Absolutely muni networks can work. I'm supporting ~14 right now with an aggregate number of connections of around 40k (most are small). Having said that from my view (I work with telco's, cable MSOs, muni, and other network providers) muni networks fail more often than private networks. This is usually because they lack experience and their process is subject to interference by interested parties. In one case recently a muni network had a full page ad taken out by a operator who didn't want the city to build. That ad in the local paper caused lots of controversy, despite being largely inaccurate, and the controversy caused the city council to change the rules for the city at the last minute. On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 12:44 PM, John Osmon <josmon@rigozsaurus.com> wrote:
On Sun, Feb 03, 2013 at 09:04:43AM -0800, Leo Bicknell wrote: [...]
People are doing this, and it does work, it's just being done in locations the big telcos and cablecos have written off...
To re-iterate this point, and get a note into the archives -- Muni networks *can* work.
Idaho Falls, ID has been offering dark fiber strands to anyone since 2007 or so: http://www.ifcirca.net/
When I last had network in the area, the cost was on the order of: - $1500/month/loop - $20/bldg on loop - one-time construction costs
-- Scott Helms Vice President of Technology ZCorum (678) 507-5000 -------------------------------- http://twitter.com/kscotthelms --------------------------------