Examples in alphabetical order

Location(s)

The Austin Wireless City Project (AWCP) is a non-profit group that aims to “improve the availability and quality of public free WiFi in Austin.” The group is run by volunteers, which help local businesses set up wireless hotspots. The businesses pay for an internet connection from an ISP, but connecting the wireless node is free for users. There are also a number of AWCP hotspots at Austin public libraries. The article listed below by Fuentes-Bautista and Inagaki gives a detailed introduction not only to AWCP, but also to the other players in Austin’s wireless environment. It discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks to community hotspot models, especially in terms of their ability to help bridge the digital divide.

Learn More:

Austin Wireless
http://www.austinwirelesscity.org/

MacKinnon, Rich (2004). Austin Goes Wi-Fi Too. Government Technology. March 2, 2004. http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/89576

Fuentes-Bautista, M., & Inagaki, N. (2006). Reconfiguring Public Internet Access in Austin, TX: Wi-Fi's Promise and Broadband Divides. Government Information Quarterly, 23(3-4), 404-434. www.utexas.edu/research/tipi/research/fuentes_inagaki_wifiaustin.pdf

Location(s)

Boston has formed a nonprofit organization that will construct, own and operate a citywide wireless broadband network. The nonprofit will need to raise between $16 and $20 million to fund the network's construction and initial operations. The City of Boston will grant the nonprofit access to necessary infrastructure to build network, but no city funds will be used in this project. The network will operate on an open access model, meaning that multiple providers can provide services over the network. This should encourage competition, and, ultimately, better services and prices for users. The network’s proposed architecture is remarkably forward-thinking in terms of openness and neutrality. See the Wireless Task Force report for a detailed overview of the business model, and results of the city’s feasibility assessment.

Learn More:

Open Air Boston
http://openairboston.net/

Boston Wireless Task Force – Official Site and Report
http://cityofboston.gov/wireless/

Wireless Task Force Report (2006). Boston for Boston. City of Boston.
www.cityofboston.gov/wireless/Boston%20Wireless%20Task%20Force%20Report%...

Recent Press. Open Air Boston.
http://openairboston.net/press/index.html

Location(s)

Description:

Cape Cod and the Southeastern Massachusetts Region have inadequate communications infrastructure in both backhaul transport and “last mile” access options. OpenCape Corporation will create and operate a regional wholesale digital backhaul communications network (TRANSPORT network). This network will provide reliable, redundant, and secure backhaul communications for public and commercial access networks on Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The network will support open access and promote competition. It will provide access directly to emergency evacuation sites, school districts, municipal governments, public health facilities, and libraries. The network will also support business and residential access, to be provided by WISPs.

Learn More:

Cape Cod Technology Council
http://www.opencape.com/

Location(s)

Chaska, MN owns chaska.net, a wireless internet service provider that is partnered with private companies. Because Chaska, MN was one of the earliest municipal wireless networks, it has received a lot of attention in the news – both positive and negative. To build the network, workers from the city's utility department installed the outdoor wireless cells in city-owned fixtures. Chaska.net financed the entire $535,000 capital investment needed for the wireless network. Both residential and business services are provided. The network is now operated by Siemens Communications.

Learn More:

Chaska.net
http://www.chaska.net/

Chaska Wi-Fi Experience Offers Valuable Lessons. Mike Hughlett. Government Technology. Apr 29, 2007. http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/100100

Utility or Futility? How Chaska, Minnesota (pop: 18,000) is showing big cities the way forward. Shaw, Russell. Corante, 2005. [Includes interview with Brad Mayer.] http://www.corante.com/vision/wireless/chaska.php

Tropos Case Study (2004)
http://www.tropos.com/pdf/chaska_casestudy.pdf

Location(s)

