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What Stands in the Way of Unwiring?

As I said in my most recent newsletter, I'm enjoying blogging, and I hope you readers find some value on these pages. Peak daily visitors on the site since its launch just two short months ago has grown to just over 400 unique visitors. And Registered Users has grown to 186!

I conssider that a decent start for a home-grown effort like this, and I hope all of you readers who like what you see will not just keep coming back, but also go ahead and tell one or two more people to check it out, to help the community grow. For my part, I'm committed to adding more and more useful content over time and to continue to organize the content to make it even more useful for you as a tool to UnwireYourCity.

Poll Results

In keeping with my goal to build a community, I'm asking questions to better understand how you feel, as an informal means of interacting with readers on the site. The latest poll question asked, "What do you consider the PRIMARY constraint to deploying a municipal wireless broadband network?" Here were the results:

Cost/Lack of Funding Source 31%
Local Politics/Lack of Focus 25%
Regulatory/Legal Barriers 14%
Complexity/Lack of Knowledge 14%
Fear of Risk/Security 8%
Other 8%

What to make of these results? Well, I think it's significant that over half of poll respondents cited either cost or politics as being the principal impediments to getting a wireless network. Security, often mentioned as an issue with wireless networks, was named by less than 10% of respondents as a reason not to move forward. Apparently, security issues are not considered that big an impediment. I find it curious that cost should be the principal impediment, but also understand that most city budgets are under pressure these days.

In the middle of the pack, one out of seven respondents (14%) saw regulatory issues as the major impediment, and the same amount felt that network planners needed to know more about the issues before moving forward. I don't find these results significant, as some readers face signficant regulatory obstacles, and knowledge on wireless issues can vary greatly.

We can conclude from this poll that Unwiring a City is a complex policy decision that requires consensus buillding and significant planning. In all cases, a financial strategy is needed, and (in some cases), a legal/regulatory strategy. Finally, planners need a thorough understanding of issues involved with networks. What do you conclude? Comment below to let me know.

I'm confident that UnwireMyCity addresses these issues, and going forward this will be useful information for me to tailor content to ensure that these issues receive appropriate coverage by priority.

New Poll

Notice that I posted a new poll/survey today. I'm curious to learn what you think of our US government's approach to broadband. Specifically, do you think we even have a federal policy on broadband? (you know what I think from my blog last Friday).

Please let me know what else you would like to understand about community opinions on wireless issues and I'll post a new poll to survey our community.

Thanks for your support and keep coming back!

Posted on August 29, 2005 at 04:07 PM

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