I LOVED Nest! I have almost every single issue, except for like 2 of them.

Andes is such a great town! Andreas Gerdes does sound obnoxious, but I'm not sure the wifi thing is bad. It can get a little isolated there.

If you have a hankering to visit, I'll have to remember where we stayed and post it. The place was great, and so cute.

Here it is: http://www.theroxburymotel.com/

Run by a very nice couple, too.

"Yuck. Sorry, Andreas Gerdes is not our style."

What part of this guy don't you like? He's provided a valuable modern resource to his community, when the local companies (mom and pop AND big companies) would not. If Gerdes only provided wifi to himself, I could see not liking him -- but the point of the article was that Gerdes used his wealth to share with others, not to flaunt it or keep it to himself. I think AT's comment is very odd.

I'm with you, me... There's definitely something a little surprising and perplexing about such a strong comment about Gerdes coming from you guys... That's usually my department, but I usually back up my statements as well. Can we please hear your motives behind that?

By the way, I use Skype also... My friends in Zurich and I can now speak for free by computer phone and yes, it's completely PHAT. Where's the sense in giving Verizon money when I can save and buy stuff I see on AT?

Ebay recently bought Skype, BTW... Skype's all the rage among Euro Techies.

Here I figured I was too much of a white-trash geekette to understand why providing free WiFi to small towns just Isn't Done in the best circles.

While I'm all for supporting local businesses, if the local phone company routinely cannot manage to handle the volume of calls, surely that's over the line from "quaint" into "incompetent."

I don't see a thing wrong with Gerdes. Maybe those who don't like him just haven't lived in any place smaller than NYC, where everything is available at almost any price point. Easy to romanticize the rustic off-the-grid charm of small towns that way. Life without fast, reliable Internet service is just not a practical alternative anymore.

It might be useful if any of you above were speaking from a position of some understanding or knowledge. I live near Margaretville, where MTC, the phone company is based. I work in the software industry, and work from home - MTC is able to provide me with everything I need to do this, including a static IP address for my VPN. You don't know what that is? then don't criticize on tech grounds if you have no knowledge. The inference in the NYT article, and in your postings, is that MTC are "unable" to provide fast access to Andes or other rural towns - of course they can, if people are willing to pay for it. But there are limitations placed on them by Federal laws, not technology.
It appears to me that Mr. Gerdes is willing to pay for the whole community to be wirelessly connected simply because MTC were unable to provide him with his "lucky number". If he has success and experience in the technolgy industry, offering MTC his assistance and resources may have been a better way to introduce himself into the community rather than antagonizing them.

Chris,

I do know what both a static IP and a VPN is. My brother-in-law also happens to live near Margaretville. I'm interested in his take on the situation, but haven't heard it yet.

Still, if MTC is limited by federal law and not technology, I'm not sure I see what assistance Gerdes can offer them. Personally, I'm not sure why anyone would offer free assistance to a business, anyway. (I know I wouldn't.) A non-profit, yes, but that's not what we are talking here.

And please ignore my bad grammar in the above post!

Chris, don't assume that we're all Luddites out here. VPN is a virtual private network and a static IP address is one that doesn't change. Both pretty essential if you're running a business or you're using VoIP, among other things.

However, why is it that the only place to get wifi in that town was the Slow Down Food Company? And for that matter, what's wrong with him offering people a choice?

Sharon, my point is that Gerdes is doing what the Slow Down has already done - that is, connecting a wireless router to their existing cable connection. That's what I have at home - my whole house is wireless. Slow Down offered it as a courtesy to its' customers, similar to Starbucks but without charging. Gerdes is making a political statement, that's the difference. By way of dialup, DSL and Cable (wireless or not) MTC provides access to the internet. The people in Andes benefiting from Gerdes' initiative are probably those who have not needed fast access before, or could justify the cost in it. And he's not actually offering them a "choice" - he still uses MTC to provide that very same access. He is an MTC customer, not a competitor. If I wanted to open up my house to everyone in the Catskills who wanted internet connection, fine, I could do so and MTC's subscriber list would disappear overnight. I'm not going to do that obviously, but on a wider scale that's what Gerdes is doing.

and also, Sharon, I do not assume you are Luddites "out here". You may have noticed in my first post that I am here also - near Margaretville - full time, not a weekender, and successfully running my software business with the assitance of MTC.

