Houston, We Have a Solution


Mayor White wants Internet bubble for Houston
02:24 PM CST on Monday, November 7, 2005
By Doug Miller / 11 News
Mayor Bill White stated Monday that if he wins re-election, one of the first things he'll do is push forward a plan to make the entire city of Houston Wi-Fi accessible. He claimed that he would call for bids within the first three months of his next term and plans to place the necessary equipment atop utility poles throughout the city.

Mayor White, with popularity polls scraping the ceiling, squeezed one more promise in before election day today. On Channel 11 last night, he was seen promising rapid action on a city-wide network. When the leader of the nation's 4th largest city takes the bull by the horns like this, you know that this movement has legs and that it is going to be one heck of a ride in the next year.

Strap on your seatbelts, folks, and hold on to your saddles!



Posted on November 08, 2005 at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

Munis and Electrics a Winning Combo

CLEC Business - Consulting on the Triple Play This article on ISP Planet describes how most municipalities are turning to private sector consultants and system integrators for help with broadband projects. Drills down into the Provo, UT broadband project as an example, citing the benefits when municipalities and utilities cooperate on a project - while the Provo project was fiber to the home (FTTH), the analogy holds true for wireless broadband.

Posted on May 25, 2005 at 07:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Utility Connection Resources

Economist Article on the Energy Internet

EPRI Future of Electricity

Municipally Owned Utilities and Broadband

Energy Future Coalition Report on Smart Grids

Wired Magazine The Energy Web

American Public Power Assn on Utility Broadband

Posted on May 19, 2005 at 11:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Electric Utilities and Municpal Networks

electric utility images.jpg

The attached UnwireMyCity white paper describes the historic relationship between electric utilities and municipalities and suggests that there is strong potential for the two groups to help each other as they contemplate installing a wireless network. Electric utilities need new communications infrastructure to upgrade their power grids, and municipalities need broadband infrastructure for a variety of reasons. Together, they can lower their risk, lower their costs, and speed up their time to success.

Connecting the Dots

Posted on May 17, 2005 at 04:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack