on Baltuch's research, Blake made a calculation that the city
could break even providing the service for as little as $5, including
the cost the city would incur financing the debt to build the network.
The city could recoup some of the expected $400,000 annual operating
cost in efficiency gains, Baltuch said, noting that city workers could
have access to plans for pipes and other utilities on-the-go, and
inspectors would have building records at their fingertips in the
field.
McLemore also said it would be a risk for the city to assume ownership
of the equipment the network is made of, as computer technology
quickly becomes outdated - but Baltuch said there's another option.
The city could lease the network hardware, saving the city, and
residents, the cost of replacing equipment later.
Marketing Resources estimated Winter Springs residents already spend
about $4.5 million each year for Internet access in the city.
Blake said compared to that figure, the estimated $2.9 million cost to
build and run the network for the first year is a bargain for
citizens.
"It's not a lot of money for the stuff that we do here. It's a
question of when," he said.
Emailer: Your right. Every coffee shop such as a Barney's, or Starbucks, plus some grocery stores are installing WiFi where the crowds with laptop computers would bear the expense of the installation. It's doubtful that would happen in "Tiny Town" unless the City Commission meets there for coffee every day. Computer use in the City of Winter Springs is below average do to the lack a businesses needing such support, and the small users of laptop computers. The city probably has more laptops than the rest of the people in the City.
Maybe they're going to move their meetings there. Might as well --- nobody goes to them anyway.
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