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Blog: Century-CAN, Century Can Go Wireless
May 21, 2009
There’s been much written the past few days about plans submitted to the Century Town Council Monday night for a “Century Community Access Network”, a wireless broadband Internet service to be operated by the Town of Century if the plan is approved. The entire system, according to the consultant pitching the project, would be funded with federal dollars at no cost to Century.
Consultant Rodney Thomas of Resources Building Tomorrow, LLC. of Richmond, Virginia, told the council that residents would be able to obtain the broadband Internet service for $34 per month each, plus some setup fees. He told the council that the service could be used for Internet access, streaming video and even tele-medicine.
Thomas told the council that any cordless phone on the system would work anywhere in town. While his presentation did not, the proposal presented to the council says that Internet telephone service would be another $14 per month. Truthfully, a regular cordless phone would only work a short distance from its base, just as it does now. An IP based cordless phone, one that connects directly to the Internet, would have the around town capability. Such phones typically sell for $75-$100 and up.
There are math problems in the proposal. For instance, financial numbers are based upon 1,721 households in Century. The Census Bureau says there are about 2,200 households in the entire 32535 Century zip code that, in reality, stretches halfway across the county to Highway 97. Estimates put the number of households at 650. If 25 percent of those households signed up for service, the city would receive about $1,600 in revenue with their $10 share of the total $34 fee. Fixed expenses in the proposal are $1,200 per month with a few options that might cause them to increase. In an ideal situation, 25 percent of households (about 163) using the service would net the town $400 per month. But we all know that in the business world, ideal situations rarely happen.
There are a few other money making opportunities in the proposal for the town. A couple of bucks per household that signs up for VOIP telephone (a telephone service that works over the Internet) at $14 per month, and selling advertising on a community portal. A points there: A Magicjack IP phone service is $20 total (not per month) for VOIP. Other services are cheap or free.
And, by the way, with 163 households on the service, Thomas, the consultant, would pocket $326 per month, each and every month. Really not that much, compared to the bad-math proposal that would have him making $1,721 to $3,442 per month.
Another big problem with the proposal is that persons in Century that want broadband Internet service have four or more options for service now.
The speed of the Century-CAN service will reportedly be 768Kbps to 1Mbps for $34 per month. In Century, AT&T offers 768Kbps Internet, their slowest option, for $19.95 per month with or without phone service. A 1.5 Mbps service, faster than that proposed by Century-CAN, is $32.95 per month with phone or $37.95 without a dialtone. Other packages are offered up to 6 Mbps. Bright House cable company also offers Internet service in Century at speeds up to 15 Mbps, but most of their packages are more expensive without cable TV service. There are other Internet options available to anyone in Century — satellite service from companies like Wildblue and cellular connections from companies like Alltel and AT&T.
Why would someone choose to pay $34 for a service that can be obtained from AT&T for $20 a month, even without having their phone service? The proposal mentions video streaming. Yep, at 768 Kbps you can stream a blurry Youtube video. But that speed won’t stream quality video from most popular television and movie sites without a degredation in quality. As for the tele-medicine in the proposal…well, can we have a volunteer? Do you want a doctor diagnosing your condition, or operating on you, over a connect speed that can’t stream a Netflix movie at full quality?
It’s not worth arguing quality of service, speed of service or method of delivery. Like there are Ford people and Chevy people, there are those that are in favor of getting their Internet service via Wi-fi, cellular, DSL or cable. There are points to be made for these and other delivery methods.
The bottom line of this proposal, which the council has not discussed or acted upon, should serve as a idea.
Wi-fi networks over an area like Century are not rocket science. There are many do-it-yourself web sites that would take a semi-techie person an hour or two to digest. Maybe Century should not look to build a network and sell service. Maybe Century needs to build the network and offer the service for FREE or very reduced cost.
Pensacola recently installed free wi-fi downtown along Palafox to help promote their Palafox market. Montgomery and many other cities offer free wi-fi in business districts. It draws people.
If there is grant money available to build this project, as the consultant said Monday night, let Century apply for the grant with its own grants writer. Once Century gets the grant, let Workforce EsaRosa or one of the many other such services, train people to run the system. Other than climbing a water tower from time to time, it’s not that difficult with just a little training. (I know several Northview students out for the summer that could put this network together in just days.)
