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Wireless Networking Networking Businesses Communications IT Hardware

Wi-Max Deployed in Katrina Disaster Area 139

Posted by Zonk from the connect-them-up dept.
Spy Handler writes "In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina's destruction of telecom infrastructure in New Orleans, officials are turning to wireless broadband for use by government workers. Intel, a key backer of WiMax, and Cisco are donating wireless equipment to aid disaster workers. This could be a good opportunity to replace an antiquated system of copper wires with brand-new technology." From the article: "Shakouri and other industry experts contend that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina offers a chance to build the sort of modern network that phone and cable companies have promised for years. Such a network -- whether wireless or fiber-optic -- could deliver movies or medical records at speeds hundreds of times faster than current Internet connections. Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."
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Wi-Max Deployed in Katrina Disaster Area More

Wi-Max Deployed in Katrina Disaster Area

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  • Truth is (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PunkOfLinux ( 870955 ) <mewshi@mewshi.com> on Saturday September 10, 2005 @06:54AM (#13525620) Homepage
    They aren't 'donating' per se -- yes, they're giving it away at no cost, but it's VERY good publicity for them.

    Just think how good it sounds to have two tech companies donating tech to relief efforts. NOw, if only FEMA would get with the times and realize that not everyone uses windows/IE...

    • Big Fan (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Megamote ( 688718 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:08AM (#13525662)
      "The company considered installing wireless broadband in rebuilding, Smith said, but it found that it could recover most of its fiber network. The technologies will be used eventually. "I'm a big fan of WiMax," he said."

      These products operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz ISM band, or the licensed 2.3 GHz WCS, 2.5/2.6 GHz ITFS/MMDS, and 3.4/3.5 GHz WLL bands. Guess who owns the licensed spectrum - that's right, Bell South....big fan indeed.

    • Re:Truth is (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SlamMan ( 221834 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:39AM (#13525746)
      "They aren't 'donating' per se -- yes, they're giving it away at no cost, but it's VERY good publicity for them."

      So, they're donating it.
    • NOw, if only FEMA would get with the times and realize that not everyone uses windows/IE...
      Believe me- I understand that sentiment. But you have to figure that a lot of people (who had them) lost their computers along with their homes and the rest of their belongings. So I assume FEMA will set up trailers with computers, rooms at shelters with computers, send people to libraries etc. Every library (with the rare exception of a few Macs) has had windows machines. And if you are going to deploy mobile compu

    • Re:Truth is (Score:2, Insightful)

      by redeyeowl ( 912164 )
      What happened in New Orleans is a tragedy and the people there do need help. But let's not forget the people of Florida who have not yet recovered from last year's 4 hurricanes. They need as much help today as they did before Katrina. Don't send all the funds to New Orleans
      Peter Kuhn
      Lakeland Florida
      doublewidetrailer@gmail.com
      • Did Lakeland get hit at all? It is pretty far inland from what i recall (lived in Winter Haven for 6 years in the late 80's). Both towns are pretty far inland and seeing how much of a hurricanes damage comes from the todel forces, if your in the (semi) center of the state, then the damage you have to worry about is wind (which of course, is severe being a Cat 4).

    • Re:Truth is (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dreamchaser ( 49529 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @08:22AM (#13525847) Homepage Journal
      So it isn't a donation if it gives someone good press? Sorry but that is BS. A donation is a donation, whether it provides good PR or not.
      • Marketters will be glad to hear this:
        please enjoy this popup donation!
    • It looks like some folks have started using Mesh infrastructure (that Linux based stuff from http://locustworld.net/ [locustworld.net] which will use low cost/obsolete hardware. See
      http://www.the-bains.us/ [the-bains.us]

  • Nice move (Score:1, Troll)

    by gcnaddict ( 841664 )
    Its times like this that the big firms should be congradulated. I dont see microsoft doing things like this *whistles*

    • Re:Nice move (Score:5, Informative)

      by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:11AM (#13525669)
      Its times like this that the big firms should be congradulated. I dont see microsoft doing things like this *whistles*

      OK, so Bill Gates isn't actually Microsoft, per se - but he's personally holding a lot of the stock and cash that has resulted from their growth. I'm sure it pains you to know that he's donated, personally, a fortune to relief and charities. Just one donation (the largest in history) was $5 Billion towards malaria relieft and innoculation of children. The Gates foundation has already donated $1.5 million towards hurricane relief this week (mostly through the red cross).

