Yesterday, 21 participants representing WISPs, WISPA or a vendor met in Springfield, Illinois. The purpose of the meeting was to build relationships, discuss the industry and the future and develop strategies to succeed in a more competitive landscape in the coming years.
Of the participants, all were WISPA members except for one and he signed up for membership today. It was the general consensus of all those participating that we all need to do a better job reaching out to our neighbor WISPs who are not currently WISPA members and encourage them to join our efforts to improve the business environment in which we operate. The participants also discussed planning a more formal meeting in late spring in which Government officials representing the Partnership for a Connected Illinois (Broadband Mapping Authority) and other officials with a concern about Broadband in Illinois would be invited to participate. It is expected that this next meeting will be a daylong event and be patterned after Indiana meetings that have been held in the past and the one currently planned <http://www.wispa.org/?page_id=3434> for January 19th. Some things that were discussed: * Broadband Stimulus Fiber Projects * Aggregated bandwidth purchases * Homeland Security issues with municipal water tower contracts. * Interference and lack of adequate spectrum in metropolitan areas * WISPA dues and tiered membership rates * Motorola GPS Sync and new Ubiquiti sync methods * New Affiliate Opportunities through WISPA and its Vendors * Insurance and possible WISPA Group Health opportunities * Internet Service taxes * Interfacing with Local and State politicians * Peering opportunities I would like to thank Jason McKemie of Veloxinet <http://www.veloxinet.com/> , a local WISP in Springfield for hosting this meeting at his downtown establishment. Kudos go to the great food that we were served for lunch. Also, many thanks go to John Phelps and Ryan Schenkel of TBI (Telecom <http://www.wispa.org/?page_id=2665> Brokerage, Inc.) for paying for the lunch as a vendor sponsor. Mike Hammett and John Scrivner also participated in the planning of the event, but unfortunately John could not attend due to illness at the last minute. Once again, meetings like this, is one of the reasons I really love this industry. There are many great people who work very hard to supply broadband in their local markets and it is my pleasure to meet each one and work for all each day. It was great to see the relationships build and the sharing of experiences and business practices with others in the industry. Other states that need assistance getting organized, feel free to contact me. We really need more local (state) champions willing to lead our efforts in each state. Respectfully, Rick Harnish Executive Director WISPA 260-307-4000 cell 866-317-2851 WISPA Office Skype: rick.harnish. rharn...@wispa.org
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