Wow: CNET Special Report: 10-15 news and video stories on muni Wifi - including person on the street interviews of Tempe AZ Muni Wifi
kimo
http://news.com.com/The+local+Wi-Fi+bet/2009-7351-6089051.html?part=dht&tag=nl.e703
In the Videos: Basically Tempe people say they like WiFi - when it
works - but seem reluctant to drop the home wired coverage. - Tempe
officials and the WiFi vendor admit that the network has not met
expectations to date - they are all careful to say it is currently an
Outdoor solution.
Tempe does not have a 90% indoor coverage requirement like San
Francisco or the old buildings which are difficult to penetrate - nor
the significantly larger collection of multitenant structures which
have interior rooms with no windows facing a transmitter.
In the video, did you see the CPE device often needed for indoor
coverage - it's an antenna the size of a paperback book and another
transmitter/receiver box - imagine carrying that around with your
laptop!
Significant pilots should occur before any contract is signed to test
coverage (indoor and outside), privacy, security and disaster tolerance
A sample story:
Wi-Fi lessons learned in Tempe
By Amanda Termen
http://news.com.com/Wi-Fi+lessons+learned+in+Tempe/2100-7351_3-6088661.html
Story last modified Thu Jun 29 04:00:07 PDT 2006
TEMPE, Ariz.--Inside a coffee shop here in this sunny suburb of
Phoenix, Arizona State University student Tim Hobbs was trying to
connect to a citywide wireless broadband network.
No luck.
"It told me I have no connectivity," said Hobbs, pecking at his laptop
computer. Sitting next to him, Hobbs' friend Josh Bahner suggested the
network doesn't even exist. "I live down the street, and I know for a
fact that I can't get a signal there," he said.
It does exist, whether Tempe residents know it or not. In fact, the
city's Wi-Fi project <http://news.com.com/1606-2-6088739.html?tag=nl>
is already further along than most other municipal projects designed to
offer broadband Internet access. And cities ranging from Anaheim,
Calif., which is scheduled to unveil its Wi-Fi network Thursday, to
Philadelphia would do well to study what has gone wrong and right for
Tempe's ambitious project.
Two years ago, city planners decided to offer Wi-Fi to Tempe's 160,000
residents. Without using any tax dollars, they wanted to roll broadband
service over the city's 40 square miles and tap into a Wi-Fi network
for its city services.
Now with the wireless network up and running since the end of February,
city workers seem to be its biggest fans. Fire command vehicles
<http://news.com.com/1606-2-6089076.html?tag=nl> are being outfitted
with special wireless devices, and police cruisers
<http://news.com.com/1606-2-6089056.html?tag=nl> can access a wealth
of information while they're on the road. But the average residents
<http://news.com.com/1606-2-6088728.html?tag=nl> who were also
supposed to benefit aren't using it very much--at least so far.
And that has some city officials, who knew from the outset that their
Wi-Fi project was going to be a learning experience, in some ways
disappointed but also still hopeful about the prospects for the
network.
"Someone's got to jump in first," said Dave Heck, deputy information
technology manager for Tempe. "We've had to deal with some bumps and
bruises, but I'm very pleased that we did jump in when we did. I think
that, in the long term, we will be ahead of everyone else."
Tempe Wi-Fi <http://news.com.com/2300-1039-6079064.html>
To get the project up and running, Tempe officials partnered with
MobilePro
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobileprocorp.com&siteId=3&oId=/1606-2-6088728.html&ontId=1035&lop=nl.ex>
, a company that provides telecom and Internet access services around
the U.S. The outcome was MobilePro's first citywide Internet network
and, when it went live, the largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the U.S.
More than 700 light poles in the city have been equipped with
antenna-adorned metal boxes containing transmitters and receivers, or
access points. They transfer Internet data at download speeds that at
this point can reach 1Mbps (megabit per second) and upload speeds of
384Kbps (kilobits per second). The wireless boxes are nodes connected
in a mesh network called WAZ (Wireless Access Zone) Tempe
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.waztempe.com%2F&siteId=3&oId=/1606-2-6088728.html&ontId=1035&lop=nl.ex>
, supporting the common Wi-Fi standards, 802.11a, b and g, which can be
accessed from devices such as computers and cellular phones.
While some citywide networks are subsidized, no tax dollars have been
used in Tempe. MobilePro invested an estimated $3 million to get the
network up and running, according to the company. The city merely
provides the permit to mount access points on utility poles and the
electricity to keep them running.
MobilePro handles the setup, deployment and maintenance of the network.
Residents can tap into it by paying $29.95 per month, $8.95 per day or
$3.95 per hour. A free, 56Kbps service, equivalent to dial-up speed, is
available in a small downtown area for two hours a day.
As part of the deal, free access is provided for all city services.
Tempe's police <http://news.com.com/1606-2-6089056.html?tag=nl> police
and fire departments <http://news.com.com/1606-2-6089076.html?tag=nl>
departments have already mounted antennas on their vehicles and have
begun communicating over the network. Plans are under way to video
monitor traffic and public events, to control traffic lights, and to
give building inspectors and water personnel Wi-Fi access in the field.
"We've had to deal with some bumps and bruises, but I'm very pleased
that we did jump in when we did."
--Dave Heck, deputy IT manager, Tempe
But Tempe residents are having a harder time taking advantage of the
network. Poor indoor coverage is the biggest complaint, Heck said. Only
a small percentage of the population gets indoor signals strong enough
to connect.
