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Texas: Houston goes pardner shopping

Following on the heels of Mayor's White's statement on election eve that Houston would go out seeking a partner to build a network, the hometown Houston Chronicle has covered the story twice in the last week. City seeking network partner for WiFi project and Steffy: Stance on competition is in what SBC does, not says.

With the success of the wireless network project in Corpus Christi, a couple of hundred miles down the coast, it's a wonder we don't see more coastal cities installing wireless networks. Maybe it's just a matter of time, and I think 2006 will see a lot of activity along our coasts. The flat lands found along the Gulf Coast make for good RF propagation (for insight on the impact of topography on a wireless mesh network, see also the UnwireMyCity Guide highlighted in Mesh Secrets Revealed: How Many Nodes Make a Network? elsewhere on this site). And the seasonal risk of hurricanes make a wireless network a valuable tool for coastal cities.

Expect a lot more coverage on this story, because this network will be big news. This project is a great fit for Houston, and Houston is a major city. Can Dallas, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley be far behind? How about New Orleans, Bloxi, Tampa, Mami, Ft. Lauderdale, Daytona Beach, and on and on, up the Atlantic coast?

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 02:51 PM

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