      As for Microsoft itself, you might want to at least spend a couple of moments reading [microsoft.com] before you assume they're doing nothing. They have already lined up $9 Million in cash and donations in IT systems to help the local governments impacted by the storm. They're matching their employees' donations - and those people have collectively put up over a million as well. They've deployed three satellite communications busses in Baton Rouge and Mississippi, and are working directly with Intel and Cisco on support of Red Cross operations.

      There are two predictable things, here. One - that since MS routinely does these things, they are doing it now, too - whether or not the press mentions it. And two - that it would of course never get a posting on slashdot, just on principle.

    • Re:Nice move (Score:2, Informative)

      by huangpo ( 741798 )
      Hey, I don't like Microsoft either, but the truth is that they have donated resources:

      http://katrinasafe.org/ [katrinasafe.org]

      and I know personally they have been donating their expertise via conference calls and software licenses for PCs for shelters. And possibly in other ways as well; I've been too busy lately to keep dibs on Microsoft.

      I live in the affected area and I am a volunteer for the Red Cross.

  • Surely anything helps? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by freetipe ( 913682 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @06:56AM (#13525625)
    It may not be exactly "the right time and place", but as long as it isn't diverting skills and resources away from more critical, lifesaving activities, surely it can't hurt to have such things available?

  • *Waits* (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10, 2005 @06:57AM (#13525628)
    *Waits for FEMA to reject this assistance for some BS reason as well.*

    • Re:*Waits* (Score:2, Insightful)

      by PunkOfLinux ( 870955 )
      Indeed -- rather than accepting help, it seems as though they're one of those 'we're going to do it our way, or not at all' type of groups.

      Companies: Here's X amount of (free new technology)/(food)/(tp). PLease distribute it and make use of it. FEMA: NO! We're gonna do it our way!!! That's the way the people want it!

      • Re:*Waits* (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Sheetrock ( 152993 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:16AM (#13525686) Homepage Journal
        Well, without defending them too much, it is important to keep in mind that any time you're dealing with a large amount of aid you're also dealing with infrastructure (how and when do the items arrive, where do you store them, how do you prioritize the distribution of funds, who installs and maintains donated technology, is it something that integrates into volunteer efforts without too much training or maintainance overhead to be useful, can the volunteer coordinators fit another thing into the schedule, are there strings attached to the gift, etc.)

        Point being, if the help can't be deployed in a way that makes progress, it's better to turn it away than have it sit on the shelf useless or, worse, have it detract from other aid efforts that are more productive.

        • Point being, if the help can't be deployed in a way that makes progress, it's better to turn it away than have it sit on the shelf useless or, worse, have it detract from other aid efforts that are more productive.

          I agree, but some of the "rejected aid" were also people who could help organise/rebuild..
        • Very good point, if the open source community wants to contribute I suggest collaborating to invent a easy to use, low bandwidth, secure system to match the donations of X, Y and Z to the locations that actually NEED X,Y and Z and also figure out how to get them there the quickest (shortest route). This would allow those in the area who had some comms to send requests and those managing donations (Churches, Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc) to log on,pick a need and match it. Of course this would all have to
    • *Waits for FEMA to reject this assistance for some BS reason as well.*

      They're already rejected the 500,000 ration packs sent by the UK (And apparently other packs from other EU countries), as they "might be contaminated with BSE". What bollocks.

      • Re:*Waits* (Score:3, Interesting)

        by FidelCatsro ( 861135 )
        BSE has caused (roughly there may be more and perhaps less , some of the cases can not be artibuted to BSE infected beef)140 cases of variant CJD world wide since 96 . Almost all of those cases were caused infected meat in the late 80's to early 90's(since the meat from those days has gone well past its use by date , and since the regulations have been tightened there is a little to no risk ) . FEMA in their infantile(not a typographical error of infinite) wisdom are making frankly idiotic decisions.

