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Century Explores Getting Into Broadband Business
May 19, 2009
The Town of Century will get into the broadband Internet business if a Virginia consultant’s plan is approved by the town’s council.
Rodney Thomas, of the Richmond, Virginia, firm Resources Building Tomorrow, LLC, presented a proposal to the council Monday night to build a wireless broadband system in the town with federal grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Fund.
“This is something that is becoming as necessary as water, sewer and electricity in your community,” Thomas told the council of the plan dubbed the “Century Community Access Network”.
Under the plan, Thomas said residents would be charged $34 a month for broadband access, $10 of which would go to the town. “If you have 500 subscribers, you have $5,000 to go back to the town. If you have 5,000 subscribers, you have $50,000 in one month,” he said. The written proposal he provided council members was based up 1,721 households in Century The U.S. Census Bureau’s estimated population of Century was 1,923 total persons in 2007.
The project would also attempt to generate revenue be selling advertising on a community home page that all subscribers would be forced to visit upon signing onto the service.
When asked by NorthEscambia.com Publisher William Reynolds how fast the broadband service would be, Thomas replied that it would be “broadband speed”. When pressed for a further answer to define how fast “broadband speed” would be, Thomas said he did not know technical answers. Looking through some papers, he said that it would use “802.11n” routers, a not yet defined standard that provides speeds up to 108 Mbit per second. But Thomas did not provide an actual speed estimate for the internet connection.
Century businessman Jack Moran, saying that he has been Thomas’ friend for five years, told the council, “I am put off by the hostility of the tone of some of the questions. I am not the computer geek that William is, but I know something about it. This is an opportunity for Century to…bring itself into the 21st century.”
Thomas told the council that he could have a technical expert visit a future council meeting to explain some of the technical aspects of the service and provide a working demonstration.
The Century Community Access Network would work by placing a wireless, or wi-fi, antenna on a location such as a water tower. The signal from that antenna would be amplified and repeated by smaller antennas around town, providing services to wireless routers placed in homes or businesses.
Coming up Wednesday: NorthEscambia.com’s publisher will take a more in-depth look at the Century Community Access Network plan, and explain the reasoning behind the questions referenced in the article above.
Pictured above: Consultant Rodney Thomas (left) explains the proposed Century broadband network Monday night while Jack Moran (right) looks on. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
23 Responses to “Century Explores Getting Into Broadband Business”
Mr./Ms. Carver
It is comments like this that really pushes my buttons. Yes there are people in Century that own laptops! Just because we live in the north end it does not mean that we are stupid.
And just for the record….the council did not invite this “Salesperson” to give his pitch. As a council they must be polite and listen to what people have to say. They DID NOT SAY…..OH WHAT A GREAT DEAL….WE WILL SIGN UP NOW.
This is what happens all of the time. All you read does not have ALL the information.
Does anyone in century even own a laptop?
So Century doesn’t have ANY broadband available to its residents now….no cable internet…no DSL….really? Check again. I know for a fact we do and it’s cheaper than $34/mo.
Just to answer noh8rs comment, No we don’t ALL have DSL. I’m not saying I’d be in favor of broadband IF I lived in Century, but if this man came to present this to the town, shouldn’t he have known all the answers to the questions?? If he is not well versed in the technology, he may not know WHAT he is “offering” to the Town of Century. Just makes you think……..?? Better ask ALL your questions NOW and KNOW what you’d be getting than to wait til later and say,”Uh Oh.”
OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN.
Go to the website “http://www.bbwexchange.com/neighborhood/index.asp” and read all about how to do this technology!
I “ain’t” as dumb as I seem! The internet “with DSL” can be very informative.
Dear NOH8R,
Nice try at taking a shot at me and at trying to define DSL. I have not & will not make or take a cent off of this project; & DSL is a way to access broadband communications. You should have come to the Council meeting to help some of the folks there to understand high-speed communications.
