U.S. Cities and Counties with Wi-Fi Networks

Traveling with a laptop this summer?

Here is an updated list of U.S. cities and counties that have citywide Wi-Fi networks, and Wi-Fi hotzones. Included in the list are those that are planning large city wireless networks.

A word of caution from the author of the list:

“The list may not be as accurate as I’d like it to be. I’m hoping people will post comments to correct the entries. The section city and countywide projects are cities or counties that have issued RFPs or were building out the network in January 2008. This list may have to be amended significantly as many municipalities have decided not to go on with these projects.”

[via muniwireless.com]

Minneapolis to Become Largest Wireless Area in the U.S. -- Soon

According to James Anderson, writing in the Minnesota Daily – the student-produced newspaper on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis is about to become the largest municipal wireless area in the country.

The plan, which is about a year behind schedule, is targeted for completion by spring 2009. It was delayed when several densely populated areas needed additional poles installed to hold the transmitters for the signal.

This is not a city-owned nor -operated system. USI Wireless, a private company, is behind the project. Minneapolis, however, is one of USI’s biggest customers; the City will run its police and fire public safety network over the new wireless system. City representatives hope that this network will provide them with greater bandwidth and quicker connection speeds.

USI currently has 11,000 paid subscribers to the network that offers one, three and six megabyte packages. According to the article, a one-year subscription to the largest package will cost less than 50% of the service now provided by Comcast.

BP Announces Plan to Add Free Wi-Fi to Stations

Did you ever stop for gas and feel the urge to check your email? Or renew your library material? Or buy an on-line product?

If so, you may soon be in luck. On December 15, British Petroleum will announce that it has reached a deal with two technology companies, Ruckus Wireless and HarborLink, to start equipping its 9,000 North American gas stations with wi-fi.

According to David Callisch, a spokesman for Ruckus Wireless, quoted in this article in The New York Times, the company is trying to create a “sticky” situation: “People go to the gas station and you can get them to stay longer,” he said. “Wi-Fi quickly becomes a money-making opportunity for [the stations].”

Another Look at Citywide Wi-Fi

According to Andrew Lavalle, writing in The Wall Street Journal: "For proponents of citywide Wi-Fi projects, this has been a tough year -- and one of fresh promise.

The idea of setting up networks to beam wireless Internet access across entire cities and towns has been touted for years as a spur to economic development. It also has been promoted as a way to help bridge the so-called digital divide -- the gap between those who have access to all the advantages of the Internet and other digital technology and those who don't, mainly because of lower income.

Progress on such networks has been halting, however, because of financial, technical and political hurdles. And over the past year or so, there have been a string of reversals. The companies that built and maintained some of the most prominent municipal Wi-Fi networks abandoned them, and other projects stalled or were scaled back.

At the same time, though, a handful of communities have applied lessons learned from the first round of failed projects and are developing Wi-Fi networks that are more realistic in their ambitions and business models.

[ via muniwireless.com]

Obama's Online Opportunities

According to the latest report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project:

There is no shortage of suggestions to the incoming Obama administration about what to do about communications policy in the United States. The body of research from the Pew Internet Project, dating to 2000, indicates that online Americans might have one more suggestion: Make sure the Internet remains a place where users define what it means to be digitally connected.

The report concludes:

In a broadband and increasingly wireless Internet, it is not just about trying new things, but, for many users, also reworking and using them in new ways. Our research into Internet use suggests that maintaining such an online environment will give users the wherewithal to continue to innovate and surprise.

For an copy of the report: Obama’s Online Opportunities.

FCC Votes to Open "White Space" Spectrum to Wireless Internet for the Public

As Sirsi/Dynix VP Stephen Abram reminds us, there was other news yesterday, even in the United States.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 to open up the "white space" spectrum -- the unused airwaves between broadcast television channels -- for public wireless broadband service. Abram says that this decision will transform technology in 2009 and beyond, and quotes Google co-found Larry Page as saying: "This is a clear victory for Internet users and anyone who wants good wireless communications."

Read the entire post on Stephen's Lighthouse.

More on Wireless

Last Thursday, I blogged about the state of free wireless in Oakland County, and across the country.

On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission released a report that may, ultimately, open a broad spectrum of airwaves to wireless networks. If so, we might move closer toward a nation-wide, free, wireless network.

Read Wired's analysis of the report and its implications.

And who does Wired blame for the sorry state of U.S. Internet and wireless coverage -- currently 15th in the world? The wireless carriers:

"While FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has expressed interest in offering a free, filtered (porn-free) nationwide broadband network, the wireless carriers aren't quite as enthusiastic about it.

What's their problem? While the U.S.' broadband penetration lags behind fourteen other nations, wireless carriers complain that free WiFi service could interfere with their own networks. What they probably mean, though, is that free WiFi will threaten their existence."

Is Wireless Oakland Back On-line?

Wireless Oakland – the ambitious plan to blanket Oakland County with free wireless Internet access – may be revived, according to a recent article in the Detroit News.

The project was first rolled out in March 2005, when the County partnered with Michtel – a private company – and selected seven pilot areas in Troy, Royal Oak, Pontiac, Birmingham, Madison Heights, Oak Park, and Wixom.

The County and cities gave Michtel access to utility poles, buildings, and radio towers on which to install access points. In exchange, the company would provide free wireless Internet access to anyone in those areas at a speed that was somewhere between dial up and broadband. If an individual wanted a faster connection, he or she could purchase that from the company.

After the pilot areas were completed, the plan was to gradually increase the wireless areas until the entire County was covered.

From the start, financial problems and delays plagued the project. Eventually, Michtel set up the pilot areas. But in June of this year, the project ran out of money and the plan was put on hold.

Now, according to the company, there might be enough interest from private investors to start Wireless Oakland back up by December.

We’ll see.

The idea of turning entire cities and counties into wireless hotspots, in order to provide a basic level of Internet access for everyone. has been big for the past several years. In addition to Oakland County, Macomb and Washtenaw have explored the possibility. Neither has progressed much.

Across the country, the situation is much the same. In cities like San Francisco, similar plans have been scrapped. Depending on the private sector for such a project hasn't panned out, and most municipalities have been reluctant to recognize the value of providing free public-sponsored wi-fi for their residents.

Unfortunately, the idea that one day soon we would be able to travel across large sections of the States and always be in a free wi-fi hotspot has faded.

To keep up on municipal wireless plans and news, check out MuniWireless.