What Happened to Wireless Internet for Downtown St. Louis?
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In 2003 St. Louis made national news when it announced it would be making all of downtown a free wi-fi zone. Everyone, myself included, as all a buzz about what this might mean. From a July 2003 AP story:
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The city of St. Louis is setting up what could be the nation’s largest, free, wireless Internet network in hopes of drawing techno-savvy businesses, tourists and residents to the downtown business district.
The city has teamed up with a local company, O2Connect, to offer the service in a 42-square-block area.On Wednesday, a city crew mounted and activated the first of six antennae that will transmit an invisible, high-frequency radio signal that can be used to get online. The rest should be in place by month’s end.
“It’s symbolic that we’re really up-to-date downtown,” said Jim Cloar, president and chief executive of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership, a nonprofit group that promotes economic development and urban living.
“And it gives us one more sales tool. We’re just being more technologically proficient, being more customer-friendly and making downtown a better place to do business and a better place to visit, either as a conventioneer or just as a (tourist),” he said. “You won’t have to worry about having the capability to stay in touch, either by e-mail or using the Web.”
City officials said the project should help St. Louis build a high-tech reputation — and business sector.
“The mayor’s expectation is that we will make St. Louis a competitive global technology center,” said Chris Dornfeld of the city. “It’s a great challenge, but when you look at the breadth and density of technology in St. Louis, you can quickly realize it is achievable.”
Locally the St. Louis Business Journal ran a similar story:
By late July, O’Leary [O2Connect’s Tim O’Leary] said he plans to have wireless nodes, which are antennas, installed on several traffic lights in the city. The nodes will run from the riverfront along Broadway west to the mayor’s office and up and down Washington Avenue, all of which will encompass about 72 square-blocks. Broadway will be the east border, the west side of Tucker Boulevard will be the west border, Washington Avenue will be the north border and the south side of Market Street will be the south border.
Though the signal from a node likely will reach about 1,500 feet, O’Leary said that would vary because the signal is like a radio frequency, which can change from day to day. The Internet service should be accessible by the end of July.
O2Connect is providing the services and the equipment to install the nodes free of charge to the city. The contract was approved in June. Chris Dornfeld, chief of information officer for the city, said he sees the service O2Connect is providing as a great step for downtown St. Louis.
“It helps position downtown and the city of St. Louis as a technology leader,” Dornfeld said.
So where are we today? The city’s website of development projects shows the project as in the planning stages:
O2Connect is providing free wireless internet access in the downtown area, between Broadway on the east, Tucker on the west, Washington Ave on the north and Market Street on the South. Wireless access for personal laptops and PDAs will be provided through nodes installed on traffic lights, which should provide signals for up to 1,500 feet. Access was to be made available during 2003. O2Connect is reported to be providing this service with no charge to the city or to internet users.
While in planning it also indicates above that “access was to be made available during 2003.” The page shows it was updated in July 2005. So what gives? I made inquires to O2Connect, the Mayor’s office and to the Downtown St. Louis Partnership. Jim Cloar of the Partnership, despite being out of town, sent a very prompt response:
Good question, Steve. It was being set up by a private entrepreneur who offered it to the City. I know that it was established at about 5 locations (two at Kiener Plaza and three along Washington Avenue, as I recall. The taller buildings blocked out service in the core. I don’t know what happened but I’ll will be happy to check when I get back in town. 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’ve attempted to connect to the internet at Kiener Plaza a number of times. I always manage to get a network connection but it has no internet behind it, making it useless. I will have to try along Washington Ave to see if I get anything. I personally think the idea of having wireless running around the downtown streets would be helpful. As it is, the only free wireless place I know of in that entire area east of Tucker is the St. Louis Bread Co.
I will continue to inquire with Mr. Cloar and others about what happened to this agreement and what is being planned. In the meantime, share your thoughts on downtown wireless internet. Good idea past its prime? Something we should keep working on?
– Steve