OK, everybody google dsl vs broadband, vice versa, whatever. High speed internet, broadband and dsl are considered high speed internet. Which ever way you connect, cable or phone, you are getting high speed internet. I have dsl lite and it is pretty fast.
So, from the story:
Century businessman Jack Moran, saying that he has been Thomas’ friend for five years, told the council, “I am put off by the hostility of the tone of some of the questions. I am not the computer geek that William is, but I know something about it. This is an opportunity for Century to…bring itself into the 21st century.
From your comments Jack, I am getting the distinct feeling that you may be involved in the “cashing in” on this project.
Things that make you go “hmmmmmm”.
DSL is one of the ways of connecting to the Internet. Having a telephone does not give you broadband access, which is one of the problems, especially in Century and Rural North Escambia.
Sylvia,
“Without a VISION, the people will perish. ”
I think Century as a part of North Escambia is seeking a VISION – of survival.
I am not a computer geek. But, isn’t DSL the same thing as broadband? And don’t we all have DSL through our phone companies? For WAY CHEAPER than what this company is saying? Is this just another company thinking that we in the north end of this county, are way too ignorant to realize this.
Hi, Just a comment. It’s not that I am against or for the broadband. It scares me because Century has had so many disappointments in the last few years. It seems like everything we try falls through. We rneed to know if the town would really benefit from this. I don’t think we need to spend money foolishly. It seems that at most of the council meeting we are concerned about our finanical status. What I really want to say is let’s not get excited, only to get knocked down again. Councilmen please make sure it is going to be a benefit to the town.
Dear Dont Be . . .
You are very correct on all of your points – but, one of the challenges is and has been that Century CAN BE a leader and a HUB of commerce and services within NORTH ESCAMBIA; meaning “it ain’t all about Pensacola or even Century”; it is about all of NorthEscambia and the life quality of ALL who live here. You are correct, all of the responsibility of investigation SHOULD NOT fall only on William’s shoulders – but, right now, he is the only one stepping forward, and “one William” who can & will be fair and balanced, is worth thousands of YAHOO’s who look first to their own or someone elses purely personal, political interest rather than the future outcome.
The issue here is the reality that the times are fast changing; and will North Escambia find the SELFLESS PATRIOTS to meet that challenge and make the effort to keep up – Dilligently and WISELY.
Jack,
I do not disagree that broadband for Century and the surrounding areas is a good thing. My point is that Century seems to keep getting suckered into these business deals without thoroughly checking them out. William should not be the one person that the City of Century relies on to check this out (no offense William). Each business proposal should be reviewed and the persons presenting it checked out by the council, lawyers or experts in the particular business field appointed or commissioned by the City Council. I hope this opportunity turns out to be on the up and up, but I have a gut feeling that it’s another swoop-in, make some money and the guy is never heard from again; and the city is left with a system that will not work and will cost tax payers money to replace or dispose of.
AND- Jack you are correct, “you had to be there . . .” I really wish I could have, I am an interloper that doesn’t even live in the City of Century, but reside in the surrounding community and have many friends and family in the area that are affected by the decisions of the City Council and Escambia County Commission. I will butt out now, but pray the City makes the right decisions for all its citizens.
Sounds to me like the old cablevision lines that were ran around the Bratt community in the late 80’s. They were ran by a group out of Louisiana that could have cared less after the lines were up and the services established. And where is this cablevision today? With no maintenance and up keep, it bled to death and died!!!!
Dear “Don’t be Suckers”.
The old saying that says, “you had to be there . . .” is correct. I really hope that William looks at this proposal very critically.
Century has been a victim of all sorts of scams because they have never had anyone with the education and knowledge of a “William Reynolds” to help examine and investigate claims and plans of Century’s prospective industries. That has been one of my big complaints for years, and it just didn’t begin with the Electric Car Plant; the car bumper plant was one, an aircraft refurbishment company was another one, a food processing plant was another, and the list can go on and on . . . SOMEONE HAS TO CHECK these folks out – the devil is in the details – I applaud Williams desire to do so. And if their proposal opens the discussion regarding future opportunities or needed services for North Escambia County then it is worth the effort. Yes, Byrneville, Bratt, Walnut Hill, Bogia, McDavid, and Molino – everywhere, needs Broadband Internet Access.
