Citywide Wi-Fi up for vote
RIVERSIDE: The Council is expected to consider an agreement that would allow Web access for free.
10:20 AM PDT on Saturday, October 14, 2006
Riverside would become home to AT&T's first citywide network providing free wireless Internet access under a five-year agreement set for City Council consideration Tuesday.
The deal would cost the city $4 million over the five years if it buys all the services from AT&T it is contemplating.
These include a high-speed network that could stream critical information and even live video to police and firefighters at, or heading to, fire, crime and accident scenes.
Carl Nerup, AT&T vice president for business development, said Friday he believed this special network for police and fire departments would be the largest of its kind in the U.S.
Riverside police Capt. Mike Blakely said the network may be premature, however. Equipment for this kind of network isn't standardized nationally yet, he said.
The city wouldn't want to buy an 8-track tape when compact discs are coming down the pike, he said.
Wireless fidelity technology, known as Wi-Fi, allows users of computers or personal data assistants with the appropriate wireless device to connect to the Internet via radio waves.
All it takes to get on the Internet is a laptop or personal computer with wireless capability, which many laptops already have. No plugs are needed. It costs $50 to $80 to add wireless capability to most PCs.
The city's chief information officer, Steve Reneker, negotiated the agreement with AT&T.
The company also is negotiating with the cities of Napa and Springfield, Ill., but Riverside would have the company's largest municipal Wi-Fi network, Nerup said.
If the council approved the agreement, the entire network should be rolled out by mid-2008, Reneker said.
Riverside would join about 300 cities across the country that have deployed or are planning municipal wireless projects, according to data compiled by Jupiter Research.
In August, Corona approved its own citywide free wireless project, making it the first in the Inland area.
Temecula has offered free wireless access in Old Town for several months. Redlands, Fontana and San Jacinto also are considering limited wireless projects.
The plan in Riverside is for AT&T's partner, Mountain View-based MetroFi Inc., to install 1,000 to 1,300 wireless access points on light poles across most of the developed portions of Riverside, Nerup said. They would not be installed on decorative street lamps.
The company's estimated cost of installation is $8.8 million.
AT&T plans to offer paid wireless access that would be twice as fast as the free service, Nerup said.
Revenue for AT&T
AT&T expects to make money on the deal by selling advertising space on the entry Web page for the free wireless system, by offering the faster paid service, and by letting other companies piggyback on its wireless system for a fee.
AT&T also plans to sell the city a variety of services -- new phone and cell phone service, very high-speed, non-wireless Internet access and wireless Internet access for everything from meter-reading equipment to computers in police cars.
In addition to free Internet access, the city will give away 250 refurbished computers a month to low-income households, Reneker said. An estimated 30,000 residents, about 10 percent of the city's population, lack a home computer.
"I think it's a good idea," said Riverside City College student Eddie Valverde, 24, as he waited in line to use a computer at the city's Eastside Cybrary, which has 32 computers.
His computer at home is broken so he's been coming to the cybrary two to three times a week to check e-mail, do research for classes and look for a job.
Because municipal wireless networks have only gained steam in the past couple of years, "there are still a lot of unknowns," said Ina Sebastian, a Jupiter analyst
How many people will use it? How much to charge? Is access reliable? These are all questions that have no clear answers, she said.
Municipal wireless networks have the ability to improve health-care delivery and transform how governments operate, said Craig Settles, an Oakland consultant who helps organizations develop strategies for wireless technologies.
But it's important for cities to do a lot of research before signing contracts, he said.
'Thought-out Strategy'
John Tillquist, dean of technology and economic development at Riverside City College, was part of a panel that reviewed the applications for the Riverside project. He said the city did its homework.
"It's a really thought-out strategy," Tillquist said
He helped create the city's existing wireless system, which covers about 35 square blocks, mostly downtown, and counts about 78,000 Internet sessions per month.
The citywide project should make workers more productive, could lead to new forms of business that we cannot even imagine now -- just like no one imagined eBay before the Internet came along -- and would make it easier to get information, such as store locations and driving directions, from any point in the city, Tillquist said.
Called Strategic Move
It should also help the city attract and retain high-tech workers who are looking for a forward-looking place to work and live, he said.
"It creates a competitive advantage" for Riverside, Tillquist said.
Craig Watson, vice president of communications for Charter Communications, said Friday that he is not concerned about competition from Riverside's partnership with AT&T.
Charter's wired broadband connection is still the fastest option available to Inland residents, and wired service is more reliable and secure than the wireless option, he said.
Watson added that businesses often require customized features that a free or low-cost wireless network can't accommodate.
Reach Doug Haberman at 951-368-9644 or dhaberman@PE.com
BS Ranch Perspective:
This is a no brainier!! The city should jump on the chance to join in on the 21st or 22nd century of technology and allow the people within the city enjoy the most up to date technology that there is. Now if they updated their city to the system they could use it to locate where each Police Vehicle was in the city at any given time, on one big map! so if there was a Officer Down Call for example the Police Officer would only have to activate the Assistance button on his radio and they could have help to him in no time, the assistance button could Identify that Police Officer in trouble and the Police units that were closest could respond with no hesitation, almost the whole Dispatch system could be automated, in other words the computer would be activated and identify the closest available units and they would be on their way to the Officers aid.
The system could be and would be more efficient in that area, they would and could dispatch the closest car to each call, or set it up so that the calls would be handled in the best order as to take up less drive time by a Law Enforcement Technician or Police Officer, that would save gas, and time between calls for service.
I Think Riverside would be foolish to not take up this technology
BS Ranch
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