George - Please see my answers inline, below.
George Rogato wrote:
Jack Unger wrote:
Dennis,
Thanks for taking the time to talk to the local government officials.
I can understand them paying 60 grand to see if it's feasible. I'm
sorry that they don't believe that a local WISP could do it. In an
ideal world, there would be a local WISP who is open-minded enough and
business-creative enough to step up and do it. Having a good business
model would, of course, be a necessity. On the other hand, it will be
a LARGE project and it's possible that a local WISP, no matter how
business-savvy, may not have the financial resources to take this on.
jack
Now this area is something WISPA "can" do to help.
All that is required is more membership and some willingness by our
members to contribute some time to format a strategy.
Jack, if Dennis offered to pay you to show up at his city council
meeting and to lobby for his company, would you go and support Dennis
and do you think the outcome could be different?
Long question.
George
George,
WISPA can (and must) do a WHOLE lot more to help. Having said that, I
have to recognize that WISPA is a volunteer organization and very few
WISPA members have much "free time" to contribute to developing
standards, etc. Most WISPs are simply too busy just trying to survive in
this business, given that the odds are stacked against them by the
money, lobbying power, and political experience of the large incumbent
players.
Whether we like it or not, the broadband wireless business has "grown
up" and gone "mainstream". The broadband wireless business is now
recognized as legitimate. Broadband wireless technology has been proven
to work and every large company in the world wants a "piece of the
action". WiMAX; muni; mesh; 3G are examples of this.
WISPA must find the courage, the conviction and yes, the money, to stand
up and lead at this critical point in time, because if WISPA doesn't
then there really is no other credible, non-profit organization to do
this. (Please do let me know if I am overlooking anyone's organization).
To answer your second question, yes - if Dennis paid me to appear at his
City Council meeting to lobby for his company I would be happy to do
that. The only requirement would be that I talk with Dennis first to be
sure that I was knowledgeable enough about his company to represent it
correctly. If he told me about (or if I detected) areas within his
company that could benefit from strengthening then I would want to
confidentially discuss those areas with him and suggest ways he could
address those areas and/or build those strengths. Given a strong and
honest City Council presentation, backed up by the support and
credibility of WISPA then it's certainly possible that the outcome could
be different.
jack
--
Jack Unger ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) - President, Ask-Wi.Com, Inc.
Serving the License-Free Wireless Industry Since 1993
Author of the WISP Handbook - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs"
True Vendor-Neutral WISP Consulting-Training-Troubleshooting
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Phone (VoIP Over Broadband Wireless) 818-227-4220 www.ask-wi.com
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