Wi-Fi's urban pioneers give way to big business

It wasn't so long ago that non-profit initiatives like Seattle Wireless planted the flag for wireless Internet access in urban areas by creating and gradually expanding Wi-Fi coverage for community usage. But, the idea of community-wide network coverage has come a long way in a very short time, and it's no longer about grassroots projects started by enterprising urban pioneers.

The latest evidence of that change can be seen in two of the biggest ongoing municipal wireless projects in Philadelphia and San Francisco. The city and county of San Francisco last month published the responses to its recently issued request for information (RFI) for its TechConnect municipal wireless project, and the list of the 26 respondents to the RFI who have a “commercial interest” reads like a who's who of the high-tech and communications industries (see text box).

Some of the responses filed by some of those companies, such as Alvarion, are merely informational corporate resumes with sales contacts listed for further information. Other filings get more specific.

For instance, Earthlink submitted a proposal that names its technology partners — Motorola and Tropos Networks — and states that the company would be committed to a business model enabling residential broadband service at 1 Mb/s downstream and upstream for a competitive price of less than $20 per month.

Earthlink's proposal also mentions a possible timeline for implementation of the network, as well as potential prices for wholesale and retail access, funding for low-income assistance programs, and specifics on a program under which city property for network facilities and the San Francisco TechConnect brand would be licensed to Earthlink — though all of the actual numbers and details involved have been redacted from the document for public viewing.

The proposal from Google, another interested party, pledges the creation of a Wi-Fi mesh network along with Google's partner, Wireless Facilities, Inc., of San Diego, that would cover the 49-square miles of the city and county of San Francisco. That network would require radio equipment placed on about 1900 lamp posts and other building locations around the city.

However, Google also is proposing that access to the network at data rates up to 300 kb/s be free to end users. Other partnering service providers would be able to resell higher data-rate access at a premium to interested users.

Google also is proposing that some of the network be used for the creation of a separate virtual LAN (VLAN) specifically for the use of city government and public-safety operations.

Although earlier municipal wireless networks were fairly one-dimensional, the use of VLANs is becoming more popular, especially with an increase in the deployment of mixed-use municipal networks that support both pedestrian users and essential municipal services and operations.

Wireless mesh networking vendor Firetide recently helped build a network in Culver City, Calif., that set aside a VLAN and other traffic prioritization functions for municipal operations, said Barbara Cardillo, vice president of marketing at Firetide. “If a network is set up for mixed use, then you don't want to compromise the access for things like police and fire,” she said.

Norm Bogen, In-Stat senior analyst, said, “A lot of municipalities want wireless networks for their own functions, and for public safety. I don't think you'll see a huge volume of municipalities offering low-cost Internet access to other users, but they'll leave that part to a service provider.”

The San Francisco TechConnect project hasn't been awarded yet, but similar projects continue to advance across the nation. Early last month, EarthLink and its partners won the long-anticipated and much-debated bid to build a metropolitan wireless network for Philadelphia. A more definitive agreement is expected soon.

“Wireless Philadelphia [the name of the project and the city organization sponsoring it] represents an important milestone in the deployment of wireless broadband in the United States on such a wide scale,” said Garry Betty, president and CEO of EarthLink, in announcing the contract win. “It provides a competitive alternative to high-speed Internet offerings and gives many Internet users the ability to stay connected, no matter where they are in the city.”

Dianah Neff, the acting board chairperson of Wireless Philadelphia, who in the project's earliest months had to defend it from critics who felt it was aimed at high-paying tourists more than citizens, said, “In selecting EarthLink, Wireless Philadelphia moves one step closer to fulfilling its charter to strengthen the city's economy and transform Philadelphia's neighborhoods by providing high-speed, low-cost wireless access throughout the city.”

EarthLink will implement a 135-square-mile, citywide Wi-Fi mesh network, which is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2006. Initially, however, the ISP and its partners will construct a 15-square-mile proof-of-concept area to be used during a testing phase.

The network eventually is intended to provide inexpensive end-user access at around $20 per month, though it could be as low as $10 per month for users qualifying for low-income access programs. It will also have free Internet access available in public spaces, such as parks. Most significantly, no taxpayer funds or other city dollars will be used to finance the network. Wireless Philadelphia also will have a revenue-sharing arrangement with service providers.

RESPONDENTS

AEPCO
Alvarion
Anchor Free
Cingular
Earthlink
Ericsson
Extreme Networks
Feeva
Fire2Wire/Ubiquity
GigaBeam
Google
Hewlett-Packard
JiWire
Maddog Consulting
Metro-Fi
Motorola
nextWLAN
Nortel
PlaceSite
SeaKay/Cisco
SFLAN
SkyTel
Symbol Technologies
Wifflenet
WiLine
Wunderlich-Malec

Source: San Franciso TechConnect