Jane McWilliams, LWV Observer
Thursday, the City held an Open House for citizens to learn more about a study the city is doing to determine the feasibility of installing a citywide fiber optic system in Northfield.
Doug Dawson, of CCG, Consulting, will direct a survey of a 400 randomly chosen residences and 75-80 businesses to determine what kind of services they currently employ and what their future needs are. He said there are no preconceived outcomes. CCG will develop a cost estimate for building a fiber optic network based on the survey, along with a business plan for the service. He stressed that he won’t recommend it if a service would not make money.
According to Dawson, there are two options for providing the service: a city-owned business or a commercial partnership. Following the fact-finding survey, Dawson will report to the council. If the council decides to more forward, a system could be in place by 2010. Dawson stressed the value of this kind of system to economic development and said it is possible to limit it to commercial and business areas, should the city decide to go that route. However, he stressed the value to residents of increased speed as well, especially for people who telecommute.
According to Northfield’s IT Director, Melissa Reeder, this study will help determine the feasibility of installing a network providing a wide range of speeds of 50 megabits-per-second or more to every home and business in Northfield. A recent study from the Communications Workers of America suggests that the U.S. is falling behind other countries in Internet speed: the median download speed in the U.S. is just under 2 megabits-per-second.
The City of Northfield is assisted by a $25,000 grant from the Blandin Foundation. Other sources for the $64.350 project are city budget, the Economic Development Authority and the cable TV fund. Reeder and Dawson say the study should be complete by late January or early February.
Comments
I hope the "randomly chosen residences" will not be based on land-line phone numbers. As in voter polling, the results will otherwise be skewed by the number of people who have cell phones only.