As a result, Heck has had to dampen public expectations--objectives he
shared when the network was started. "One of the city's goals was to
provide an alternative broadband to the residents other than cable," he
said, "so obviously we felt like this would be something that the
residents could get at their desk, in their house."
Outdoor access also has its challenges. To improve spotty coverage,
more than 100 additional access points have been put up since the
launch in February. But MobilePro is still filling in dead spots.
The company is hoping for a subscription rate of at least 20 percent of
Tempe's 160,000 inhabitants. In April, there were only 650 users. Since
then, no new numbers have been revealed, other than in a press release
proclaiming "double-digit monthly percentage growth."
Special coverage
The local Wi-Fi bet
<http://news.com.com/The+local+Wi-Fi+bet/2009-7351_3-6089051.html?tag=nl>
<http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/en/2002/03/java/redarrow.gif>
Despite criticism, cities bet big on broadband.
Jerry Sullivan, president and chief operating officer of MobilePro,
said he doesn't want to reveal how many subscribers are needed to make
ends meet but that he isn't worried about the network's profitability.
"It's a fairly lucrative business" after you make back initial costs,
he said.
Sullivan believes sales will take off at the end of July, with the
release of a device that consumers can buy to amplify the signal
indoors. It will be sold by retailers which will market the wireless
access in packages with additions like phone and TV services over the
Internet.
Tempe's Wi-Fi experience--good and bad--isn't unique. Albert Lin, a
telecom analyst at American Technology Research
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amtechresearch.com&siteId=3&oId=/The+local+Wi-Fi+bet/2009-7351_3-6089051.html&ontId=1035&lop=nl.ex>
, said many citywide wireless networks are running behind schedule.
"For cities that are promising their taxpayers they are going to have
broadband Internet in the next year or two, I would say all of them are
going to prove disappointing," Lin said. Spotty coverage, fluctuating
bandwidth and poor indoor connections are all problems. "It just won't
be considered what most people would find to be a good grade of
service."
Lin believes city planners need a reality check.
"Politicians feel like they can't lose by just saying, 'We need
broadband Internet for all--otherwise we will fall behind competing
cities,'" he said. "But what is it that they really expect? What is the
problem that they are solving? I think a lot of cities aren't quite
sure what's possible and what they want."
Some of them are calling Tempe to find out. Heck said he has talked to
officials from cities in Texas, Virginia, California, Florida and even
New Zealand.
"I think a lot of cities aren't quite sure what's possible and what
they want."
--Albert Lin, telecom analyst, American Technology Research
Tempe's neighboring cities, Gilbert and Chandler, even decided to use
the Tempe model and contracted with MobilePro. "Tempe and Gilbert are
similar in geography; what would serve one would logically serve them
all," said Shawn Woolley, Gilbert's director of technology services.
The three networks, when completed, will cover 187 square miles, and
subscribers in one city will be able to connect in all three.
Deployment in Gilbert will soon begin.
"I don't think the town will use it very much in buildings. It will be
fine for all the town employees that are working outside in the field,"
Woolley said. "It's not going to be as much of an issue for us as it
will be for our customers."
The Tempe model is likely to be used in eight cities where MobilePro
has contracts. But the company pulled out of a deal
<http://news.com.com/2061-10785_3-6083050.html?tag=nl> in Sacramento,
Calif., when the city and the company could not agree on a business
model for the network.
Sacramento officials suggested that the service would be financed by
advertisements, a solution MobilePro did not find viable without
subsidies from the city. When Sacramento said no, the company withdrew
the offer, according to the city and company.
As in Tempe, MobilePro planned to offer free 56Kbps service in a
limited area in the center of the city. Sacramento looked at the Wi-Fi
plans of other cities. "If that's acceptable to Tempe that's their
call," said Stephen Ferguson, chief information officer of Sacramento's
IT department. "Our city council wants 300Kbps free access citywide,
and we see it happening in San Francisco, Portland and Philadelphia."
(Google is providing Mountain View 1,500K free - kimo)
Tempe's largest neighbor, Phoenix, is also planning a wireless network
and is watching what happens in its suburb, said Kristine Sigfridson,
chief information officer of Phoenix's IT department.
Phoenix officials have already decided not to build a border-to-border
network, because most of the city has access to affordable cable
broadband. "We are having a hard time justifying why we would partner
to implement and support a whole infrastructure of unproven technology
when there is something that is working very well now," Sigfridson
said.
She is skeptical that dial-up speed would be appealing, and doesn't
think enough people are willing to pay for wireless service to make it
worth a contractor's investment. "They've got to make money doing it,"
Sigfridson said. "Nobody's been successful with that yet." Instead,
Phoenix will finance free high-speed wireless access inside city
facilities such as the airport, convention center and libraries.
But don't count out Wi-Fi projects like Tempe's quite yet. Craig
Mathias, a wireless technology analyst at the Farpoint Group
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.farpointgroup.com%2F&siteId=3&oId=/2061-10785_3-6083050.html&ontId=1035&lop=nl.ex>
, thinks that while some municipal projects may sputter for a time,
ultimately Wi-Fi will only gain popularity.
"I don't think we're going to see a wholesale movement from wired to
wireless straightaway," Mathias said. "But I think a lot of people
ultimately will end up using Wi-Fi as primary broadband access."