Review #5 -- A Failed San Francisco Muncipal Wireless Broadband System

This article, written by Heather E. Hudson for Telematics and Informatics, is a case study of a prospective citywide wireless broadband system in the city of San Francisco. The author analyzes why the system eventually failed and also examines methods employed by similar Silicon Valley communities. Lessons are derived by this failed effort. Hudson illuminates those and elaborates on them for guidance in future municipal wireless projects.

One of the most interesting aspects of Hudson’s article is her examination of comparative statics. These position the United States against other industrialized nations, comparing their overall broadband access. For example, she states that the United States ranks 15th among these countries in access and pay, in some cases, ten to twenty-times more for like access. These numbers seem staggering. Infrastructure within the States is something we mostly take for granted. Statistics such as these call this into question. Our technological infrastructure is not evenly allocating resources throughout the nation evenly. The conclusions of Hudson’s article offer insight into this issue.

San Francisco wanted to establish a basic wireless coverage that extended to 90% of the city. This would be free, but would also allow users to subscribe to a fee based plan with additional security features. Two companies, Earthlink and MetroFi, were those bidding for the project. Without in depth analyze, after concluding research, each company felt that it would be difficult to make this endeavor profitable. This could be the main reason for our nation lagging behind other industrialized nations in terms of access. Most of our nation’s infrastructure is built by the private sector. If projects like these are not profitable, they feel little need to invest.

Hudson also found that financial constraints and lack of technical savvy from the user side as hampering the appeal of the project. This article raised many key questions about municipal wireless systems. It seems that as a nation, if we find wireless broadband access important, we need to find ways to make investment inviting for companies. This could either be through government subsidies or even educating populaces on how to use these technologies. If a market doesn’t exist because potential users are not informed on the technology, then investment will obviously not be profitable or even fruitful. This article touched on many points and it is difficult to be thorough in a short blog post, but I would encourage reading the piece and exploring more of the author’s points.

Hudson, H. E. (2009). Muncipal wireless broadband: Lessons from San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Telematics and Informatics 27(2010), 1-9.