MuniWireless.com reports:
Aurora, Illinois looks to citywide Wi-Fi
Aurora, Illinois is considering a plan to bring citywide wireless broadband access. The city will use the network for municipal operations (public safety) but also offer public access. They have not yet determined which model they will follow. The mayor will introduce the plan this week, together with the 2006 budget. He is seeking $5 million to deploy the network (the city could also issue bonds to raise the money). An interesting piece of trivia: Aurora was the first city in the US to be wired for street lighting.
Aurora is west of Chicago, covers 38 square miles (98 square kilometers) and has 170,000 residents.
This article leaped out at me, out of a stream of similar announcements on Municipal Broadband Wireless plans, because I happen to know that the Aurora area is currently served by a capable Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) - PDQLink Wireless.
That the city of Aurora is considering a Municipal Broadband Wireless system is representative of a situation I've been advising WISPs about in the last few years when I've been given talks and presentations at WISP conferences such as WISPCON and WINOG. That is, municipal governments are increasingly motivated to deploy their own Broadband Wireless Systems, and doing so without much regard to whether WISPs are already providing similar or competing services in an area.
I contacted Michael Anderson, one of the partners in PDQLink, and Chairman of PART-15.ORG for comment about Aurora's citywide Wi-Fi plans. Anderson said "First, I don't believe that license-exempt spectrum should be used for public safety because of the interference issues. Second, I don't feel that tax dollars should be used to compete against me."
(As a side issue, I disagree with Anderson on several points. There's ample precedent for the reliable use of license-exempt spectrum for public safety use such as the extensive 2.4 GHz network of the San Diego County Sheriff's department, Motorola's MotoMesh productwhich combines public safety (4.9 GHz) spectrum with license-exempt (2.4 GHz) spectrum, and many, many other examples. As for the tax dollars issue... governments increasingly feel that access to reasonably-priced Broadband Internet, in this era, is both an economic development issue and a qualify of life issue... enabled by new technology that makes it possible for municipal (and other) governments to cost-effectively deploy and operate their own Broadband Wireless Internet Access systems.)
Unfortunately for WISPs, this is an unstoppable trend, and many WISPs are in denial and generally unprepared for when this situation occurs in their service areas.
By Steve Stroh
This article is Copyright © 2005 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged.)
Categories:
- Broadband Wireless Internet Access / Broadband Wireless Access / Wireless Broadband / Wireless Access / Fixed Wireless
- Outdoor / Long Range / Public Wi-Fi / WiFi / 802.11a / 802.11g / 802.11b
- 2.4 GHz Spectrum
- Municipal Broadband Wireless / MuniWireless / Municipal Wi-Fi
- Wireless Cloud
- Wireless Internet Service Provider / WISP / WISPs
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