Molasses for free, lightning for a king's ransom
As doubts grow over the approval of San Francisco's proposed deal to build a citywide wireless network with EarthLink, critics of the effort are putting forth alternatives. Like the current plan, negotiated behind closed doors between Mayor Gavin Newsom and the ISP, none of them are anywhere near perfect.
The current plan, which faces an uncertain fate in the Board of Supervisors, would allow EarthLink to own the WiFi network and, though an arrangement with Google, offer a paltry 300 kbps for free and a moderately more tolerable 1Mbps for $22 per month.
Critics argue that Net access is as fundamental as water and sewers, and as such should be owned by taxpayers. They also say that the network's underpinnings, built on 802.11b, are obsolete already and will only grow more so over the 10 or more years it would likely be in operation.
"They're going to have a bit of grief in trying to maintain the network and mitigate interference," says Tim Pozar, principal at network service provider United Layer and a critic of the mayor's plan. A former radio engineer, he says WiFi is no match for San Francisco's hilly terrain, rainy season and the host of radio signals already carried on the 2.4 GHz spectrum.
Hey, Pozar
Pozar's alternative would push data into homes and businesses at a significantly faster speed, using more than 220 strands of fiber he says the city already has rights to operate. It would deliver speeds of about 10Mbits per second or more to end users and wouldn't be susceptible to radio transmissions and other types of interference.
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