----- Original Message ----- > From: "Aaron" <aa...@wholesaleinternet.net>
> So let me throw out a purely hypothetical scenario to the collective: > > What do you think the consequences to a municipality would be if they > laid fiber to every house in the city and gave away internet access for > free? Not the WiFi builds we have today but FTTH at gigabit speeds for > free? > > Do you think the LECs would come unglued? Of course they would. But the real problem is *this shit's expensive*. You can assume $8-1200 per passing, if you fiber the entire town at once (my example was 12000 passings, 3-pr, in 2.3 sqmi). Then you're going to have to operate the core, which will take power and at least 5 people to man it 24/7. And finally, figure on at least 4-6 multi-10GE uplinks, and those things don't exactly grow on trees -- there's no sense in providing 1G/1G if people can't actually use it. So there's a bunch of sunk cost, and a bigger bunch of recurring costs. And where's that money come from? Yup: local taxes, mostly property. So you're charging everyone anyway; TANSTAAFL. Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth Baylink j...@baylink.com Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates http://www.bcp38.info 2000 Land Rover DII St Petersburg FL USA BCP38: Ask For It By Name! +1 727 647 1274
