On Sun, Jul 28, 2002 at 07:37:36AM -0500, Daniel Taylor wrote:
> > 2) profit (make money, isp-style)
> 
> That would involve another group. Any "profits" from the operation
> of a TCWUG wireless network should go back into the WUG and the
> network. It would be nice for the WUG to have a small budget for
> community outreach, presence at community gatherings (fairs,
> parades, etc.).

Why another group?

> I don't see profits coming out of this though, we will be best
> served if we simply try to share the _costs_ of the connectivity
> among ourselves.

Profit doesn't mean that someone is going to make money off of 'you'.

How can you share the costs of connectivity unless everyone uses the
same 'connection' type?

And don't forget the issue about ToS and such either.

> And it is not going to be a cheap project, though there are
> opportunities for cost savings in quite a few areas.

Where?

> > What do users want:
> > 1) connectivity
> > 2) alternative to slow downloads over the 'net that are from sites that
> > are local (ie: real-time's ftp mirror)
> 
> I do not think that a TCWUG network should have "users" as such
> until we decide that we are ready for them. Setting up a network to
> be used by a relatively small group of geeks is much different from
> setting up a network for general public use.

Why is it different?

> I mean, how many regular users could setup IPv6 on MSWindows?

Why would anyone want to set up IPv6 on anything right now?

> I agree with this, which is why I keep suggesting the Co-op model.

That may work, but who is going to pony up the bandwidth to start and
the money for access points?

> The best we can reasonably hope for is fair cost sharing. If we
> happen to do better than that, cool, but nobody should be getting
> hung up on "profitability" or on anyone other than the upstream
> connectivity providers getting more out of the system than they put
> into it.

I am willing to dump real money into it, once there is a model that
can offer payback and that can run without hackery and without abusive
people stealing (yes, I said stealing) services they are not helping
to cover the costs on.

-- 
Mike Horwath           IRC: Drechsau         drechsau at Geeks.ORG
Home: 763-540-6815  1901 Sumter Ave N, Golden Valley, MN  55427
Opinions stated in this message, or any message posted by myself
through my Geeks.ORG address, are mine and mine alone, period.