        It hone

      • Re:*Waits* (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Ravatar ( 891374 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @08:24AM (#13525853)
        Let's not forget Castro's pledge of 1000+ doctors, they haven't even replied to him yet.
        • Funny, Cuban doctors would need Visa's to enter the USA which takes time. Also, how many spies would be in that group and how many handlers does it take to make sure none of them defect?? Also, the Cuban doctors would need to speak good English as most Americans in that area don't speak fluent Spanish. As bad as health care is said to be in Cuba, do they even have 1000 doctors to spare, do the doctors in Cuba know the most modern practices concerning diseases and injuries? I think this is just a big PR stun

          • Re:*Waits* (Score:5, Interesting)

            by mspohr ( 589790 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @10:31AM (#13526205)
            Just a few facts to intrude on your rant.

            Cuba has a surplus of doctors. In spite of (or because of) a "one party" system, one of the things that Cuba does well is provide good health care for its people. Cuba regularly sends hundreds of doctors abroad (and yes, they speak english). I have encountered them in South Africa and countries in South America.

            Cuba has basic health indicators that are as good as or better than the USA. This includes life expectancy, immunization (better than USA), infant mortality rate (better than USA), maternal mortality rate (better than USA).

            This is a genuine offer of support from Cuba but we know the US will reject it for political reasons.

            • OK so they have good doctors, what about the OTHER issues such as the entourage they carry to prevent defections? Or maybe thats not such a big issue as the doctors likely to defect would not be allowed to come over, only the "good Socialists". But with a surplus of doctors why should Cuba CARE if they defect???? Of course since the USA has a surplus I don't know if they could sucessfully practice here (licensing issues aside). As far as facts on health care, they do have better infant mortality by a few %
    • *Waits for FEMA to reject this assistance for some BS reason as well.*

      while you wait: US rejects 15 tons of food rations from Germany, saying they might be contaminated with BSE. (Those same rations are NATO approved and eaten by US soldiers in Afghanistan, for examle). Article is in German [spiegel.de], ask the fish.

  • Solar flares. (Score:3, Funny)

    by jimmypw ( 895344 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @06:59AM (#13525641)
    Its a good thing there arent solar flares disrupting communications at the moment. Oh wait there are.

    My sympathy goes out to the victims.

  • not the right time or place?? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by HyperHyper ( 519220 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:01AM (#13525646)
    >>"Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."

    Why is it because of the poverty level and they won't have enough clientele? Or because they will lose all the equipment once the next hurricane hits (man vs nature - my bet is on nature but that's another discussion)

    Personally, I've heard New Orleans is a big convention city and wouldn't that be a good reason to "hook them up" with this technology.

    If the technology is as a good as they are touting, it will draw more people to the area for meetings/conventions would it not?

  • Huh. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sheetrock ( 152993 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:05AM (#13525656) Homepage Journal
    Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place.

    They had their chance, and handed it to the cable companies by the combined misery of ISDN deployments in the early 90s and DSL deployments in the late 90s. Maybe they can work on correct and complete Caller ID information and shutting down the waves of illegal fax spam until the next communication technology comes around.

    • It's really kind of sad how poorly the telecom firms handle technology in the US. It's like they're afraid the public will discover VOIP and cannibalize their old business, so they've marginalized themselves to the point where nearly everyone gets their network connection from their cable company.

      The phone companies have a unique chance to deploy an amazing new tech, which would probably go up faster and serve more people than replacing the old lines. And they could definitely piggyback one onto the other

      • This is all conjecture, of course. The phone companies may be doing exactly the right things for themselves and their future. But it looks like they're betting their future on the telegraph.

        According to the article, "In areas with extreme damage where buildings will be replaced, BellSouth will bring fiber to the new structures, [Ken Smith, director of AT&T's disaster recovery team] said."

        If that intention actually pans out, that probably means the gulf coast area will have one of the country's large

  • About Time... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fungus King ( 860489 ) <mjlacey.gmail@com> on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:11AM (#13525670)

    Someone I speak to occasionally works in the communications industry, and after Katrina happened he started to chase up his superiors to see what can be done to deploy wireless communications in the disaster area - he made numerous calls to government officials to be told time after time that he was speaking to the *wrong* person - all the while the government were complaining "if only we had communications" - needless to say he's not been in a very good mood lately...

    Better late than never I suppose, but this could have been so much more useful had it been set up earlier...

  • WTF!?! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by CrazyDuke ( 529195 )
    "Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."

    Talk about looting a corpse! Do these people have NO shame? Wait, don't answer that...