Then order your equipment. It’s all available online and can be here in a week. The proposal presented to the council had lots of fancy technical words, but these are ordinary commercial grade pieces of equipment you would find in any professional office (except, perhaps, for the antennas themselves). Many manufacturing facilities, for instance, are running facility-wide wi-fi networks.
Throw in a few dollars for security; there seems to be no mention of security in the proposal presented to the council. We are sure it’s just an oversight, as no one wants the contents of their computer open for public viewing or destruction.
Order your main connection to the Internet. (Hint: It might be cheaper in Alabama; it is wireless and would jump the tracks just fine.)
Now offer free, or very reduced Internet to your citizens. Offer free one-day passes to anyone passing through town.
Now our federal grant dollars are providing the opportunities to the people in Century without charging them $34 a month, and without pumping dollars out of state.
There’s great potential here. The idea of the Town of Century providing a wireless network is a good thing. But Century can do this for itself, pumping the dollars and benefits right back into the town.
We’ve been asked what NorthEscambia.com’s reason for becoming involved in this is and where we would benefit. It just happens to be a subject interesting to us (computer geeks, you know). We are also in a unique situation with a tidbit of information not available to anyone else in this equation. We have a pretty good idea how many people in Century have what type (DSL, cable, dialup) Internet. Since NorthEscambia.com is popular in Century, our server logs reflect the type usage in the town.
Being straightforward, we might perhaps benefit from the free Internet service because we might gain a few new readers. But in the overall scheme of our thousands of daily users, a few hundred more in Century or any other town would be of no real benefit to us. So there’s no personal interest here, no attempt at personal gain. We would rather see Century gain with the opportunities that the Internet for all can unlock.
Century can do a Century-CAN network. Century can do it on its own, benefiting its citizens.
Comments
14 Responses to “Blog: Century-CAN, Century Can Go Wireless”
YEA BUT THE BIGGEST HURDLE OF ALL.WE ARE LOOSING EVERYTHING AND NOONE SEEMS TO CARE WHO WE VOTED TO BE IN THAT OFFICE.THEY WOULD USE BRIGHTHOUSE BECAUSE THEY DONT CHECK ANYTHING OUT ,,,,SORRY JUST DISGRUNTLED ABOUT THE WHOLE TOWN COUNCIL.
I tend to agree that anything slower than 1.5mps should be “free”. You’re only talking surfing a few sites, and reading email. Would be it be 1.5 mps bidirectional OR much slower on the upload?. Given the fact some folks would chose the “free option” HOW much would ATT want to charge for the main supply/trunk line vs the customers that would ante up the dough to them?.
If the system has an unreliable link, all you’ve got is a dead air, low-power radio station. Even if it’s free, it’ll go for naught if you can only use it half the time
Seriously, and I’m not actually for tax-payer subsidized services competing with the tax-payer owned business BUT if you want to do it right,. the City should offer NOT 768 OR 1.5 service BUT at minimum 10mps per user. Better even, the maximum FCC allowed 30mps DUPLEX free (same speed up as down). (India and Pakistan reportedly have 100 mps service to the poorest of shanties..No wonder they took all our programing/coding jobs!!!).
Right now, I do my part in my little community by running a standalone Linux-OS PC hooked to a Buffalo router. It’s been flashed with DD-WRT software and the power turned up from a miniscule .028 watts to a full 250 MW (1/4 watt). I share with the neighbors within 6 hours around me. I don’;t know if that’s a violation of my contract with the cable operator, BUT my response, if ever asked, will be “WELL my built-in DELL mini-PC wifi card is very weak…I needed the boost. Iv’e been doing this for over a year now. No probs at all..
I am a little behind on this article,but The Country Bumpkin went WIFI two years ago for our customers using DSL from Bell south.Very few problems,great service….we still have wifi though we are now a St.Vincent dePaul Thrift Store.
The go slow attitude with lots of checking out the company offering to install the wifi system is in order. I read recently of Chehalis, Washington, a city of about 5000 in western Washington wanting to have a wireless downtown area. The result was a big outlay for equipment, and shortly after the equipment arrived the company folded along with the project. The city was hoping to get $0.25 on the dollar for the unused equipment, but seems they bought a “pig in a poke.” No one wants the stuff.
I saw that you mentioned Brighthouse offers similar high speed internet options, but I would like to strongly advise your readers that Brighthouse ends up being the most expensive and least reliable option. I am currently looking for another service provider and this article has helped me weigh my options. Thank you!
