Madre's Missives

Publish Date: 11/4/2006

Citywide WiFi eyed

By Rachel Carter
The Daily Reporter-Herald

MobilePro in conjunction with Tropos Networks, and CenturyTel working with SkyPilot, have approached both cities about rolling out citywide WiFi. Front Range Internet Inc. also has pitched the idea to Fort Collins officials.

MobilePro and Tropos already are installing a citywide wireless network in Longmont, and company officials envision a regional network.

"It would be a seamless, Front Range rollout that would include Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins," said Ron Pequette, western region director for Tropos Networks.

"Loveland people would be able to go to Longmont, Longmont people would be able to go to Loveland and use the network like it's one big network."

Pequette said MobilePro and Tropos are focusing on the "municipal market" (they've approached four Colorado cities — Longmont, Loveland, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs) because "there's a great need from a city's perspective to use this technology."

The Longmont City Council approved a deal with MobilePro in August to create a citywide wireless network.

Crews already are installing about 600 antennas, about the shape and size of a shoe box, on light posts and traffic signals throughout Longmont.

Pequette said a Loveland network would be similar in size and scope to Longmont's: About 600 antennas, about $2 million.

Because Fort Collins is larger, a wireless network there would probably include more than 1,000 antennas and cost about $4 million, he said.

But such a network would cost both cities nothing, Pequette said.

For example, MobilePro provides Longmont with accounts in exchange for space on city-owned light posts. The city incurs no capital or operational costs but will be able to use the network.

Longmont officials plan to use those accounts to connect police cars, firetrucks and other municipal vehicles. City officials also hope to use the network for wireless meter reading and tracking snowplows and trash trucks.

Loveland and Fort Collins could similarly use their accounts to improve efficiency.

"We believe having some kind of WiFi service has the potential to serve the government well, and we believe it would serve the community well," said Tom Vosburg, chief information officer for the city of Fort Collins.

Besides improving government services, WiFi would provide residents and businesses with another Internet choice, said Renee Wheeler, Loveland assistant city manager.

Comcast offers high-speed cable modem Internet, and Qwest offers high-speed DSL access in Loveland.

"Wireless Internet would just provide another market choice," Wheeler said.

Bill Westbrook, director of information technology for Loveland, added, "There are still pockets in town that don't have accessibility to broadband Internet."

MobilePro most likely would offer subscription Internet plans for $20 to $40 a month. The service would be available "anywhere there are people," Pequette said. "We would not cover open space or fields, but anywhere there are houses or businesses, it would be available."

Anyone with wireless access cards or modems installed in their computers would be able to sign up for the service. More and more devices — cell phones, personal digital assistants and MP3 players — are becoming WiFi-enabled.

"Someday it will be just as important as your wallet or your purse," said Loveland City Councilman Walt Skowron, an advocate of WiFi. "This is an exciting portal to the future of communications."

Unlike other options, Skowron said, a citywide WiFi network would not be intrusive.

"You don't have to run fiber, you don't have to dig up the streets and drill holes in the buildings," he said.

But with more than one vendor courting both Loveland and Fort Collins, officials said they need to research their options before moving forward.

Both Wheeler and Vosburg said a formal process asking vendors for proposals might be necessary to ensure fairness — which could take several months.

Pequette said MobilePro and Tropos officials will work with each city "within their processes and time frames."

WiFi: How It Works

• Loveland is connected to a high-speed fiber-optic backbone that Platte River Power Authority installed in Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont. The system permits very high-speed, high-capacity data transmission and allows PRPA to manage its power grid more effectively. A WiFi vendor would lease access to the fiber-optic system. WiFi, short for wireless fidelity, is the technology that allows computers to connect to each other or to the Internet without wires.

• Crews would install hundreds of wireless access points — or antennas — throughout the city. The transmitters would be enclosed in weatherproof boxes about the size of a shoe box and installed on light posts and traffic signals.

• By blanketing the city with transmitters, a vendor would create a seamless network of WiFi coverage. Using technology similar to mobile phone towers, the transmitters would pass data signals to each other, allowing users to move about the city without losing the connection.

• Users could connect to the WiFi network anywhere in the city — at home, at work, at a coffee shop — using technology commonly found in laptops or wireless home networks. MobilePro most likely would offer subscription plans for $20 to $40 a month.