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San Antonio jumping on the municipal network bandwagon(San Antonio Express-News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 20--San Antonians soon may have an option other than Starbucks or Barnes & Noble where they can wirelessly surf the Web. The Alamo City plans to join the growing number of municipalities across the country that offer Internet access via wireless fidelity -- or WiFi -- networks. The city already provides wireless Internet access at San Antonio International Airport via a private concession, but in coming weeks it will seek bids from telecommunications providers to help it build a network that reaches downtown and beyond. The first "hot spots" offering online access should be popping up this summer in libraries, city officials said. Those officials envision free Internet access for residents in public spaces such as libraries and parks, but it's too early to say whether the city will try to provide free access everywhere. It may bring in a third-party Internet service provider that would sell connections on the network. "A year from now, we should be done with this project," said City Councilman Chip Haass, a chief proponent of San Antonio's WiFi expansion. "I'd like to see all of downtown WiFi-accessible, but I think it's very realistic that this thing could cover the whole city." About 50 cities around the country have municipal WiFi networks, and another 60 are planning them, according to Muniwireless.com, a Web site that tracks network investment. In one of the highest-profile deployments, Internet search giant Google and Internet service provider EarthLink recently said they would build a public network spanning San Francisco. The city three months ago hired San Antonio-based Alexander Utility Engineering Inc. to study its telecom needs, including the best way to build and run a citywide WiFi network. It plans to solicit bids from companies that want to help set up the wireless network after the study's mid-May completion. San Antonio has no shortage of places where people can flip open a laptop and surf without a wire. Myriad coffee shops, hotels and bookstores offer WiFi here, and the airport concession provides access for $7.95 per hour or $9.95 for a whole day. But officials said a municipal network would let San Antonio provide free or lower-cost Internet access to its residents and improve the efficiency of city services. The city, for example, could use wireless connections to track its garbage trucks and make sure they're using the most efficient routes. Or it could mount cameras on firefighters' helmets so their progress through a blazing building could be broadcast back to people monitoring from an emergency vehicle. "That's where I see the real value," said Michael Armstrong, assistant city manager and chief information officer. "There are lots of mobile technologies out there that can work to our benefit." Over the coming years, industry analysts say, most U.S. cities will implement some kind of wireless Internet access. "It seems like every day we're hearing about another city putting out a (request for bids)," said Will Stofega, analyst for market research firm IDC. "And we're really still in the early days of these type of projects." Big telecom providers including San Antonio-based AT&T Inc. have expressed concerns about cities competing in the WiFi business, supporting bills around the country that would limit their ability to provide Internet access. A recent Texas law backed by AT&T prohibits cities from charging customers to access their WiFi networks. However, the phone companies seem to be changing their tune, analysts said. Many, including AT&T, now see the cities' rush into building wireless networks as inevitable. "We have expressed concerns in the past when governments are attempting to build and maintain their own wireless networks," AT&T spokesman Jason Hillery said. "But lately there's been more of a shift toward cities having private companies maintaining those networks, and we don't have a problem with that." Indeed, AT&T is mulling bids on municipal WiFi projects in Houston and in two Michigan communities. Hillery wouldn't say whether the company would bid on the San Antonio project. San Antonio isn't among the first Texas cities to move on a big WiFi project. Corpus Christi is well along on a WiFi project it started two years ago, and Houston recently solicited bids from companies to help it run a WiFi network downtown. Other big cities such as Dallas have yet to announce significant public wireless networks. In Corpus Christi, WiFi has helped the city improve the efficiency of its building inspectors, who now can file documents from the field, said Leonard Scott, the city's head of municipal information systems. It also has let schools there launch programs that loan Internet-ready laptops to students. "We've determined that this is really the new municipal infrastructure," Scott said. "The same kind of debate was being done 150 years ago about whether cities should be building roads or sewer systems." Corpus Christi is spending about $7.1 million on its citywide WiFi deployment, while Houston plans to spend just $300,000 to serve its downtown. San Antonio officials said it was too early to say how much its project might cost. Armstrong estimated that the cost would run into the millions if the city opts to build and maintain a citywide network without bringing in private-sector partners. The cost would go down if corporate partners agreed to do work in exchange for access to city property to install their own network equipment. San Antonio also needs to determine what kind of technology it will implement, Armstrong said. A new generation of equipment being released this year could allow the city to more easily blanket large areas with wireless-access signals. What's more, the city must decide whether it will help fund its deployment by selling Internet ads. "It's not quite as simple as putting up some access points and turning them on," Armstrong said. "The biggest decision is the business model. How do you make this work successfully?" [email protected] S.A. joining the WiFi revolution S.A. Michael Macor/san francisco chronicleA baseball fan uses a mini-laptop to monitor statistics and check other scores at a San Francisco Giants game at SBC Park, which is plugged into a wireless fidelity -- or WiFi -- network. |