TMCnet News

Municipal WiFi News: Rhode Island Plans Statewide Network, Phillys Project Continues
[May 04, 2006]

Municipal WiFi News: Rhode Island Plans Statewide Network, Phillys Project Continues


TMCnet Associate Editor
 
Rhode Island made news recently when it announced plans to install a statewide WiFi (News - Alert) network. According to an April 19 report in Brown Daily Herald, Brown University is a partner in the project, with non-profit Business Innovation Factory heading it up.


 
Reuters reports that the project is estimated at $20 million, and is motivated in part by a desire to lure businesses to Providence, the state capital. The report said that the equipment needed to make Rhode Island’s roughly 1,045 square miles into a hotspot should be in place by 2007.

 
While a statewide WiFi implementation may be newsworthy, such wide-area networks are hardly a brand-new concept.
 
In recent months, many cities around the U.S.—including Annapolis MD, Yuman AZ, Portland OR, Brookline MA, and Cleveland OH—have announced plans to create citywide WiFi hotspots.
 
The flurry of WiFi planning was set off by Philadelphia, PA, which a year ago unveiled business plans—and issued RFPs—to install a citywide WiFi network.  
 
In a May 4 e-mail correspondence with TMCnet, Craig Settles—author of book Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless—said that “The Philadelphia City Council technology and information services committee has given the city’s contract to have EarthLink deploy its municipal network the thumbs up.”
 
Settles noted that the project is taking a bit longer to implement than expected, but emphasized that the city is well on its way to turning the vision of citywide WiFi into reality.
 
He added that Philadelphia has “set the gold standard for community involvement, technology due diligence, thoroughness in business planning and conducting this initiative transparently.”
 
A recent report from BusinessWeek Online said that successful citywide WiFi deployments do face some challenges. Weak signals, dead spots, signals that don’t penetrate buildings, and concerns about lack of privacy are all possible snags.
 
The report also raises the danger of municipal WiFi projects being rushed through without including a strategy for support and upgrades.
 
Another problem noted in the report is delayed approval of the new wireless standard, 801.11n.  
 
“An early, or pre-standard, version has met with mixed reviews,” Reuters said. “The equipment's makers also don't guarantee they will be able to upgrade the software when the actual 802.11n standard becomes available.”
 
Reuters also noted that “Products based on an official, approved 802.11n aren't expected until late 2007, at least a year later than had been expected.”

Time will tell to what extent these issues will affect municipal WiFi deployments.
 
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Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.

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