Muni Wi-fi's Bum Rap
Bad press is nothing new for municipal Wi-fi, but it seems particularly loud right now. Some of the good folks in the muni Wi-fi movement feel that recent press coverage has been unfair, and this time I agree.
In the last few weeks the AP has run two critical stories--the first a May 22 account of the problems with the Lompoc, California network, the second a negative June 6 review of the Portland, Oregon network. Before that, several reports of problems with the networks in Silicon Valley and San Francisco hit the wires.
The AP reports don't look very deeply into the muni wireless issue, nor do they provide much historical context. In general, the media misunderstands three major facts about municipal wireless networks:
1. Muni Wi-fi networks aren't (and shouldn't be) judged solely on how well they serve consumers.
The main selling point for muni Wi-fi networks is their public services applications--things like public safety (police, wireless camera surveillance), wireless parking meter reading, mobile communications for city workers, traffic management, parking control, and vehicle and asset tracking.
"In some of these cities, the politicians have misplaced the value of these networks by saying a lot of stuff pointing to the general consumer as the main reason for doing the thing," says muni Wi-fi researcher and consultant Craig Settles. Settles says many of the cities that were hyping their proposed networks back in 2006 are now weathering negative press for slowdowns related to the complexity of actually building the networks.
And of course bad news sells. "It's just tabloid mentality, we love to read about it when something starts to fail, and these cities are just playing right into that."
2. Muni Wi-fi networks are rarely wholly owned by the city itself.
The May 22 AP report suggests that muni Wi-fi networks (like the one in Lompoc, Calif.) drain public funds and don't end up attracting many paying customers. The reporter doesn't seem to have gotten the memo that few muni Wi-fi networks are actually wholly owned and operated by the city. About two years ago, the city-owned model began to morph into a public-private partnership model wherein the city often shoulders less than half the costs of building and maintaining the network. A private operator like EarthLink actually owns and operates it. This can have the effect of depoliticizing the buildout of the networks, because less public money and resources are being spent on them.
3. Finally, there are many examples of successful Wi-fi networks.
Much of the media coverage of municipal wireless seems focused on muni Wi-fi's problem cities. But many other cities, especially the ones that use Wi-fi mainly for public safety and the like, have seen great successes. Where are all the news stories about the muni Wi-fi projects in places like St. Cloud, Florida; Marion, Minnesota; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Providence, Rhode Island?
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Where does she get off bashing our WiFi network like that? I've used the service only once, but I was pleased with the results. I had a connection about 90% of the time in front of the Central Library, where I sit every year for the Rose Festival PGE/SOLV Starlight Parade. I went to YouTube and, except for the occasional hiccup, the video was perfectly watchable. This was the first year I've used it, but I will use it every year because it works.
Mark,
I have yet to see a response like this post from someone other than Esme Vos and Craig Settles. When there is a potential for controversy, our society are drawn like moths to a flame. Even today, my company's broadband network provides spotty coverage. Why our society expects muniWiFi to go up without a few blips here or there is beyond me - there will always be glitches esp. with the innovators for deployed some of the nation's first networks. Thanks for clearing up some of the misunderstandings about the industry. It was about time someone called off the dogs.