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  • From: Brandon Perkins <bdperkin AT gmail.com>
  • To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee <chtechcomm AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Chtechcomm] Clayton's wish for free Wi-Fi: 'Set us apart'
  • Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 01:48:03 -0400

From:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/2804112p-9248265c.html

The News & Observer

Published: Sep 26, 2005
Modified: Sep 26, 2005 6:28 AM
Clayton's wish for free Wi-Fi: 'Set us apart'

By PEGGY LIM, Staff Writer

CLAYTON -- Hidden atop a shelf with jars of "Jamaican Me Crazy" and
"Irish Cream" coffee beans, a small blue-and-black box soundlessly
transmits wireless Internet to customers at a Clayton cafe.

"It's a necessity of a coffee shop of the 21st century," said Jodi
Sager, owner of The Coffee Mill, which added the perk about six months
ago.

Some Clayton officials want to go a giant step further and blanket the
town with free or low-cost wireless Internet access points. That way,
anyone with a wireless-enabled laptop or computer could go online
practically anywhere in town.

"It's really going to set us apart," Town Councilman Alex Harding said.

As major companies race to roll out paid-for wireless broadband
services across the country, municipalities such as Clayton are
talking about extending Wi-Fi service at no, or low cost, to all
residents. Some cities, such as Raleigh, Apex and Winston-Salem,
already offer wireless Internet in sections of their downtown, but few
provide the service citywide.

This year, Clayton plans to bring wireless to town buildings,
community parks and a public square at a cost of about $10,000. If
Town Council members support it and Congress doesn't pass legislation
barring municipal wireless, Clayton could begin installing other
wireless access points elsewhere in town as early as next year.

This summer, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican and former
employee of telecom giant SBC, introduced a bill to prohibit state and
local governments from offering Internet service if a private provider
already does. The likes of Verizon, SBC and Comcast lobbied Congress
and states such as Florida, Tennessee, and Illinois to prohibit
municipalities from providing information services.

Other proposed legislation floating in Congress supports municipal broadband.

Major telecom and cable companies "look at us as a competitor," said
Angela Tousey, Clayton information services administrator. "We look at
it as providing services to our citizens that may not be able to
afford that $40-a-month bill."

Clayton, a Johnston County town of about 12,000 people, may follow the
model of pioneering towns such as Manteo on the Outer Banks. Manteo,
where the population of 1,300 doubles during summer months, saw
wireless service as another amenity to draw tourists.

Partnering with cable company Charter, Manteo is installing wireless
hot spots across town, which will give users free Internet access in
30-minute increments. The intent is to give people enough time to
check e-mail or surf the Net, but prevent them from abusing the system
and hogging bandwidth, for example, by downloading songs off Napster.
Those who want unlimited access would have to subscribe with Charter
for a monthly fee.

Larger cities, such as Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., and Taipei,
Taiwan, are also attempting to provide free or inexpensive wireless
services to increase their attractiveness and reduce the divide
between those with Internet access and those without.

Wireless could be very expensive for a municipality to provide on its
own. Michael Bavaro, CEO of the Clayton-based Internet provider
Dockpoint, thinks towns should partner with local companies so they
don't duplicate existing infrastructure and interfere with other
wireless Internet systems.

Towns have a hard enough time keeping up with power, roads and other
utilities, Bavaro said. "They want to stick their finger in another
pie?"

He acknowledged partnering with local governments could also benefit
wireless Internet providers.

Unlike cellphones, the Wi-Fi technology Dockpoint and many other
companies use requires line-of-sight transmissions. That means if a
tree branch blocks a signal between a transmission point and a
building's receiving antenna, the building could lose its Internet
connection. Height helps.

In North Carolina, local governments have put moratoriums on new
transmission towers, and cellular phone companies are possessive of
their infrastructure, Bavaro said. Local governments, however, own
lots of tall buildings, water towers, power lines, light poles and
telephone poles, which could serve as transmission points.

Emerging technologies could make it less appealing for private
companies to work with local governments, though. WiMax, a technology
to which Wi-Fi companies expect to migrate, can send out signals in a
radius of up to 31 miles, as opposed to up to 10 miles with current
Wi-Fi technologies. The increased coverage area might make it less
necessary to partner with local governments for tall transmission
points.

Clayton resident Patrick Tombrey, 39, said he'd welcome town-sponsored
wireless hot spots. A director for global accounts at a
Massachusetts-based software company, Tombrey totes his cellphone,
Blackberry personal digital assistant and laptop to The Coffee Mill
whenever the digital subscriber line at his Glen Laurel home
inexplicably shuts down. Municipal wireless would make it that much
more convenient to use Internet around town.

"How can anyone argue that not being a good thing?" he said.

Researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report.


Staff writer Peggy Lim can be reached at 836-5799 or plim AT newsobserver.com.
Researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report.
(c) Copyright 2005, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy CompanyMcClatchy Company



  • [Chtechcomm] Clayton's wish for free Wi-Fi: 'Set us apart', Brandon Perkins, 09/27/2005

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