Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Committee

[D Logan <dlogan AT ix.netcom.com>]

I would like to make one suggestion - when looking at costs, it is important 
to factor in short term (i.e. during initial build-out) and long term (i.e. 1 
year+) installation and operating costs in addition to capital costs.   

-- Dave Logan

-----Original Message-----
>From: Brian Russell <brussell AT metalab.unc.edu>
>Sent: Mar 3, 2006 11:51 AM
>To: chtechcomm AT lists.ibiblio.org
>Cc: laurineasthom AT hotmail.com
>Subject: [Chtechcomm] Another look at Cost
>
>RE: Cost of Muni WiFi per square mile
>
>http://tinyurl.com/m69fs
>(Copied bellow for convenience)
>
>The bottom line from this article:
>"Given these estimates, in a worst-case scenario a company, neighborhood, 
>or municipality will save 25% using open-source, open-architecture systems 
>like CUWiN. And, obviously, the cost-savings just go up from there."
>
>-Brian
>
>Crunching Numbers: CUWiN vs. Tropos -- Costs to Wireless 1-square Mile.
>
>I recently read on WiFiNetNews that Tropos Networks has announced it would 
>cost $68,000 for the equipment necessary to network one square mile. And a 
>lot of folks have been asking me how much it would cost to network a 
>square mile using a CUWiN-based system. I recently gave a presentation at 
>Open Space Austin on the costs for community networks which gave me a 
>reason to pull together some rough estimates.
>
>So here's some numbers for a CUWiN-based system (along with the 
>information that went into coming up with these estimates). I would 
>strongly encourage Tropos to do likewise and let consumers know how they 
>came up with their own cost estimates.
>
>1 square mile = 27,878,400 square feet.
>
>CUWiN's existing network has links as short as about 100 meters, and as 
>long as 400 meters (or more). So I've broken down the network cost 
>estimates into a "low-", "medium-", and "high-cost" breakdowns to give an 
>honest assessment of the potential spread for different geographies.
>Node Coverage Radius   Square Feet Covered     Nodes Needed    Total 
>Cost*
>1,000 feet     3,140,000       9       $3150
>500 feet       785,000         36      $12600
>250 feet       196,250         142     $49700
>
>*Notes: Current costs for the equipment CUWiN uses are $350/node. Radii 
>are based on connectivity distances between nodes (i.e., coverage area may 
>be larger, but these are the effective distances between two nodes in the 
>coverage are).
>
>Given these estimates, in a worst-case scenario a company, neighborhood, 
>or municipality will save 25% using open-source, open-architecture systems 
>like CUWiN. And, obviously, the cost-savings just go up from there.
>
>
>     __
>    /__\
>    \__/
>     ||
>     ||
>     ||
>      \__
>         \_ Brian C. Russell
>            Media Activist
>            AudioActivism.org
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>                       \__= It's a Mic...
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