« Proof positive that Wi Fi mesh is here to stay | Weblog | Ohio: Dayton - Then and Now »

Municipal Broadband Update - Where are we now?

There seems to be no letup when it comes to municipal broadband wireless networks. Just within the past 10 days, several cities from across the nation formally launched or announced plans to build Wi-Fi systems, capped by Cisco Systems' official entrance into the municipal wireless market Nov. 15. The company announced it has deployed mesh networks in Dayton, Ohio, and Lebanon, Ore. Municipal wireless networks continue to thrive

This article is a great quick update on current Wireless Municpal Broadband deployments in the US. For instance, deplolyments using Cisco equipment get a good write up: Dayton OH and Lebanon, OR.

Then there are the cities of Temecula, CA., and Tucson, AZ, whcih recently announced plans to deploy municipal Wi-Fi with the help of San Diego-based WFI using Tropos Networks mesh network architecture.

And in downtown Lexington, KY, SkyTel rolled out Wi-Fi service this week.

Earthlink was selected to build Philadelphia’s estimated $20 million network, expected to be operational by the end of 2006. Earthlink also won in Anaheim, CA.

And CellNet won a bid to deploy a downtown network in Madison, WI.

Finally, on Nov. 8, San Francisco city officials announced they will formally request proposals for their network later this month. The San Francisco RFI in August garnered 300 comments and 26 proposals, the most noticed one being from Google, which will partner with WFI to bid on the project. Officials plan to select a bidder early next year.

Google is getting a headstart in its hometown to prepare for San Fran, which I detailed elsewhere on this blog (see One Crystal Ball Has This Future in Mind). In Mountain View, CA., city officials accepted an offer from Google to create a municipalwide wireless Internet network at no cost to the city. The network would be operational by June 2006.

Something for everyone there - what all these projects have in common is they made announcements in the past few weeks, and they each demonstrate a great sense of initative and pioneer spirit - what this country was built on. Would that more cities would emulate these bold pioneers.

Posted on November 21, 2005 at 09:46 PM

Comments


Post a comment




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)