Corpus Christi, TX is a pioneer of wireless applications for municipal services. Planned and operational network applications include, for example, automated meter reading, in car video policing, and mobile emergency web operations. While not the original priority of the network, wireless internet services are now also available. Corpus Christi initially formed a non-profit corporation, called Corpus Christi Digital Community, in order to sell wholesale capacity to private service providers on the city-owned wireless network. Later, the city began working with Earthlink to manage the wireless network, and finally sold the network to Earthlink in March 2007. It remains an open network, meaning that Earthlink will sell wholesale access to other ISPs that want to deliver Internet service over the network. In addition, Earthlink and Corpus Christi have an ongoing relationship. The company will purchase wholesale access to the city’s backbone for $340,000 a year and the city has a $500,000 yearly commitment to buy back network services from Earthlink as an anchor tenant.

Learn More:

CC Digital Community Development Corporation
http://www.ccwifi.org/ccdcdc/

Earthlink Wi-Fi
http://www.earthlink.net/wifi/

A Perfect Match: How the Marriage of WiFi and AMR Could Transform Meter Reading. A. Perlman. Muniwireless Newsletter, p. 18-27. March 2007. www.muniwireless.com/reports/MW005.pdf

Corpus Christi, TX List of Wireless Applications
www.cctexas.com/wifiportal/wirelessapplicationssummaries.pdf

EarthLink will deliver Internet access on Corpus Christi citywide network. Esme Vos. Muniwireless. March 7, 2007.
http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/5767/1/23/

Is Corpus Christi EarthLink's Model for the Future? Carol Ellison. Muniwireless. August 10, 2007.
http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/6310/1/23/

EarthLink Dedicates Wi-Fi Network In Corpus Christi. W. David Gardner. InformationWeek. August 10, 2007.
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=2014...

FON is a company that aims to make free Wi-Fi available around the world by building a grassroots network; by 2010 it hopes to have one million hotspots. The company was founded in Spain in February 2006 by Martin Varsavsky, a successful telecommunications entrepreneur. Shortly after, FON received funding from Google, Skype, and two well-know venture capital firms.

FON users agree to share one (home, business, etc.) internet connection, in exchange for free access to all other users’ connections around the world. This means that, while the cost of joining FON is free, users must pay for one local internet connection, and a FON router (about $50). The FON router helps make sharing an internet connection secure. Non-FON members can also connect to FON hotspots for a daily fee ($3), for which the FON member may receive 50% of net revenue.

While there has been concern that ISPs would forbid their users from using FON to share their connection, so far no ISP has publicly said they will penalize users for doing so. In fact, some ISPs, including Time Warner Cable, are partnering with FON.

Learn More:

FON
http://www.fon.com/en/

FON on del.icio.us and Wikipedia
http://del.icio.us/foneros
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FON

FON: Wi-Fi for Everyone. New Telephony. February 14, 2006.
http://www.newtelephony.com/news/62h14134813.html

Zuckerman, Ethan. FON, and why sharing WiFi’s a cool technology for Africa. February 5, 2006. http://ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=363

Wong, M., & Clement, A. (2007). Sharing Wireless Internet in Urban Neighborhoods. In Steinfeld, C., Pentland, B. T., Ackerman, M. & Contractor, N. (Eds.), Communities and Technologies 2007: Proceedings of the Third Communities and Technologies Conference. London: Springer-Verlag. www3.fis.utoronto.ca/iprp/cracin/publications/pdfs/WorkingPapers/CRACIN%20Working%20Paper%20No.%2019.pdf

Location(s)

In April 2006, Foster City entered into a franchise agreement with MetroFi to use approximately 100 city-owned street light poles to provide wireless network services. Foster City receives compensation for MetroFi's use of its infrastructure, such as light poles and electrical usage ($36 per year for each of MetroFi’s 120 access point transmitters). MetroFi is required to meet a coverage objective of 95% for outdoor areas in the city (so far it has had some trouble with this, see below). Residents can buy additional devices to help boost the signal into homes and businesses.

Learn More:

Foster City is Now Wi-Fi Enabled! Foster City Website.
http://www.fostercity.org/community_info/telecomm/Wi-Fi-Services-Come-to...

