Boston's plans hits snags: The OpenAirBoston nonprofit charged with putting in Wi-Fi city wide is facing a variety of delays and complaints, the Boston Globe reports. They're trying to raise $12m to $15m from foundations, corporations, and other donors, and that seems bloody impossible to yours truly. There have been donations and sponsorships on some networks, but this is perhaps a factor of 50 to 100 larger than anything I'm aware of in this realm. The CEO of the nonprofit told the Globe that "Boston has yet to line up the 'key bucks' funders." Ain't going to happen. Ain't going to happen.
RFI responses are strong, with 15 firms submitting proposals on their involvement. A pilot project is scheduled for the end of this month. Complaints over filtering have led to changes, but the filters are still in place. Friend of this site Michael Oh, a member of the task force that created the Wi-Fi plan, told the Globe, "One thing it does say about the process is they should have done more due diligence about what should be filtered."
Cape Cod group works to build wireless backbone: Network World reports on a coordinated effort among a number of different entities on Cape Cod to build a wireless backbone along that seaboard chunk of Massachusetts. OpenCape Corp. is now installing gear to reach the entire cape and the two islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. This isn't any penny-ante best-effort Wi-Fi network, though. This is the real deal, with a 100 Mbps target in the pilot network. An early link will shoot 20 miles over water to test reliability, and they'd like to hit 250 Mbps. They're using the 5.4 and 5.8 GHz bands, but could add licensed spectrum from the colleges and other institutions in the area.
As in most quasi-rural areas in which there's a relatively low population density with clusters of larger cities and agriculture, it's tough to get high-speed connections at an affordable price. The summer people increase the population enormously, but aren't good candidates for the incumbents extending high-speed service.