The Minneapolis Wi-Fi provider uses point-to-point wireless for high-rise

Steve Alexander of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reports that residents of one 34-story building in his paper’s city will have the option for 20 Mbps service from USI—but not precisely wireless.

The company is running an 800 Mbps point-to-point connection to the building, and then distributing through short-run DSL, a typical technique for apartment and other spread-out or high-rise buildings. Because they can leverage their existing buildout while not paying Qwest or others for rental of wires or cables, 20 Mbps will run residents $50/mo, versus Qwest’s fiber-backed $105/mo charge. Comcast charges $53 for 8 Mbps with 16 Mbps bursts or $153 for 50 Mbps in that city.

USI is experimenting. With 300 residents, they’d likely need need 30 at that speed to pay their costs. Providing Wi-Fi service to buildings above a few stories has long been a challenge for city-wide Wi-Fi efforts, and possibly one reason why some early efforts fell short.

Wi-Fi Networking News - The Minneapolis Wi-Fi provider uses point-to-point wireless for high-rise

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