Stick to Your Knitting, Work Within Your Circle of Control

A final word on Ensign-McCain, S. 1504, the Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act of 2005, the latest in a series of bills in Congress to look at rewriting the Federal Telecom Act of 1996 (FTA 96). As if to demonstrate my Tempest in a Teapot message in my blog from Wednesday on this topic, Rumblings in Washington, we have seen a flurry of Internet postings on this piece of legislation in the last 48 hours, with special attention paid to the final section of the bill, which I can only describe as a silly attempt to hog-tie municipally-owned networks.

While most of the blogs and articles lambast this language in particular, and make their case against this bill, I chose to recommend that you check it out, and then get on with your task, which is to build a network and provide for your local broadband connectivity needs. The simple fact is that if you were to just keep your nose to the grindstone and focus on what is in front of you, acting early to get a network in place, it will not matter for you that Congress bans such a network - they will not undo what you have done, as evidenced by the grandfather provisions included in such legislation.

These messages - Stick to Your Knitting and Work Within Your Circle of Control, are, I believe, more compelling than expending any more energy or effort to debunk a bill that has little chance at becoming the law of the land as it is currently written. Bills metamorphosize during the legislative process, and whatever we will get to replace FTA 96 will be a while in coming. So how can you be effective at this juncture? For one, spend as little time on such water cooler talk as possible and focus on the task at hand.

My recommendations in this regard stem from my adherence to the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, which most of you are probably familiar with. I posted two new books on the Recommended Reading list this morning, recognizing the importance of staying focused and not being distracted by all the commotion in Washington, or in your particular state capital, for that matter, should this virus of Legislative-Municipal-Network-Bans-to-Protect-Incumbents spread in your direction.

In my opinion, the best innoculation against such a virus is to maintain a focus on local issues and getting the job done. We can become paralyzed with fear and frustration as we watch the powers that be take steps that would directly and negatively impact our ability to manage our local affairs. Better to let it blow by you as you go about your business, as the people of Lafayette did in passing their fiber plan bond package, or those in Philadelphia, or Minneapolis with their municipal wireless RFPs. Get busy and it will not matter what they do in Washington, because it will be too late to stop you.

You can see that if you were to apply these habits to your network project, you could start to see some results.

A. Personal Independence
1. Be Proactive. (initiative) - Get educated here on this site and elsewhere. Kick off a local campaign by asking your city leaders why you don't have such a project on the books and asking your community leaders what they would do with such a tool.
2. Begin with the End in Mind. (leadership) Take the lead and sketch out a compelling vision for your community. Publicize it.
3. First Things First (Management) Begin a diligent planning process by identifying the steps you need to take to make things happen.

B. Social Interdependence
4. Seek First to Understand, and Then to be Understood (listening) Take surveys and poll the communities that make up your city. Ask what they need and how a broadband communications infrastructure could help them to meet their needs.
5. Go For Win Win Solutions (cooperation) Find a way to incorporate private sector solutions and needs in with your public sector needs and approach.
6. Synergize (creativity) Take the time to design a network that works for all parties, meets all the purposes defined, and can be built for the least amount of money.

C. Regeneration
7. Sharpen the Saw (health and balance) Keep things in perspective and realize that community integration is more important than speed. Better to move as one than to race ahead with a plan that lacks widespread buy-in. Transform your temporary project approach into a permanent means for binding the community and planning for your future.

It all starts with Step One. Do Something.

Oh, the other book I recommended is the classic Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. Given our current political climate, I think we all would benefit from revisting this book written in 1937.

Posted on July 29, 2005 at 07:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

First Ever Muniwireless Conference

Muniwireless 2005 in San Francisco, Sept 26-27 After two years in the trenches, wireless pioneer Esme Vos is going to host her first conference. And it looks great! Here's a short list of topics:

Successfully deploying a wireless network
Calculating ROI
Writing a Great RFP
How to Get Political and Public Support for your Wireless Network
Applications and Muni Wireless
How to Fund your Network
Battling Anti-Municipal Broadband Bills

Check out Muniwireless today and make plans - San Francisco is nice in September.

Posted on June 17, 2005 at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wireless Planning Explained

The Wednesday IT special section of the Financial Times had a very readable article on wireless planning,
Integrated Plan Keeps Costs Down. The article gives a great overview of planning issues for the enterprise, including the city government planner. As the author states, mobility strategies require specific management software and IT skills. This is a helpful planning document.

Posted on June 15, 2005 at 09:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Global WISP Directory

Global Listing of Wireless ISPs & Related Organizations - WISP Directory provides browsers with a valuable tool to identify a local Wireless ISP company. This directory tracks WISPs who register themselves on the site in what amounts to a Yellow Pages directory of WISPs. There is no indication on this Web site on whether the local WISP has experience with metropolitan mesh networking, but this is clearly a place to start in evaluation and local planning.

Posted on June 13, 2005 at 04:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Planning Resources

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These resources will give you a good start in the planning process. I recommend you download these and go through them one by one, making note of what is especially relevant for your proposed project. You will need to register on UnwireMyCity.com first before downloading these documents! It just takes a minute.

Five Keys to Successful Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Deployment This Tropos document is succinct and derives its wisdom from the nearly 200 deployments of Tropos gear already out in the field.

MIT White Paper on Muni Broadband Networks This Dec 2003 MIT study on local government involvement is prescient in its focus on Municipally Owned Utitlities (MOUs) and the potential for leverage.

