Kurt Hack's vision (from his website which hasn't been updated for 1 1/2 years)
CLAWNET:

I propose the investigation of Clawson becoming a wireless internet service provider (WISP).

This involves the selling of internet services to Clawson residents at a reasonable and competitive cost and provide profit for the city at the same time.

The main startup costs are that of antenna infrastructure, which the city already owns. We have an antenna tower at the current city building and own properties around the city that can be used for signal transmission.

The antennas used are small and not noticeable to residents. The transmission power is also negligible and doesn't even require FCC approval. The return on investment, given the small startup costs, should be within twelve to eighteen months.
Comments:
So the mixing of city government with a computer related business endeavor is going to work?
Hmm ..maybe he's smarter than I give him credit for (Uhh....no)

Main startup costs are the antennas??
He needs more than antennas.
He needs multiple expensive transceivers (transmitter and receiver combined).
He needs multiple reliable power and surge/lightning protection.
He needs multiple high speed Internet backbone entry points for bandwidth.
He needs a management center staffed with an engineer or two and customer support staff.
He needs an advertising venue.
He needs yet another programming change to the existing billing structure to send service bills out and to account for credit for outages.
He needs......(add your own comments).

If the power is negligible, then so will the service be. I'm sure the 10 houses surrounding the weak signal are going to just jump on the chance to join.

Not to mention, if anyone is going to provide wireless internet across a city, it would be the already existing phone carriers, Verizon, Cingular (Sprint), etc.

There is never going to be a return on investment on this cockamamie scheme. Never.

Note his full time job is some kind of programmer, visual basic probably.


My bad, I'm all mixed up, the above information is all wrong. Sorry guys.
Guess he can cover and manage the 2.2 square miles with a couple Linksys WRT54G's transmitting thru his bedroom window and a simple Excel spreadsheet. Geez...what was I thinking. Hope he lives on the 2nd floor.