    Anything for a fucking dollar. That's probably why we're in this shit in the first place.
    • Everything these days is about making the almighty buck. If they could cr*p in a bottle and sell it for profit, they would.

      The older I get, the more I see, the lower my view of humanity...

    • Umm. I think you'll find that the evil "for profit" corporations, like WalMart, Lowes, Home Depot, UPS, Microsoft, Dell, Cisco and all the rest have incredibly efficient distribution systems that they use every day. They are so expert and practiced at this that they can move materiel and relief to the needy infinitely quicker than some hidebound government agency. Remember it is the greedy capitalist bastards that put the food on your table; making profits all the way.

  • First suggested right here on Slashdot (Score:4, Informative)

    by blastard ( 816262 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:15AM (#13525681)
    Glad to see they are considering that.

    Here's the "first post" [slashdot.org] on it right here in slashdot. Of course many simply flamed.

    "Now would be a fantastic opportunity to install a citywide Wi-Fi network. If the ILEC was ever going to do it and get good press for it, now is the time. Could Intel use another test bed for Wi-Max?"

  • So, when is a good time? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by danharan ( 714822 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:28AM (#13525712) Journal
    I suppose there never is a good time to install a technology that will cannibalize its bottom line.

    According to TFA, "[BellSouth] expects to spend as much as $600 million to restore service on nearly half its 4.9 million lines in the gulf region and to 24 central offices, where local lines connect to the public phone network."

    That's what, some $240+ per line? Thank god they're using wireless to cut costs in some instances!

    Somehow I can't help but think that the price/performance comparison favours wireless...
    • and the funniest thing is that in most cases they're just hooking the existing wires back up. $240 per line? well when it takes a union worker an hour to screw back in one set of wires... the labor cost is pretty high.. especially when said union worker is guarenteed 5x minimum wage.. and can't be fired for piss poor performance...

      • Re:So, when is a good time? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gui_tarzan2000 ( 625775 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @07:48AM (#13525767)
        True story - we built a new school building to replace old portables and called Verizon to move the cable over to the new building. It took three "technicians" FOUR hours to pull a 25 pair cable through a 2" conduit 50' and terminate both ends. Then they had the balls to charge us $1400!!!!!

        • Just think that you're lucky: $1400 for 12 billable hours and some material is fairly cheap ;)
          • My father, some twenty years ago, ran the computer center for a legal division in our State. Anyway, in the State Building where he worked, they were preparing for a new mainframe installation, and had planned to put terminals throughout their floors for all the lawyers and secretaries to use. Well, his division had the money to pay for the cable-pulling and so forth, but the union guys wanted way too much time to do the work. Dad also had a mandated deadline, so that wasn't going to cut it. So he organized
        • Form over function and what-not.

      • $240 per line? well when it takes a union worker an hour to screw back in one set of wires...

        Massive flooding is unlikely to just pull some wires out from under a couple of screws. The wires themselves are the least of the problem. How much switching equipment was underwater long enough that it needs to be replaced? Probably tens of thorusands. How many poles are down? Probably millions. How many cables were severed and need to be spliced? Thousands.

        The $240 a line number is probably an estimate of

      • As usual, someone can't resist taking a gratuitous swipe at unions. Nobody is going to get rich working for the telephone company. I suppose you would be happier if they were paid minimum wage, or less. I've known plenty of people who have worked for the telephone company, and as a group they are pretty sharp. They are also the people the telephone companies have been laying off for decades, as they try to eliminate as much of their unionized workforce as possible.

        You can get fired for poor performance, i

  • First it's great publicity, but more so it's a donation that could very well actually help people. Now, that said, from what I can see from the article they are just donating the base station - the mega-router, per se. Nobody has WiMax in their computers yet....

  • "...could deliver movies or medical records at speeds hundreds of times faster than current Internet connections"

    What do they really mean by "medical records"?

    • What do they really mean by "medical records"?

      They're trying to make people think of productive, credible uses of the internet, rather than just porn. Just like every kid tried to convince their parents to buy a computer so they could "balance their checkbook and save recipes!".

