Why build an iTown Local Community Public-Use Network?
Communications infrastructure is essential to the economic well being of a community, just like electricity and water. The communications infrastructure must also be able to expand and adapt to changing business, consumer and public needs. However, in many non-metropolitan areas the existing infrastructure will not support current needs let alone future demands for new services and applications. Incumbent service providers have limited capital to invest. They make careful selections about where they upgrade or replace their existing copper networks. Moreover, their networks are “closed”. They permit only their own services to be delivered over their network. The iTown LCPN is an “open” network, available to any service provider, including the incumbents. It encourages competition, consumer choice, lower prices, better quality service delivery and supports advanced applications. Typical “high speed” Internet access offers bandwidth transmission speeds of 256kbps to 1.5Mbps. Existing cop
