50 square miles -- 6 square miles are live; the rest of the city will be unwired by December.
EarthLink Inc.
Motorola Inc. and Tropos Networks
N/A
$21.95 per month, $15.95 for a three-day pass or $3.95 per hour.
EarthLink has reached a nonbinding agreement with AOL LLC and is discussing ways to offer AOL.com content and Web assets on the municipal footprint. The network will offer public access and serve city departments and businesses; speeds are comparable to existing Tier 1 solutions, the company says.
Baltimore
228 square miles
N/A
Unavailable
Research stages
As of Aug. 1, the city wanted responses to a forthcoming RFI to vendors for ideas on creating a citywide wireless network by the end of August.
Baltimore's main goal is to provide affordable Internet access for low-income families, while offering service to all residents, businesses and government employees. No taxpayer funds are to be used.
Chaska, Minn.
16 square miles
The city, operating as Chaska.net
Tropos Networks
Live
$16.99 for residential service at 1.2mbps; $25.99 for business service up to 1.5mbps; other speeds range from $100 for 256kbps to $850 for 10mbps
One of the first muni deployments. Its purpose is affordable access for all, to grow economic development.
Chicago
234 square miles
N/A
Unavailable
RFP
N/A
The RFP requires a public-private partnership structure whereby a service provider will operate the network and the city would offer the long-term use of its infrastructure. The bidder can charge for access but there must be a level of no- or low-cost service. Proposals must include:
1mbps fixed, nomadic, and mobile (up to 30mph) service, open to nondiscriminatory wholesale access
Affordable, universal Internet access for every neighborhood
Free access in the Chicago public schools, parks and other public places
Affordable computers and meaningful applications
Corpus Christi, Texas
147-square-mile goal
The city
Pronto Networks and Tropos Networks
Live
Free network
Originally for automated meter reading, the Wi-Fi allows public access downtown. Corpus Christi would like to partner with service providers to build out the network citywide for full public access.
Culver City, Calif.
1-square-mile downtown implementation
The city and Wireless Hotspot Inc., a systems integration partner
Firetide Inc.
Live
Free network
Home of the film industry's post-production studios, Culver City has undergone extensive redevelopment in the past several years. The latest project is Town Plaza, which runs five blocks along Culver City Boulevard and is the hub of a vibrant new downtown looking to attract tourists, film industry workers, shoppers, and business people for theater, shopping, dining and people-watching. The town looked to implement Wi-Fi to increase Town Plaza's attractiveness.
Honolulu
Chinatown
EarthLink Inc.
Tropos Networks
One-year pilot project
Free network
The city will test Wi-Fi as an economic revitalizer and will test new public safety technologies and a variety of utility applications, including advanced electric metering and energy conservation initiatives.
New Orleans
15 square miles, to include the French Quarter, from the river to Claiborne Avenue, and all of the west bank of Orleans Parish
EarthLink Inc.
Tropos Networks
Live Sept. 1
Free service at 300kbps and a paid 1mbps offering (likely around $19.95 per month)
The network is for basic connectivity, first responder communications and public access. Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has had a 512kbps mesh network designed for surveillance cameras. BellSouth Corp. has tried to shut down on the basis of a law the RBOC lobbied to pass that prevents any city in the state from offering speeds greater than 128kbps. New Orleans thus issued an RFP to service providers and awarded the contract to EarthLink.
New York City
18 hotspots in 10 city parks, including Battery Park, Central Park, Prospect Park, Riverside Park and Union Square.
WiFi Salon Inc., with Nokia as an anchor tenant.
Unavailable
Deployment in progress
Free service
Nokia is providing multimedia services to WiFi Salon, which owns and manages the network infrastructure. WiFi Salon has exclusive concessions rights from the city to build out the service. Nokia has introduced mobile multimedia services in the parks with local media partners who provide complimentary mobile versions of their content.
Philadelphia
135 square miles
EarthLink Inc.
Motorola Inc. and Tropos Networks
Deployment in progress
N/A
The primary intent is to strengthen the city's economy and improve neighborhoods. No city or taxpayer dollars will be used to fund the project. EarthLink will finance, build and manage the wireless network, and share revenue with the city's Wireless Philadelphia digital inclusion initiative.
Pittsburgh
Available in the Central Business District/Golden Triangle, the Lower Hill District and North Shore.
U.S. Wireless Online
N/A
Live in September
The network is free for up to two hours per day at 512kbps, or $8 per day, $15 per month and $120 per year for a 1mbps service.
Pittsburgh wants to close the digital divide and stimulate growth.
Portland, Ore.
95 percent of the city's 134 square miles
MetroFi Inc.
SkyPilot Networks
Deployment in progress
Free 1mbps service with ads, or $19.95 without ads
The intent of "Unwire Portland" is to provide a scalable network that provides broadband wireless services to government agencies, institutional users, businesses, citizens and travelers at affordable prices, while enabling development and deployment of new applications that can help the city and businesses.
Sacramento, Calif.
97-square-mile initial deployment to cover the central business district, followed by a citywide deployment within two years.
N/A
MobilePro Corp./Neoreach originally deployed a pilot and won a bid, but pulled out of the project in June because it saw the free model as unworkable.
RFP
Free network
Bid award expected Dec. 5
The city wants free internal use on a separate SSID for five years at 1mbps. It will consider becoming an anchor tenant on the network. Digital inclusion: Bidder should use advertising to support a free service, with 7 percent or greater of gross advertising revenue allocated to support a nonprofit organization; subsidize accounts for low-income residents; purchase computers; create additional free access points in schools, libraries and community centers; and provide technical services to qualified households.
San Francisco
EarthLink Inc. and Google Inc.
Tropos Networks
Bid awarded, negotiations in progress
Free access at 300kbps with advertising, and 1mbps ad-free premium service for $20 per month
The network will provide public and city access.
Silicon Valley, Calif.
The entire area south of San Francisco Bay, covering 1,500 square miles from Gilroy to San Mateo, and as far east as Fremont.
N/A
Bid responders include the consortium of Azulstar, Cisco, IBM and Seakay, VeriLan, and MetroFi.
RFPs under consideration
N/A
Many individual municipalities in the Silicon Valley area have municipal Wi-Fi plans, but the Wireless Silicon Valley Plan, a joint venture of local businesses and governments, wants to unwire the entire area -- 40 cities.
St. Cloud, Fla.
15 square miles
The city
Tropos Networks
Live
Free service
The network was created for city opex and telecommunications cost reduction, and as a public service.
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Almost citywide
N/A
Unavailable
RFP
Two-tier model with a free or cheap service and a paid premium offer
As of Aug. 1, proposals were due in mid-August
Digital inclusion and economic development are the twin goals. The city will provide no taxpayer money for funding. Pole access may need to go through the power company with a separate negotiation. The network has to provide coverage in 95 percent of the city, with 90 percent for indoor areas on ground and second floors of buildings. The network will have 1mbps speeds, with a 3mbps premium service required.
Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert, Ariz.
187 square miles
MobilePro Corp./Neoreach
Strix Systems Inc.
Live
$29.95 per month, $8.95 per day or $3.95 per hour. A free, 56kbps service is available in a small downtown area for two hours per day.
Provides public Internet access, and business and government employee communications. Also used for strategic command, police, fire, ambulance and disaster task forces.
* This chart is meant to provide only what information is publicly available on the listed deployments and is not meant to be an exhaustive source of all details relating to the projects. Also, this provides only a snapshot; muni Wi-Fi has been rolled out in about 60 U.S. cities and counties, with hundreds more in the planning stages.
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