The economics of free, the net, and public services ...

This article outlines some of the factors that have kept ideas like
- internet via power cables
- laser powered net to your home
- muni-wifi
and why most of these continue to quintessentially be, "just around the corner".

Essentially, Tim Wu argues that providing a new service that does not provide either

• a significant cost advantage, or


• a superior service, and


• a way to address the economics of sunk cost leveraged by existing players

is SOL.

He also alludes that, in general, you need to have all the above factors addressed - as most early movers are generally over-hyped, under-qualified and have limited understanding of the market they are looking to dominate.

If you build it, people, generally, will not come.  Econ - 101.