      In any case, the quote from the article is confusing - many, many, many people already have cable modems with speeds of 1-10Mbps, and to the best of my knowledge no individual WiMax connection (unless they're going to put a channel/W
      • Again, if this problem was so easy to solve in the wake of a disaster
        You can start again without having to consider old equipment, or having to divert traffic when you dig. A city in my country, Darwin, was wiped out in 1975, which meant that the rebuilt city could have nice straight wide roads since they didn't have to worry about there being buildings in the way.

  • wimax? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by myukew ( 823565 )
    I think fresh water, food and a place to sleep are way more important. You'd better donate [redcross.org] something more usefull

    • Re:wimax? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dbIII ( 701233 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @08:38AM (#13525894)
      I think fresh water, food and a place to sleep are way more important.
      That is a very simplistic way of looking at things and not necessarily correct. Truckloads of ice and fresh water did not get to the right places in recent days due to a lack of communication. Communications infrastructure, electricity and even computers make it a lot easier to organise fresh water, food and a place to sleep.

      We get this sort of simplistic attitude exhibited whenever people mention sending any sort of gadget developed after WWII to impoverished nations, it shouldn't apply there and it shouldn't apply to the southern US - technology that does not appear to be instantly lifesaving does help people live better lives and does save lives.

      • >That is a very simplistic way of looking at things and not necessarily correct.

        Yes, thats exactly what the area needed, more complex time-consuming solutions to address the basic needs of life.

        >Truckloads of ice and fresh water did not get to the right places in recent days due to a lack of communication.

        It wasn't because of communications, it was because of leadership/government. I'm in Canada and I knew that they needed water, food and a place to sleep, just from casually watch TV. It was communi

    • Re:wimax? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @08:53AM (#13525925)
      I think fresh water, food and a place to sleep are way more important. You'd better donate something more usefull
      Another one of these comments.

      Look, officials have been complaining [tuscaloosanews.com] since day 1 that a big part of the problem is communications:

      As powerful winds uprooted trees, power lines snapped and flood waters poured into homes and businesses, members of the New Orleans Police Department and other emergency responders had little more to communicate with than hand-held radios and cell phones. And communication with outside agencies, officials say, was near impossible.

      ... The radio system "was the only thing working during the storm," Schneider said. But it didn't allow contact with local agencies, he said. The National Guard couldn't get in touch with New Orleans Police Department officers working the city streets.
      The military has been aware of this issue for *decades*, that's why they invented the Internet, which allows all kinds of information to be exchanged using a standard set of protocols. That is the key to allowing different parties, that don't usually communicate, to rapidly and dynamically set up new data exchange pathways during an emergency.

      Now can I rant for a minute? Every time slashdot reports a communications network is to be set up in a poor country or emergency, somebody complains that communications are superflous in such circumstances. That's insane! Ask yourself - why are cops, soldiers, and emergency responders such heavy users of communications technology? Don't they have better things to do than sit around chatting?

      • >Look, officials have been complaining since day 1 that a big part of the problem is communications:

        Lots of TV stations had live video feeds from the area, day 1.

        Of course they are going to complain about technology, they are just covering themselves.

        >emergency responders had little more to communicate with than hand-held radios and cell phones

        Exactly what else do you need to communicate?

        >The National Guard couldn't get in touch with New Orleans Police Department officers working the city streets.

        C
        • Hand-held radios and cell phones are of very limited usefulness if the supporting infrastructure has been destroyed or badly damaged. A typical municipal radio system depends on high-power base stations and repeaters to connect the operations centers to the people in the field. If that is lost, you are left with a bunch of people who can only communicate with each other if they are in the same neighborhood. How useful would your telephone be if it was limited to connecting to other telephones in your exchan

  • How about finding new homes for Katrina Victims? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    There are lots of Katrina victims that are going to have to be permanently relocated. FEMA in its continuing bungling of the Katrina disaster seems to be overlooking that.

    The American Voice [pennsylvaniavoice.com] has a solution that could be used to relocate some of the Katrina victims that are willing to work for what they get. The Katrina victims would be given free farms in the Western U. S. Not a bad idea imo. It gives the victims both a place to live and a way to earn a living. The farms are small family farms rather than

  • There's always a silver lining..... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by smchris ( 464899 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @08:27AM (#13525859)

    I guess.

    Yes, I suppose when a major U.S. city is destroyed, that is an excellent time to follow Africa's paradoxically late "lead" and just pass over copper and even fiber in some cases.

  • Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gexen ( 123248 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @08:33AM (#13525881)
    Why would they try and make this infastructure? So it can also be taken down when this shit happens again? I would not invest ANYTHING in any kind of infastructure down there until local and federal officials decide on a course of action for rebuilding the town in such a way that this won't happen again. If they can't do that, it's time to go elsewhere.

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Mr2cents ( 323101 )
      Well, president Bush made it clear he wants to rebuild a prettier city. Now, cities have upgraded poor neighbourhoods in the past, with the result that the prices skyrocket and poor people get driven out. Once it is a fancy neighbourhood with rich people, national budgets will be easily diverted to build big constructions to divert the water. But right now, it isn't worth the trouble.

      Also, note this:
      > Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place.

      What they mean is:

  • Call Me Stupid But.. (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ..as an electrical engineer and telecommunications industry employee of some years, the thought of shared wireless bandwidth exceeding cabled infrastrature makes me.. laugh? cry?

    Seriously, is anyone vetting slashdot articles to make sure they have some semblance to reality?
  • My unholy, disgusting, pig of a boss, actually told me the other day whilst shooting his mouth off that it's too bad they don't have WiMax to deploy in New Orleans. This is a man who can't walk and chew gum at the same time. . . scary.

  • Wifi over copper? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PhYrE2k2 ( 806396 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @09:03AM (#13525945)
    This could be a good opportunity to replace an antiquated system of copper wires with brand-new technology.


    Well it is a good situation to update the infrastructure (although being one of the poorer areas of the US, I'd doubt they'd go too far due to a lack of major corporate backing). On that note, why would they avoid good old copper or other great technologies? The potential of copper (10-gigabit is the latest 'consumer' technology) is faster, more reliable, and more secure than any WiFi they can throw at it.

    C'mon- WiFi is fun and all to save you running wires to your basement, or giving you e-mail while you check your coffee, but lets be realistic. It's a security issue. It's a reliability issue (interference, signal issues in certain areas, 'jamming'). And the spectrum only has so much room in it. Just run a few wires and call it a day.

    -M
    • The infrastructure is most likely completely destroyed in many places. With current technologies you can only get so much distance with copper. Seems like an excellent time to roll out fiber to the premises.

    • Re:Wifi over copper? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by demachina ( 71715 )
      "although being one of the poorer areas of the US"

      Assuming New Orleans is rebuilt I think its open to debate if it will still be poor after its done. One possibility is all the low income housing gets bulldozed, which is a key motivator in forced evacuations, and it will replaced by yuppie friendly condos and high rises. Most of the poor have been scattered to the wind already and may stay where they landed, since its hard for poor with no cash reserves.

      New Orelans would be an ideal city for yuppies due t

      • Assuming New Orleans is rebuilt I think its open to debate if it will still be poor after its done.

        I'd like to present the flip side. This of course uses cliche's like 'rich' and 'poor' as generic entities.

        New Orleans has a _VERY_ large poor population. New Orleans has a small rich population, however the split between the two is very large. When word of Katrina came, a large part of the rich fled town in their SUVs or equivalent and went to surrounding areas. These people will collect the insurance mon

      • What do you mean *IF* New Orleans gets rebuilt ?

        Do you honestly believe a major city and even more major port would NOT be rebuilt? It's not like the entire city has to be bulldozed and rebuilt from the ground up....some bulldozing, but mostly sheetrock work in affected buildings and mostly on the 1st and sometimes 2nd floors.
        • "Do you honestly believe a major city and even more major port would NOT be rebuilt?"

          Repairing the port has nothing to do with the city, they have little to do with each other. Even then I've heard numerous people suggest Baton Rouge would be a lot better place for the major port at the bottom of the Mississippi, it has better transportation access and is much less vulnerable to hurricanes.

          I'm sure downtown, the French quarter and the Garden district will be rebuilt. I wager all of the poor neighborhoods

  • LOL (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Zebra_X ( 13249 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @09:13AM (#13525969)
    *NOT* The place, and probably not the time.

    Doesn't anyone realize that Mississippi and Louisiana are one of the two poorest states in the country? Who excactly [casas.org] would a next gen internet and cable be marketed [casas.org] to? There is also income data here [census.gov] and here [census.gov]. Let's not put our next gen tech. in an area that can't support it economically.
    • that Mississippi and Louisiana are one of the two poorest states...