Florida has a “Virtual School System” that is a world leader in K-12 distance learning; but you can’t even access it without the availability of broadband, and running wires it way too expensive for rural areas – wireless broadband just makes sense, no matter who does it, and I think the plan as stated at the meeting was for USDA-Rural Development to pay for the equipment, and infrastructure. I don’t know, but perhaps something like this was what Governor Bob Riley had in mind when he suggested that he would like to see all of rural Alabama covered by wireless broadband.
Investigations of opportunities such as this must be thorough, and intense; but also both direct and civil. Although that is extremely difficult to do, I know that William Reynolds is very technically oriented, and also has the investigative ability to do that and to do it in a fair, balanced, and responsible manner.
Thanks William, I look forward to your report. I still feel the city should be very careful when spending taxpayer money, even at the federal level.
I agree with William. There are many broadband speeds for downloads and uploads. If they knew what they were marketing it would make sense. There are broadbands that aren,t very fast without going into the specifics.
Also with redundent capablities there should be zero downtime each month. Should be required.
How secure will it be? You may not even need a subcsription to connect to this WIFI system. It is just an expanded version of a home with wireless internet.
There should be a local company that could do the same thing if not better? Century just needs to apply for the grant. Start a turn of the century green service business??? Solar panel, home sized wind turbines if you want to be a service provider?
JB
I’m not a computer geek either BUT sounds like jumping into the water without testing it first. If there are startup fees who pays? what guarantee do they have on returns?
To “Don’t be suckers” — I have the seven page small print proposal in hand, and will provide a complete analysis Wednesday morning. But I can already answer many of your questions based upon the proposal.
He wants $146,492 to set it up, $1,200 in recurring revenue off the top, plus $24 per subscriber plus a few other fees. The cost will be $0 to Century, he says, with the entire up front paid for with a federal grant.
The last paragraph of the story explains the antenna system; it would not run with just one big antenna but would include smaller antennas around town. The companies involved would provide technical support, service, etc. with no more than about a full day total of downtime per month.
Lots more information in the morning…
It seems the Town of Century has a big ‘ol target on its back for shady business deals. First, it was the “great” opportunity of the electric car plant by a group that wanted a lot of money and owed the state even more…hmmm!! Then the “Johnny come lately” lawyer who wanted $4000 up front to “save the school” then withdrew and ran away when the questions started. Now, this guy. I ask these questions: How many other cities is this system established in and what does the return revenue look like? How much does he want from the tax payers to set his little business up? I really don’t think you are going to get 5,000 subscriber’s on this little system, with one little antenna on a water tower. Who’s paying for the amplifiers around town, Mr. Thomas or the Town? If you the town really wants to do something like this, they need to look at other town’s their size with established systems and who their providers are. No offense Jack, but this smells like an apple with a rotten core. Say we pay this guy and install his equipment, who provides the service when it breaks? Does he have a team of service technicians to climb the tower and visit each home or office with a problem? I just think a larger, more established company would be a better investment.
Once again Century is trying to get into something that may or may not work.I for one would not pay for a service,which makes me watch advertising before i can sign on to it.
Since when is it a hostile thing to ask a basic question about the service?
I am not a computer geek either,so it would be important for me to learn more.All i can say before i would pay $34.00 for something, i want to be informed.
It would be wise to do a study on how many people can even afford or are willing to pay an extra 34 bucks a month,in this economy.
Just my humble opinion of course.
what about byrneville will we get broadband out here where we live????????? we need broadband to.
Sounds like a good move. If they don’t have broadband at all, any start is better than none.