Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Questions for the Committee

The Broadband Advisory Committee will begin its preliminary investigation into the state of and access to broadband in New York City with its March 30 hearing at 9 AM. The previous post contained four questions that I would like to repost and highlight here:

1. Why is a fast affordable Internet connection important to you?
2. What do you consider an "affordable" fee to pay for an high-speed connection to the Internet?
3. If you have a broadband connection, what do you use it for (e.g., help your child do his/her homework)?
4. If don't have broadband or if you had a faster connection to the Internet, what would you use it for (e.g., market your business on-line or look for a job)?

These questions will guide the committee as it assesses the impact of the current state of Internet availability for the city. But they aren't simply questions to guide the committee in their hearings; these questions are to be answered by everyone. So send the committee your answers, thoughts on the questions, or any other information on your experiences with broadband that you would like to share. You can comment on this post or e-mail the persons listed in the post below. More to come!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who is on the Committee?

Bruce Lai said...

We are posting the list shortly. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Is the system known as Wi-Fi under consideration?

Plus, How do the costs and budget requirements compare between Wi-Fi and Broadband?

Anonymous said...

Who is the, 'blog owner' ?????

Bruce Lai said...

The owner of the blog is the Office of the Council Member Gale A. Brewer.

Anonymous said...

The Committee should examine the feasibility of leveraging existing public communications infrastructure such as the data networks of the Board of Ed, CUNY and other municipal agencies to create a 'virtual' highspeed backbone accessible to underserved neighborhoods. Low cost wireless technologies can be used to provide acess to the communities around these facilities and a broad array of security and vpn technologies can be employed to isolate governmental use from 'public' portion of the network. This would ensure more efficient use of existing infrastructure, avoid duplication and ensure a wider public benefit from those investments.