Chris: first of all, he donated a router and antenna to the library, which is supposed to offer free services anyway. Second, the equipment he gave to the local businesses is something they could have done for themselves anyway, had they thought of it. Obviously they agreed with him that having free wifi access was a good thing to have in their town, and good for their businesses. Not so good for the phone company, perhaps, but none of this is illegal. And it's not like this doesn't happen in other towns and cities as well---it's just that Gerdes made a coordinated effort to have it throughout the community and got publicity for it.

And by "out here", I meant out-here-in-cyberspace (I'm in Manhattan). Just kind of bugged me when you assumed that the rest of us don't have sufficient technical knowledge. I'm a tech writer and I teach this stuff---it's not *that* hard to understand.

Wow, all of you guys in Margaretville! I should send resumes ... I'd like to come back up home. (I'm really from southern Albany County, with ancestors from Schoharie County and Otsego County.) I'd like to live in West Oneonta.

I did not get the impression that he was just being spiteful about his vanity number.

What troubles me here is the administration at AT, if not Maxwell himself. They've got a respecatable staff now, so who knows who wrote and approved the following:

"Yuck. Sorry, Andreas Gerdes is not our style."

What is that? I really think AT should back that up with some kind of explanation rather than throw a bone to the masses and watch them duke it out... IT must be very amusing for you guys at AT to incite such passionate dialogue without actually explaining yourselves and then watch the website get hit after hit over a comment you've made.

I ask again, with respect, please explain your motivations being telling us that Andreas Gerdes is not your style.

Dear Paul,

Thanks for your email! I was going to reply over the weekend, but my computer died and that was the end of it.

First of all I had no idea my little aside would incite so much (more) passion.

Scond of all, I love WIFI and Skype and my one off quip about Gerdes is a very personal response to the portrait of the man himself. Please note that I sign all my posts so that you know who writes them.

I just found that as I read the article (whether the author intended it or not - and she might), I had a really strong antipathy to this guy who, in the guise of doing good, really seems to be furthering his own aims. I did not get a sense of modesty, helpfulness or even a real good understanding of the townspeople other than that they were hopelessly stuck in the past. In short, I felt that the article painted a portrait of arrogance.

Here are some of the lines that I would say tip it this way for me:

" "It had certain claustrophobic features," Mr. Gerdes said of the town when he arrived. He acknowledged that a lack of high tech ....But Mr. Gerdes is accustomed to answering calls and beaming e-mail anytime, anywhere. Even in Andes, he said, he wanted to "operate.""

" And then there is the company's refusal to provide him a custom phone number: he wanted a series of lucky 8's to echo his license plates, but the closest he could get was a number with two 8's - not in succession."

" Soon Mr. Gerdes bore down on a new project: kitting out the town. His tool would be Wi-Fi"

Upon reading the article again, it is even clearer to me that I don't like this guy, as I am really not fond of those who use the verb "operate" when referring to work and don't really see what he is doing in this town other than being a "disruptor." He seems to be really annoyed by the culture of the town and bent on changing it. He reminds me of all the captains of industry that have carved up the Hamptons over the last 20 years.

Why is he there? I suspect that he won’t be living there in 10 years.

I don't think my reaction is arbitrary. Don't you think the author of the article finds Mr. Gerdes a bit objectionable herself?

Best, Maxwell

"I had a really strong antipathy to this guy who, in the guise of doing good, really seems to be furthering his own aims." -

Always happy to talk - could proof a good way to understand people. Callandreas is my skype ID.

Have a great week, andreas