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The Future
of
Broadband Access By Bob Hewitt,
Editor
The Journal of The Computer Club, Inc., Sun
City Center,
Florida
http://suncitycentercomputerclub.com/
rsh1916(at)juno.com
This may end up to be a
case of who gets there fastest with
the mostest.
The goal is Broadband. Just
about all computer owners want
it. Many cannot afford it. But every provider wants to get the biggest
share of
the pie.
The telecommunications industry was in the
driver’s seat
first with dial-up. Then came cable as a carrier and telecom countered
with
DSL. Up rose Wi-Fi , Broadband Wireless
Mesh, and finally BPL (Broadband over Power Line).
Pew Internet and American
Life Project released a survey
finding that about 55 per cent of internet-using Americans enjoy a
broadband
connection at home or at work.
Since computers have overwhelmed the
marketplace, it may be
somewhat misleading to lump them together.
The goal of computer mavens
is the most speed per dollar
expressed in Kbps (Kilobits per second), Mbps (Megabits per second), or
preferably MBps (Megabytes per second). The latter conforms to the
standard
measurement of file size and gives an operator an instant impression of
the
time involved in achieving a download or a transfer, depending on the
speed of his CPU or internet connection.
Because their
infrastructure was already in place, the
telephone and cable industries became the leaders in delivering
internet
resources to their subscribers at $10 to $50 per month depending on
speed. But
then came the advent of wireless transmission, commonly called Wi-Fi,
with its
short range signal providing access principally to portable (laptop)
PC’s—a
significant advantage to travelers who were charged a small amount for
access.
Almost paralleling the
transition from fixed telephone to
cell phone, Wi-Fi evolved into wireless
mesh internet which has sparked a huge demand for municipal
wireless broadband. Fifty four localities,
including major
cities, are in the process of establishing or already have established
such
services.
Tempe, Arizona established
a wireless access network last
November, covering 40 square miles, with an access cost of $30 a month
per
subscriber or $3.95 per hour.
Manassas, Virginia became
the first citywide
Broadband-Over-Powerline site last October when it opened a 10 square
mile site
available to all at $29 per month.
Philadelphia has contracted
with Earthlink to cover its 135
square miles with wireless internet service---the cost to Earthlink an
estimated 10-million dollars and a cost to residents an estimated $20
per month
for service. It’s assumed that Earthlink will amortize its investment
by income
from advertising.
The excitement over
wireless broadband in heightened by a
comparison of download speeds available. The fastest of the three Wi-Fi
formats
now in use (the 802.11g) is 54 Mbps (megabits per second) or 7
Megabytes per
second which is 18 times faster than the cable modems of today. Further
is the
recent approval of the IEEE
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers) for the
new 802.11n Wi-Fi format which may be two years before activation but
could
achieve data processing speeds of 600Mbps; an almost incomprehensible
75
Megabytes per second—200 times today’s cable modem speed.
At that rate, one could
download 80 minutes of music in 10
seconds or an entire opera in 30.
The wired communications
industries are not unaware. Witness
the fact that they have spent millions of dollars lobbying state
legislatures
to kill off community internet. Over the past few years, no less than
14 states
have enacted legislation that bans or places limits on municipalities
from
building community internet projects. Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed
a law
last June that prevents cities from offering broadband if there are
competing
private services.
There are anti-competitive
issues at the federal level,
also. Republican Representative Pete Sessions of Texas introduced an
anti-community internet bill which would prevent any city in the
country from
providing internet access if a private company offers internet services
nearby—even if the private company serves as little as 10 per cent of
the
residents.
Republican Senator John
Ensign of Nevada introduced the
Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act which would severely
hamper
cities’ ability to build and manage wireless networks.
In response to Ensign’s
bill, Republican Senator John McCain
and Democrat
Frank Lautenburg introduced legislation that
gives
municipalities free rein to offer broadband and would overturn state
laws
banning such activities.
Now that President Bush has
lent his support to a broad set
of proposals to get every corner of the country access to broadband
connectivity by 2007, it will be interesting to watch both sides
welcome that
goal as supporting their particular positions.
The big question for the
public is cost. There have been no
definitive publicly-available figures on installation and maintenance
of the
cutting-edge WiFi mesh application.
Jupiter Research has
estimated that the average cost of
building and maintaining a wireless
network is $150,000 per square mile over five years. Bert Williams,
vice
president of marketing for Tropos Networks, which has successfully
provided
mesh based WiFi hardware in several locations around the world, says,
“We
usually talk in terms of $75,000 per square mile for our gear.” Adding
the
ongoing costs for backhaul and system management, he believes the total
to be
closer to $100,000 per square mile, while Sky Pilot Networks quotes
$50,000.
A long and vigorous battle is ahead
involving the
established vs the un-established. But one thing is certain. Everyone is going to end up with a piece of
the pie. For this is still early in the digital age and there is plenty
to go
around.
muniwireless.com informationweek.com
zdnet.com
vnunet.com
jupitermedia.com
arstechnica.com
eetimes.com
mercurynews.com
slate.com
eweek.com
mistershape.com
S.
Derek Turner
There is no restriction
against any non-profit group using
this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given
the
author. The Editorial Committee of the
Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international
organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to
you.
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BGRCC
2006 By Harold Buechly