I am happy to hear that someone appears to be doing a decent job in the customer service department. I have been with Brighthouse for the past three years and have had countless issues with customer service. Not only do they fail to provide me with all the channels I want, but anytime there is a problem I can’t seem to get decent assistance from anyone. I am sick and tired of the poor service and I am about ready to start looking at Comcast and other service providers who seem to give better quality.
Interesting article. I completely agree that there are better alternatives to providing free internet for the public than what is being proposed here. For example I have read about people using a Pringles can to make really huge networks.
See: http://g4tv.com/screensavers/features/40546/Pringles-Can-Wi-Fi-Antenna.html
ALSO, on a side note, for anyone looking for high speed internet, I strongly advise against using BrightHouse. Their estimated “high speeds” are not worth the extremely high rates. Most of their packages are tricks to get you signed up for multiple services and charge you more overall than if you had bought them individually. Bright House also has hidden fees and bad customer service.
Just also wanted to add that for about $30 and a few minutes of your time, anyone can give a desktop computer wireless capabilities through a usb network adapter or an internal wireless card. It is such a simple process, an older child could even do it. So, if Century does get wireless service in the future, it would not be limited to those who have laptop computers. Just FYI.
My thoughts exactly! I did not get why ToC needed a guy from Virginia to do what they could easily get done themselves at no cost…It would be a great selling point to new/startup businesses for the town to offer the free service and great for those who cannnot afford the AT&T, etc..uber lines…Sounds like a great plan!
Looks like you pretty much nailed it William. That is exactly what I was trying to get across.
Let Century or a young “go getter” look into setting this up if Century really needs it.
But, like you pointed out, and I also said, we are not considered a “Dark Zone” because we do have access to high speed internet.
Well done.
Good article, William. I totally agree. There are quite a few nice systems with antennas and repeaters that can be had for a reasonable price. Century could get MUCH more for their money if they’d apply for the grant themselves and then get someone local to set up and maintain the system…
The grant money would not cost anything to the people of the north end of the county. Since grants don’t have to be paid back it is like free taxpayer money. You know the kind we give out a lot of in this country. For most people in Century that have computers and want to get on the internet it is easy and as I am sure most of them don’t have the skills that you have William. Most of the people I know in Century don’t even have the skills that I have ,and that is not much. AT&T offers a great package to us at this time and it is very fast in as for as I can tell. Wireless is good if you have a laptop which most of us don’t have to start with. I don’t need a wireless laptop nor do I think most of the people in Century have much use for one. As stated above they a re easy to set-up on your own. Even I could do it and that means it is truly simple to do. Don’t get me wrong about grants from the goverment most of the time they are for the good of the people in the community.
Now if the city would like to apply for a grant to really do some good in this city I have an idea that might make more sense. Please consider putting in something for the childern of this community to have a safe and decent place to go and have fun. There is nothing in this city for them to do except the park and the center and just hanging out. Give them somewhere they can go and learn things and make it interesting for them. Anyone ever think about a commuity swimming pool for these kids. Wow now that would be great. I am sure this city has enough people that would help with the project if they had it. Put games in for them to play and charge a small fee for the games if you must. In the grant you could ask for money to pay someone to help with this project for years to come. Now that is my idea of what a grant should do. Help everyone in the community not just a few. I don’t think enough people would use wireless internet to make it worth the trouble to put it in. Think about it Mayor and City Council it might just be a good investment. Maybe not one the city would make alot of money on but, it sure would help a lot of kids to have somewhere to go and stay off the streets and out of trouble.
“Maybe Century should not look to build a network and sell service. Maybe Century needs to build the network and offer the service for FREE or very reduced cost.”
WOW! What a concept! (tongue planted firmly in cheek).
As a Work-At-Home professional, there is no way I’d even give a second look at broadband service this slow.
But what a nice surprise it would be to see the town step up and provide such a service for free!
Century needs to send all of these snake oil salesmen packing. I can only hope that the council weighs this plan very carefully, because the scale is definitely not tipping in Mr. Thomas’ favor.
Good article! These guys remind me of the vacuum cleaner salesmen of the 60’s and 70’s before the big box stores were prevalent. They would spread a little dirt on your carpet, suck it up and sell you a $100 vacuum for $300. Wi Fi is “line of sight”, so a good router and an antenna on the water tower would be a good start for free Wi Fi for the downtown century strip. BTW, most Whataburgers already have free wi fi.