MetroFi Selected to Deliver Free Wireless Internet Access to Foster City. MetroFi Press Release. April 19, 2006.
http://www.metrofi.com/press_releases-4.html

MetroFi General FAQs.
http://www.metrofi.com/general_faq.html#item2

Metro-Fi Trying to Fix Foster City 'Dead Zones'. Jason Goldman-Hall. The Examiner. April 11, 2007.
http://www.examiner.com/a-667542~Metro-Fi%20trying%20to%20fix%20Foster%20City%20'dead%20zones'.html

Location(s)

Technology: fiber, Wi-Fi

Fredericton was having trouble getting access to affordable, high-speed internet. In 2000 the city decided that it would be more cost effective to build its own fiber network, than to wait for or work with the private sector options. Based on a strong positive response from the community, Fredericton was able to form a cooperative of 15 organizations, to own and operate, e-Novations, the city’s non-profit telecommunications company, which now provides service to local businesses and institutions. The initial fiber build-out was financed with a city loan of $65,000, which has since been repaid, and contributions from the local partners, who sometimes prepaid membership several years ahead. Since 2003 the city has also been offering free Wi-Fi to residents. The Wi-Fi network runs off the extra capacity on the fiber network. Wi-Fi coverage is best effort; it is not ubiquitous, and does not have a guaranteed quality of service.

Learn More:

e-Novations
http://www.teamfredericton.ca/enovations.asp

Fred eZone
http://www.fred-ezone.com/

Chronicle of e-Novations & Fred-eZone. The Fred e-Chronicles.
www.teamfredericton.ca/documents/Fred-eChronicles.pdf

Exciting New Muni Wireless Business Models. Beth Stackpole. Daily Wireless. May 2, 2007. http://www.dailywireless.com/features/muni-wireless-business-models-0502...

Location(s)

Two researchers (see below) investigated whether WiFi could be a cost-effective technology to provide broadband access to users in rural and remote regions. They found that it was. To make their assessment realistic, the researchers modeled a real rural area: Gallatin County, Montana. They modeled the entire county, including the major towns, satellite communities, and widely scattered rural population. The study includes a financial analysis of a number of possible models, and while it focuses on the example of Gallatin County, the study is designed to be useful to rural communities more widely.

Learn More:

Crossing the Digital Divide: Cost-Effective Broadband Wireless Access for Rural and Remote Areas. M. Zhang and R. S. Wolff. IEEE Communications Magazine. February 2004: 99-105. www.coe.montana.edu/ee/rwolff/Divide-rev4.pdf

Location(s)

Île Sans Fil (“island without wires”) is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization committed “to the development of a free communication infrastructure to strengthen local communities in the greater Montreal region.” The group has a number of projects, including acting as an enabler and coordinator of free-to-the-user wireless hotspots throughout Montreal, building a city rooftop-to-rooftop wireless mesh network, and developing technology for community networking (see article below on Wifidog). ISF also aims to create online space for local content and new media art.

Learn More:

Île Sans Fil
http://www.ilesansfil.org/tiki-index.php

Articles on Île Sans Fil
http://www.ilesansfil.org/tiki-index.php?page=Press

McCallum, D. (2007). An Interview with Michael Lenczner. Vague Terrain.
http://www.vagueterrain.net/content/archives/journal06/lenczner01.html

Lenczner, M. (2005). Wireless Portals with Wifidog. Linux Journal, 140. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8352

Rocha, R. (2007). Pioneering Wi-Fi Cities Face Budget Hiccups. The Gazette. September 6, 2007. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=45da17....

Powell, A., & Regan Shade, L. (2006). Going Wi-Fi in Canada: Municipal, and Community Initiatives. Government Information Quarterly, 23(3-4), 381-403. (For Île Sans Fil profile, see p. 390.)
www3.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp/cracin/publications/pdfs/final/powell_shade_wifi_giq.pdf