How not to do Community WiFi?

Chicago had big plans for a large WiFi network covering some 300 sqmi. But that seems up in the air now. Here were the dreams of a Chicago action group. The actions did not meet the platitudes, why?May I suggest –

• As always, especially for CDAA, the idea that ‘community’ is the basis for a business plan of implementation is fraught with the wreckage of those having gone before. For every successful FaceBook there are a 100 nice try’s.
• Single vendor solution. In Chicago’s case they awarded to Earthlink. Well Earthlink is now backpedaling out of that space to ‘realign’ their expenses with their profits. The point? The beast is too big to swallow. In the current environment the upfront costs are so high that no single entity can do it. I include the Telco’s in that genre as well.
• The Auction is coming. When one considers that come February there will be a new lay of the land for 700mhz anyone plunking money down now is taking a huge gamble. They could be swept away by whatever comes out of the FCC auction in January.
• Old School Thinking. Quite honestly Earthlink’s offer was not that innovative. It required large amounts of money by a single entity to capitalize. Had little or no viral aspects to it. Focused clearly on a pay for layers 1-3 to it. Telco mentality. I suspect the future is not layers 1-3 but layers 1-20. Smart money would say “sell a right to use, at a cheap price. require the purveyor to buy the equipment themselves. Provide a modicum of network support/management. Make your bucks off a cobroker adsense arrangement and right to use fees at the end user level.” Another words spread both the capitalization, the risk and the reward over as many interested parties as is willing to join your effort.

Broadband wireless in a nation the size of the US cannot be reasonably covered in the time frames specified by the FCC by any single business entity. I doubt if even the combined talents of every single Telco can do it. (The Telco’s have other irons in the fire sucking gobs of cash [eg FIOS for Verizon] which has them distracted.) To ante $4.6B just to bid is a tip of the iceberg when you consider the costs of implementation that will be required.

A different implementation scheme is required. The ‘I own the pipe’ won’t cut it. The players don’t have the time or the capital to meet mandated dates. Whoever are the winners in January have to come up with a scheme that leverages the opportunities of the many to profit for the whole. That means partnering with the restraunt and hospitality industries. Partnering with homeowner associations. But it also means you have to adopt an internet-like management model and be willing to share some of the profits.