But, wait, there's more! We spend a week or two on Block Island each year, mostly very off-season without the stupid crowds of fumbling mainlanders; they had 21 Life Star evacuations this just-ended season! So, of course, I've signed up for the 'Block Island Times' innterTubes edition. It is, mostly, very Islander specific reporting. And so it is today, except that what is 'just' Island news has larger implications.
For the last few months, there has been a number of reports about upgrading the innterTubes infrastructure on the Island. It's not clear, to me, whether this new infrastructure is to be a Community Internet when implemented or whether the study being conducted is the only town supported effort while the actual net will be just another private, for profit, ISP.
In any case, this new reporting highlights the controversy of 5G. Since I didn't attend any of the community meetings, I only know what has been reported, and the notion of '5G everywhere' is shown to be bogus.
Given that Block Island is about 10 square miles in size, "to roll out [Real] 5G cell you'll need 25 cell towers per square mile. That means 250 cell towers on Block Island for that 5G technology. I'm guessing this will be a problem for the island," said Rogers.
"Yes, good guess," said members of the audience.
The thing about Block Island, and the other New England islands, is that the year-round population is a small fraction of what happens when it's inundated with fumbling mainlanders during high season; there are about 900 Islanders while there are multiple thousands per day during high season. Much earlier reporting about Real 5G has made it clear that it's only going to be economically feasible in densely populated areas where there's existing elevated infrastructure, aka telephone poles and/or street light poles (many, if not most, cities have communication and power cables buried), so Mother Nature (or God, if you're so inclined) wins.
Of course, Sub-6 5G is far cheaper to implement, and might be doable on the existing cell tower. The island is, in envelope, a narrow rectangle so beam shaping along a north-south axis might support enough Sub-6 antennas. It seems odd, based on the report, that the unfeasibility of Real 5G didn't lead straight to a discussion of Sub-6. Perhaps the consultant makes more money this way?
Some background:
Over 14,000 wireless ISPs globally have quietly proven in rural areas that the sub-6GHz bands are extremely effective at delivering fixed wireless services at long distances. Plus, unlike the relatively high costs of high frequency 28GHz, sub-6 GHz costs come in below $100 per subscriber, making it a cost effective alternative.
Is Real 5G feasible when there's only 900 folks, in let's say 200 domiciles, that have to pay under penalty of law, for so much infrastructure with no recourse? Should the Island institute a '5G Tax' for visitors? Along with other municipal services, there are a couple of orders of magnitude difference between number of Islanders and high season visitors. It is kind of a conundrum. On the one hand, it simply isn't economical to have a full-service hospital or Real 5G innterTubes just for those 900 Islanders, but on the other hand at what point will visitors choose to summer elsewhere without such services? After all, Block Island (or The Vineyard or Nantucket or the Hamptons) isn't in the middle of nowhere. It only seems that way.
The President and CEO of the U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a statement on the day of the ruling that said, in part,
"The U.S. Conference of Mayors conveys its strongest opposition to today's final Order issued by the Federal Communications Commission. While The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports the nation's efforts to win the race to 5G, today's FCC action misapplies federal law to federalize local public property as part of its efforts to bestow upon a class of private companies special rights to access local rights-of-ways and public property."
"Despite efforts by local and state governments, including scores of commenters in the agency's docket, the Commission has embarked on an unprecedented federal intrusion into local (and state) government property rights that will have substantial and continuing adverse impacts on cities and their taxpayers, including reduced funding for essential local government services, and needlessly introduce increased risk of right-of-way and other public safety hazards... The Conference believes this aggressive, and surely unlawful, intervention will prove counterproductive."
Since this is another example of Effete States seeking to be intelligent, how do you think it will end up? I expect the Presidential Sharpie© will re-draw some map to justify forcing Islanders to subsidize some carrier entity.
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