St. Louis Behind on Wireless Technology

A week ago I did a post wondering what happened to the large downtown wireless network that was supposed to come online in 2003. Downtown’s Jim Cloar indicated to me there were some technical difficulties that presumably prevented a full scale completion. He added,

Some of my counterparts in other cities have suggested that growing concerns about security and increased availability at individual sites have lessened the “demand”. I’ll see if that had relevance here.

I’m not sure what counterparts he is talking to because it seems like many cities are eagerly seeking blanket wireless. From a July 2006 story on CNET News.com:

Cities across the country are turning to Wi-Fi, a wireless Internet access technology that uses unlicensed radio spectrum, as an affordable way to add another broadband alternative to their communities. Some cities, such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and San Francisco, are hoping to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor by allowing a third party to use the city’s utility poles to deploy radios for transmitting wireless broadband signals throughout the city.

Regardless of the motivation, interest in citywide Wi-Fi has skyrocketed over the past year. Internet service provider EarthLink has emerged as one of the most prominent companies to build Wi-Fi networks in large cities. It has won bids in Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Orleans. And in June it completed its first major citywide Wi-Fi network, in Anaheim, Calif.

So has demand lessened or skyrocketed? I’m going to go with skyrocketed since more and more computer sales are for notebook computers, nearly all with built-in wireless cards.

You might say that is great for bigger cities on the coast but what about middle America? Well, is Springfield IL middle America enough for you? From Businessweek.com:

AT&T Inc. is the lead candidate to build a citywide wireless network for Springfield, Ill., marking the company’s first success in the developing market to blanket municipalities with ubiquitous Internet access.

As with a growing number of municipal wireless projects, the Springfield network’s users will be given a choice of free access supported by advertisements or paying a daily or monthly fee for a connection without ads. AT&T also plans to sell the wireless capability as an add-on service for residential and business customers who already pay for DSL online access over the company’s local telephone network.

Springfield may have free ad-supported wireless before St. Louis? We can’t even get this done in a small section of downtown much less our city and region. Perhaps our leadership is too busy playing Pong on a Commodore 64 to realize times and technology have changed!

The Businessweek.com article continues:

Hundreds of municipal wireless projects have been proposed around the country the past few years. Many have sparked protest from those who oppose any such expenditure of taxpayer money, as well as from phone and cable TV companies that would be forced to compete with a low-cost or free wireless service.

City officials frequently argue that Internet access is a vital public service akin to water and garbage collection, asserting that broad wireless access is an economic necessity for keeping and luring businesses. They also complain that the local phone and cable providers have been slow to bring affordable broadband access to low-income residents.

DSL is still not available in my area and in many other parts of the city. And getting lower income individuals on the internet is important to our regional health — it is critical that we close the information divide lest we leave many behind in the job market. It will take some enlightened leadership to get us to a better place over the next 20-30 years. The folks we have in office are not those people.

– Steve