      Actually, I thought that Mississippi and Louisiana are two of the two poorest states.

    • Evidently, you have never actually lived there. Recall, the once and mighty WorldCom was located in Jackson/Clinton, Mississippi (until that nasty money issue.)
      • That has no bearing on the fact that as a whole the economies in either state are not equipped to support expensive (becuase it is relatively speaking) high speed broadband. Not only that but to really take advantage you need: a computer, HD tv, and some sort of nice audio system. At 16K a year median income, I'm not sure that's really an option. Even the home prices are/were 20% less than the national average (the census data is from 2000, housing prices have more than doubled since then).

        The reason that t

  • In other News... (Score:3, Funny)

    by 9mm Censor ( 705379 ) * on Saturday September 10, 2005 @09:20AM (#13525986) Homepage
    Expensive WiMax equipment was stolen from the near lawless city of New Orleans.

  • Maybe people should RTFA (Score:3, Interesting)

    by voss ( 52565 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @09:24AM (#13526003)
    Instead of blindly trashing the telephone companies. Maybe we should remember their priority and mandate is to get basic telephone service back up for THEIR customers.

    Grandma betty and Aunt Sue dont need a fancy wireless internet connection they need a phone line back up so they can call their other family and tell them they not dead.

    quoting the article

      "The best thing for us economically and the quickest thing from a customer service view is, if the lines are just down, put them back up," he said.

    (DUH!)

    "The company considered installing wireless broadband in rebuilding, Smith said, but it found that it could recover most of its fiber network. The technologies will be used eventually. "I'm a big fan of WiMax," he said."

    (Clue for the clueless: Fiber is still better than wireless)

    Bellsouth is a BIG company they think strategically not tactically. The most economical thing for them right now is simply restore their phone lines and their fiber networks. when they roll something out they do it en mass. They will be deploying 25mpbs service to all their customers within 3 years to provide both tv, phone service, and DSL over the same line.

    As someone who made it through Hurricane Frances and Jean last year, Im glad bellsouth is on the job. I never lost my DSL service even though I lost my cable for 12 days and many of my neighbors lost power for 2 weeks.

  • Now there's an ironic turn (Score:3, Insightful)

    by blair1q ( 305137 ) on Saturday September 10, 2005 @09:58AM (#13526112) Journal
    First they brought you "broadcast".

    Then they put your broadcast stations on your "cable".

    Now they want to put your cable on a broadcast channel, including the original broadcast stations, but not on their original broadcast channels... ...although it occurs to me that satellite broadcast has been doing this for decades...
  • Maybe once in a while the hidden hand of Adam Smith draws back a bloody stump, and the socialists -- in the name of altruism, justice, mercy and common sense -- win one. Right on! Community broadband forever! Just because it's possible to act like a dog in a manger, doesn't mean it's right to act like a dog in a manger.
  • Has anyone else been keeping up on the disaster through The Interdictor?

    http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/ [livejournal.com]

  • Crossed fingers... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by HoodCrowd ( 783572 )
    I am sitting on a street in Hattiesburg, MS looking at downed cable and telephone wires, no one is hanging them up. I would like to see them do it. 25-65 megs with television and telephone with advanced services would be smart. It would help my small linux company. I am in a third world of communications down here. My dsl stayed steady minus the DNS losing power for two days, but will go down soon as my phone lines are crushed. They are clustered before all apartment entrances down the street and are b
  • Wireless Internet! Yay!

    Oh, we forgot... Most of the communications infrastructure comprising the critical backhauls that carry all the traffic of the wireless endpoints have been disrupted. Entire phone company central offices are under water in some places or were. Co-location facilities have been disrupted or destroyed outright. Aerial fiber and copper have been severed all over the place.

    Oh, we also forgot that people are in need of drinking water and food to eat and medical supplies to deal with eve
    • Women need sanitary female supplies.

      You're griping about life-threatening conditions (food, water), and then you stick this in?

      The reason this is out there is because the people rolling into NO to try to care for people and start dealing with the disaster conditions have no fucking way to communicate. However, if they can bring in a laptop with wireless (hardly an exotic item, and there are plenty of ways to charge the things, starting with mundane car cigarette lighters which run off gas that you will hav

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