Lessons Learned from Municipal Broadband

Not all attempts to deploy municipal wireless networks across the country were failures, panelists said at a packed Monday afternoon session of the Freedom to Connect conference. Rather, the speakers said, an attempt must be made to appreciation of the nuances of the experience. Esme Vos, founder of the MuniWireless.com web site, said that public opinion had been too harsh on some of the city-sponsored networks in the United States. The failures of Philadelphia and Earthlink, she said, could still offer vital lessons for the future, and were not without value. Additionally, wireless automated meter reading in municipalities was a vital development, she said. Sascha Meinrath, research director at the New America Foundation, said that a more urgent question posed by the failures is "who will set forth a compelling alternative agenda to central mass media."