Municipal Wi-Fi

(assignment developed by Jeff Pietsch)

First, read a general article on how Wi-Fi works in terms of connecting users to the Internet at http://computer.howstuffworks.com/municipal-wifi.htm. Pay attention to the concepts of “mesh networking” and how its design is more beneficial to a large-scale network than the traditional “hub and spoke” configuration. Additionally, for this discussion, take note of the short implementation proposals section on page 2, as we will be discussing that in greater detail later.

There are several arguments to be made for and against municipal funding for a broadband network. For a supporting view, check out http://www.freepress.net/files/mb_white_paper.pdf. Conversely, read http://newmillenniumresearch.org//archive/wifireport2305.pdf to see why some feel that many municipalities would be jumping the gun using taxpayer money to fund large-scale broadband deployments. Also think about this in terms of one of the buzzwords for this issue: the digital divide.

As with anything, there are legal issues to consider that you may be anticipating based on the reading thus far. Those can be examined in greater detail in Hannibal Travis’s WI-FI EVERYWHERE: UNIVERSAL BROADBAND ACCESS AS ANTITRUST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY. 55 Am. U. L. Rev. 1697 (2006). For purposes of this assignment, just read Section II (A), (B), (D), and the Conclusion. The entire article is very informative, but it’s pretty long. If you’re interested in some more of the pro-municipal arguments, you can find them Section III. One of the most important points to get out of the legal concepts in Travis's article is how section 253(a) of the 1996 Telecommunications Act has been applied to this topic. Because the Supreme Court held that the “any entity” language in the statute did not apply to municipalities, it opened the door for states to regulate and even proscribe municipally-funded broadband networks. It's also worth noting that there is a bill making its way through the system, the Community Broadband Act of 2007, that could potentially cause some big changes on this topic. It's a very tangled situation, so it may be worth spending some extra time thinking about how it all works.

By now, you’ve probably begun forming an opinion either with the side that believes in a city-funded network that treats broadband access in the same way that it would electricity or gas (i.e. as a public necessity that goes beyond market competition), or with the side that believes a free market is the key, and that when the telecom companies see it as financially sound to build up a broadband infrastructure, they will. At this point, it becomes necessary to note how the municipal broadband efforts have developed within the current regulatory scheme. Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/124/whither-municipal-wi-fi.html and the “Current Status of Municipal Projects Within the United States” section on Wikipedia. Locally, here is some information if you’re curious on Michigan’s offerings in this sector: http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/06/16/update-on-michigan-muni-wi-fi-projects-wireless-oakland-county-and-others-delayed/. Do these materials change your mind at all either way?

There is an alternative to all of this, though. Watch the video at http://www.wirelessinnovationalliance.org/index.cfm and look around the site a bit to learn about “white space” and its potential use for wireless broadband access. To understand what is behind this, check out http://www.deviceguru.com/2008/01/29/tv-white-space-our-wireless-broadband-future/ and http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/white-space.ars.

Of course, it’s not all as simple as it seems. There is opposition to the unlicensed use of the white space. Watch the video at http://www.mstv.org/static.html to see why some of the large television broadcasters aren’t exactly keen on the idea of letting the Microsofts and Googles of the world roam free in the spectrum. It’s not just the television companies, either. Finally, skim this article to see other concerns regarding the potential interference of wireless devices and their possible consequences.