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And who in the government of a small town is competent to design such an architecture? Who is competent to hire a competent company to design such an architectu

And who in the government of a small town is competent to design such an architecture? Who is competent to hire a competent company to design such an architecture? In the case of my town the answer is nobody. Our municipal internet project has been a boondoggle of incompetence, false starts, and mismanagement. Going on a decade. Meanwhile the people using Comcast or AT&T generally have usable service. I'm not a fan of either company, but at least they're getting the job done.

magduf 8y ago
I don't see the problem here. The government doesn't need to be competent to design anything; the job of government is to control the funding and legalities, and contract with companies that can do the work. If the government isn't competent to hire a competent company, that's the government's fault, and by extension, the voters'. If the voters can't elect competent people to run their government, that's really OK: they're getting the government they deserve. If they're not competent enough to vote for decent government officials, they're not going to be competent enough to purchase service from good companies themselves either.
- foldr 8y ago
  >If the government isn't competent to hire a competent company In a small town, there may just not be anyone with the necessary knowledge and expertise. You can't vote for someone who doesn't exist.
  - bryanlarsen 8y ago
    In theory this should be simple: 1. find a similar town that has good municipal internet 2. ask them who did it for them 3. hire those people If everybody knows they are ignorant, you're probably OK. The big problem is in the towns where people think they have the expertise but don't.
  - magduf 8y ago
    The town has a government comprised of the people from that town. If there isn't anyone in the town smart enough to run for government who, as the other responder pointed out simply needs to look for other towns that did something similar and ask them how they did it and who they contracted with, then obviously the town is full of utter morons, and by definition, the democracy in that town is working as designed: the people are getting what they deserve.
nicoburns 8y ago
The obvious solution seems to be a public entity at federal level. They would be big enough to have the relevant expertise without the misaligned incentives of the big corporate companies.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  > public entity at federal level > without the misaligned incentives of the big corporate companies There's plenty of misaligned incentives at any Nth level of government. They're just more diverse. Some are political instead of financial.
  - nicoburns 8y ago
    However, there are plenty of example of government organisation successfully managing broadband infrastructure projects.
cowsandmilk 8y ago
In the case of Charlemont, they're working with Westfield Gas & Electric, which has already designed and installed municipal fiber for its own town (Whip City Fiber) and has designed fiber installations for several other cities in Western MA. Charlemont has studied the issue for years and are working with an organization that took the time over years to test out municipal fiber in the own community by creating "fiberhoods" and now is covering 70% of Westfield.

magduf 8y ago

I don't see the problem here. The government doesn't need to be competent to design anything; the job of government is to control the funding and legalities, and contract with companies that can do the work. If the government isn't competent to hire a competent company, that's the government's fault, and by extension, the voters'. If the voters can't elect competent people to run their government, that's really OK: they're getting the government they deserve. If they're not competent enough to vote for decent government officials, they're not going to be competent enough to purchase service from good companies themselves either.

foldr 8y ago
>If the government isn't competent to hire a competent company In a small town, there may just not be anyone with the necessary knowledge and expertise. You can't vote for someone who doesn't exist.
- bryanlarsen 8y ago
  In theory this should be simple: 1. find a similar town that has good municipal internet 2. ask them who did it for them 3. hire those people If everybody knows they are ignorant, you're probably OK. The big problem is in the towns where people think they have the expertise but don't.
- magduf 8y ago
  The town has a government comprised of the people from that town. If there isn't anyone in the town smart enough to run for government who, as the other responder pointed out simply needs to look for other towns that did something similar and ask them how they did it and who they contracted with, then obviously the town is full of utter morons, and by definition, the democracy in that town is working as designed: the people are getting what they deserve.

nicoburns 8y ago

The obvious solution seems to be a public entity at federal level. They would be big enough to have the relevant expertise without the misaligned incentives of the big corporate companies.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
> public entity at federal level > without the misaligned incentives of the big corporate companies There's plenty of misaligned incentives at any Nth level of government. They're just more diverse. Some are political instead of financial.
- nicoburns 8y ago
  However, there are plenty of example of government organisation successfully managing broadband infrastructure projects.

cowsandmilk 8y ago

In the case of Charlemont, they're working with Westfield Gas & Electric, which has already designed and installed municipal fiber for its own town (Whip City Fiber) and has designed fiber installations for several other cities in Western MA. Charlemont has studied the issue for years and are working with an organization that took the time over years to test out municipal fiber in the own community by creating "fiberhoods" and now is covering 70% of Westfield.