A Business Case Whitepaper - Maximizing Profitability: Tropos Networks and the Wireless ISP City officials should benefit from this document that describes the business case issues for the private sector WISP that deploys a metropolitan wireless network.

Structural Change Chart I captured my thoughts on structural change in this March 2005 document, only to see the reasoning mirrored in Tom Friedman's new book The World is Flat in May. The bottom line is that change is all around, and it's moving faster and faster. The message is get prepared and understand what the change means.

UnwireMyCity Principles for Planning This document has my long-held prinicples for planning and for business management captured. Print this and pin it on the wall to keep what is important in front of you.

Posted on May 19, 2005 at 11:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Mesh Network Planning Tool

Check out this planning tool for mesh networks. Austin start-up Wireless Valley, has released the Wireless Valley Wireless LAN MeshPlanner. With a background in planning tools for cellular deployments inside office buildings, Wireless Valley is coming outside.

Posted on May 18, 2005 at 08:19 PM

Planning: Step by Step, Making a High-Level Plan

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It's important in planning a wireless network to keep things simple and manage risk as you go, so we recommend that you proceed step-by-step according to the list below. One of the best resources out there is Civitium's cookbook, described on Muniwireless.com below.

Muniwireless is launching its "cookbook" series with the release of "Wireless Broadband: The Foundation for Digital Cities" by Matt Stone. The cookbook provides municipalities with a detailed framework for planning and deploying citywide wireless broadband networks.

Download the Cookbook here.

1. Get informed on broadband technology options. Looking beyond the misinformation circulating these days, we see that technological progress is further along than we might think. Being on UnwireMyCity.com is just the right place for Step One. For a good start, the resources on this website have considerable information on the broadband industry and the changing picture for municipal leaders. Share this information with other community leaders. Of the different technological options, the market indicates that a wireless broadband metropolitan mesh network is the fastest, most economical and reliable route to making broadband available. Start with the Orientation tab on the right and work your way through the resources to get up to speed quickly.

2. Produce and file a preliminary plan to make government policymakers aware of your actions and intentions. In some states, such notice is required and delay could have consequences. In any case, filing a short preliminary plan has minimal downside and may result in help being offered your way. You can file the preliminary plan with your state's Public Utility Commission and copy your state legislators and US Congressman and Senator (use these links to locate your state's regulatory and legislative contact info). Or, you may want to wait until Step Seven to file a more detailed plan.

3. Evaluate your community needs regarding broadband services. Before getting going, you need to evaluate your options, and this is the point where it makes sense to spend a little money for a custom evaluation. See the sample list of consultants and integrators in the Planning Section - typically, a firm will offer a two-week custom evaluation consulting engagement for $15,000 - $20,000. You may have a local Wireless Internet Service Provider that will partner with you to do this evaluation. At this early stage, be sure not to spend too much, or take too much time – the key at this point is to get moving.

4. Get on the same page with other community leaders. Taking time to listen, both to an expert as recommended above, and to the views of the entire community, will pay off in the long run. Having informed your planning team on the subject at hand, and evaluated your need and solution options, it's time to seek community input and determine a plan of attack. By making sure that you have as many community leaders on board for any plan you undertake, you will face less opposition than you might otherwise, and your network will meet more of the needs of your community. I recommend you review this short How To article on settng up a community blog as a great way of interacting with your community as you go through the planning process.

5. Determine your business model. First and foremost, I recommend you check in with your local electric utility for partnering possiblities. See the example of Go Moorhead. Align with technology partners, or better yet, with a system integrator, to ensure project success. Check out the options for Business Models discussed in the Orientation section on this site. Factors that will drive your decision include the risk profile of your city management, available funds, difficulty of network installation, in-house assets and skills for ongoing maintenance and operations, and partnering options with electric utilities and private sector providers.

6. Determine a funding strategy. While there will be a capital expense associated with the deployment, it may be that a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) is willing to share the burden or bear all of the burden, in exchange for having an anchor client and customer for municipal services. Assess your capital budget possibilities. What is the temperature in your community for this network? See the Funding Options in the Planning Section.

7. File a detailed plan with your state's Public Utility Commission and copy your state and federal legislative representatives. Be sure to state the benefits you expect to accrue and why you are proceeding in the manner you have selected.

8. Spread the word in your community. Begin to educate interest groups within your community on the coming changes and future service availability. Discuss the impact to your community and answer questions. Reference this website and others to spread the word and raise the level of awareness in your community.

9. Prioritize the implementation of broadband applications that will become available from the new network. Initiate those services that accelerate your return on investment (ROI) first. See the Uses of Metro Networks section on this site for ideas and to stimulate dialogue.

10. Enjoy the benefits of controlling your own destiny. Establish a standing committee to take input from the community on new ways of providing city services and innovative ways of taking advantage of the new network. Broad, intentional community planning will enable greater value to be reaped from this new network sooner. This is a great time to further leverage your communiity blog.

Step 11. Brag on your success. I will help you to spread the word through the UnwireMyCity on-line community. That is what the Leverage section is all about, so check it regularly for new ideas and to communicate with your peers, as this community gets underway in time. As more cities and towns implement broadband networks, the cost of equipment will go down, the technology will advance more rapidly, and new applications will be developed; all of these factors will increase the value of your new network.

Posted on May 16, 2005 at 10:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack