Moorhead officials don't know if getting into the
wireless Internet business would be a good idea for the city.
They just know they don't want Moorhead to be
left behind as other towns start installing wireless networks.
"We don't know what this means for Moorhead,"
City Manager Bruce Messelt told the City Council Monday. "What
we would like to do is explore it."
At a joint meeting of the council and the
Moorhead Public Service Commission, officials heard
presentations about Wi-Fi and WiMax, two systems Moorhead could
use to provide high-speed, mobile Internet access to residents
for $20 to $30 a month.
The wireless technologies create "hot spots"
around an antenna, where users tap into the Internet over free,
unlicensed radio frequencies.
The relatively low cost of setting up the systems
means they soon could rival traditional broadband systems.
Next month, several city staff members will
attend an out-of-town conference to learn more about the
technology, Messelt said. When they come back, city officials,
local service providers and Internet users should be able to
start a dialogue about what would work for Moorhead, he said.
That could mean anything from building a complete
citywide network, just serving the city's new industrial park,
or allowing private industry to fill that need, he said.
Entering the Internet-providing business would be
a risky move for the city, said Jim Taylor, market manager for
702 Communications in Moorhead. He did not attend Monday's
meeting.
Providing Internet service already is a
competitive arena, where cell phone and other telecommunications
companies have begun looking for footholds, he said. Examples
like last month's bankruptcy of Monet Mobile Networks, a
high-speed wireless Internet provider in eight Midwestern
cities, show the need for caution, he said.
Already, a consultant recommended Moorhead Public
Service not enter the cable TV business because it wouldn't be
profitable, said Scott Geston, general manager of CableOne,
which provides cable in Fargo and Moorhead.
"The city government needs to decide if it wants
to be in a highly competitive business, especially when
potential taxpayer money is at risk," Geston said prior to
Monday's meeting.
Still, the low startup cost is one of the
wireless system's strengths, said Don Redden, Moorhead's
information services manager.
Towers to carry the information cost about
$20,000 to build. The city would need three or four of those,
Redden said. Then, each actual connection to the Internet, which
can be used by about 100 people, costs another $500.
That's compared to millions of dollars to lay
cable with similar capacity over an area that could be covered
by one tower, he said.
"The cost itself is just amazing," Redden said.
Still, those costs just cover hardware, Redden
said. If the city does decide to enter the wireless business, it
would have to hire staff too, he said.
"You take on almost immediately thousands of
subscribers," Redden said. "Now those thousands of subscribers
have thousands of questions."
Though Monday night's meeting was a preliminary
step, Councilwoman Lauri Winterfeldt-Shanks said she was excited
about the network's possibilities.
"Our main business in Moorhead is education, and
the ramifications for that could be wonderful," she said.
