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Originally, city officials started with a city application - automatic meter reading for their electric and water utilities - and moved on to consider how to do that task most efficiently. Since AMR in its most modern formulation requires a fixed wireless network, city officials asked "Why not look at Wi Fi-based municipal wireless technology, which will open up a network to other applications besides AMR?" That led to conversations with other departments and late last summer, to a comprehensive survey of city department leadership to assess the potential of using the network for other applications, most specifically field access to mobile data by city employees (a large proportion of city employees spend significant time in the field).

In October 2006, the city council voted unanimously to move forward, and then the education and awareness effort shifted to other stakeholders in the community, like the San Marcos Economic Development Council, the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, Texas State University, the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District, the business community, and residential groups. As awareness among stakeholder groups rose, it became apparent that there was significant support for this project and that there were many groups that would benefit.

This very methodical and deliberate approach is in contrast to other city projects we've seen in the early years of this industry - no fad or "free Wi Fi" here - these city leaders see metropolitan broadband as a tool to bring their community together and reorient their economy on the 21st Century. The future is digital.

In the coming months, you'll see this project unfold in phases:

Phase One is oriented on preparing for a Request for Proposals (RFP), which is expected in early July, by assessing the city's needs and determining how they will use the network. Phase One will also kick off a full-scale community education and awareness campaign that will include an in-depth series of stakeholder focus groups and a bimonthly open forum with city leaders.

Phase Two will see us processing the RFP, winnowing candidates down to a finalist and negotiating a partnership agreement by mid-October.

Phase Three will involve network design and deployment and application integration, with operational status expected sometime in 2008, as early as late spring.

Questions of the Press, So Far

Q. Will the City offer Free Wi Fi?
A. Over time, "Municipal Wireless" and "Free" have become synonymous in some circles. In San Marcos, the level of service that will be offered to the general public will be up to the private service provider and the City and it will be an item of discussion in the negotiation. Alternatives to consider include free service in certain parts of the city, such as downtown, public parks, etc. or free service at a certain speed, say 10X dial up, but not "true" broadband. Or no free service at all. It's premature to say whether there will be free service, but there are so many other benefits besides free or even cheap broadband access and that is an interesting conversation.

Q. How much will this cost (i.e., how much will the city be on the hook for)?
A. The short answer is "a lot less than a wired network." The intention of the city is to find a private service provider to build and operate the network at their own expense, so that the city is not responsible for any initial capital costs. The city will then have access to a network and can focus its spending on individual city wireless solutions, buying laptops for cars, PDAs for field-based employees, wireless AMR meters, mobile applications, etc., on a department-by-department basis. What we do know about the capital cost of the network to the winning bidder at this early stage is that it will depend on the necessary bandwidth, the intended uses of the network, the network design elements (how many nodes per square mile), the overall coverage area, etc. A rule of thumb is somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 per square mile, with city boundaries describing an area 25-square miles. What the ultimate cost will be is anyone's guess until more work is completed.

Q. What will the impact be on incumbent broadband providers?
A. Again, premature to say. Wireless solutions tend to be more affordable than wireline, which opens up a larger market, bringing in those who have sat on the fence because broadband was unaffordable, so the size of the market grows. Some wireline subscribers will switch, that's inevitable, but many will stay with their provider, because wired service has some advantages. The bottom line impact is that the introduction of a municipal wireless project changes the market dynamic for broadband and there will be some impact, but it is uncertain how it will unfold. A lot depends on the reaction of the incumbents. In general, a municipal wireless network introduces more competition into the market and has a general impact of bringing down the cost of broadband access.

Q. What about service inside the home?
A. Radio physics at the wavelengths used in municipal wireless dictate that the waves tend to have a difficult time penetrating solid objects, so most home users are likely to require a "bridge" device - it sits in the window to catch radio waves and improve reception inside the building.

Q. What about problems experienced by municipal wireless network projects elsewhere?
A. This is the benefit of being a follower. We get to learn from other pioneer projects over the past three years, and there are lots of object lessons out there. We will take full advantage of those who forged the way in the past, and some of those pioneers are here in Texas (Corpus Christi, Granbury). Good for us.