email: tompoe [ at ] fngi dot net
February 29, 2008
Mayor James Erb
Charles City, Iowa
Dear Mayor James Erb:
As you know, our students in Charles City, Iowa, have access to computer labs in their schools. They also have a PEG channel studio in the high school, which affords the students the unique opportunity to be introduced to television production and editing of television and radio shows. However, they do not have access to their school network from their homes, as Charles City is lacking an affordable "last mile solution". This letter is intended to introduce you to one affordable solution that establishes a community decentralized broadband infrastructure. If implemented, it provides all students in Charles City with a true 21st century education, giving all students access to their school network from their homes, so they can start multimedia assignments while in class, and complete their homework assignments in the evenings and on weekends.
A community decentralized broadband infrastructure costs as little as one $50 Meraki unit, purchased by your office, and plugged into your wall socket. This would establish all the administrative components necessary for a community decentralized broadband infrastructure for Charles City. From that point forward, the infrastructure can be expanded, maintained, and operational on a pay-as-you-go basis, with each house purchasing their own Meraki unit, plugging it into a wall socket, and notifying a volunteer with the appropriate information to add it to the existing decentralized broadband infrastructure.
Once all houses in Charles City have such units, the city is then in a position to leverage this newly created 21st century indigenous resource, to negotiate contracts to improve and expand the community decentralized broadband infrastructure. This is a demonstration of a growing trend in the United States that is contributing to a compelling case to establish a national decentralized broadband infrastructure policy. We have seen similar policies established by our federal government in recent years. The example that highlights the sound thinking behind a community decentralized broadband infrastructure is found when we examine the allocation of some $450 million dollars to assist homes in purchasing devices that enable them to view digital television transmissions. However, unlike such policies, a national decentralized broadband infrastructure policy requires no capital investment by local, state or federal governments. All that is required is for the mayor and city officials to embrace the initiative and "champion" the project to establish the community decentralized broadband infrastructure.
San Francisco has almost completed its decentralized broadband infrastructure, and the city has not had to invest taxpayer dollars. When completed, the city will issue a RFP to telecommunications companies, asking for bids that will allow the companies to gain access to the city's indigenous resource, its decentralized broadband infrastructure in order to offer telecommunications services on an added value basis. The city will also consider arranging contracts with hospitals who wish to gain access to the decentralized broadband infrastructure in order to offer telemedicine programs. The opportunities for the city to realize revenues generated through the marketing of the decentralized broadband infrastructure will be significant. Most importantly, the decentralized broadband infrastructure is both affordable, and provides broadband speeds at 1Mbps or greater, which positions the citizens of Charles City to contribute to a higher level of overall health and well-being throughout the community.
A draft of the national decentralized broadband infrastructure policy is available by visiting the site address for the statement. There is also a link for a discussion of the rationale for the national decentralized broadband infrastructure policy in the left column of the site page.
It is important that you and the city council be aware that recently, Connected Nation, a research organization, published a report on behalf of the telecommunications industry, reporting the economic impact of a broadband infrastructure on states and the nation. Iowa lost over $1.7 billion dollars last year by NOT adopting a statewide broadband infrastructure policy. I would encourage you to place this issue on the city council agenda at your earliest opportunity, and include attention to any increased liability exposure the city might need to consider in light of the connectednation.org report. Again, I want to emphasize the importance of providing our students with an affordable "last mile solution".
Respectfully,
Tom Poe, Charles City, Iowa