Broadband Broadens Its Pitch (cont’d)
By Mike
Musgrove
In one corner
of the market the spirit of the tiny mom-and-pop broadband ISP
isn't just hanging on, it's flourishing. That's the new category
of wireless community networks. While most people within
subscription range of The Post could subscribe to DSL or
cable-modem broadband access if they wanted to, there are still
spots where Web surfing is stuck at low tide. Not all cable
systems have been upgraded to allow highspeed internet access,
and DSL is limited to houses within 10 to 15,000 "wire feet" of
the nearest telephone central office -- that's not as the crow
flies, but as the cable crawls.
The
traditional remedy for DSL and cable broadband deprivation has
been satellite broadband, which works pretty much anywhere but
requires pricey hardware and costs $10 to $20 more than cable or
DSL while offering slower downloads.
Instead,
however, some enterprising geeks are leasing business-grade T1
lines at $500 a month and up, then sharing that fast broadband
connection with their neighbors over WiFi wireless networks. The
neighbors, in turn, pay their share of that monthly bill. Bruce
Potter, founder of Capital Area Wireless Network, has put
together an organization focused on helping such tiny services
get up and rolling.
"There's no
money in this for me," said Potter, who works as a software
security consultant. "I'm just trying to help build a broadband
community." There's the optimism of a true early adopter for
you.
