On 07/23/2014 07:58 AM, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
On Wed, 23 Jul 2014, Scott Helms wrote:
for a more open approach. The people involved in the bond arrangements almost invariably see having the city the layer 3 provider as more reliable path to getting repaid than an open system.
Another model is the one described for instance in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXYaAd5ubok . This has worked successfully in Sweden as well, people getting together and putting in ducts or fiber themselves.
In the countryside, people (at least in Sweden) people are used to cooperating in maintenance of roads and other things, one neighbor has a backhoe, second one has a snowplow attachment and everybody helps out. It's a lot easier to accept digging on your property when it's your neighborhood people getting together in doing something, instead of $BIGTELCO that has screwed you before and will screw you again, wanting to do the same thing. Also, after putting it in, you own the infrastructure, so it might actually be a good investment and raise your property value.
In the US, in midwest rural areas at least, you see do quite a few cooperatives in the realm of things like power distribution. It isn't quite the same as neighbors getting together to build a network, but it has some of the same elements. I live outside of the city and I am a member of a rural electric cooperative. Compared to when I was in the city on the local regulated monopoly grid, my rates are lower, the number of outages are fewer and the overall quality of service is better. I don't know if that is necessarily a common experience, but it is mine. It seems to me that in rural areas a cooperative framework could be ideal for networks as well. Now, it is tempting to suggest that the electric cooperative should take on the project. After all they have a network of electric poles, it doesn't seem that it would be that hard to hang fiber on them. However, I fear that it would be enough outside of the management's wheelhouse that it could end badly. Would probably need a completely separate management team to do it right. Steve -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Saner <ssaner@hubris.net> Voice: 316-858-3000 Director of Network Operations Fax: 316-858-3001 Hubris Communications http://www.hubris.net