Examples by Geographical Area

Location(s)

Nevada, MO (pronounced Ne-vay-duh) wanted broadband access for its residents, but providers wouldn’t build it. So, in 2003, the city, with the help of WISP NeighborLink Wireless, built its own citywide wireless network. The network cost $20,000 to build, and is used by residents, police, and other local officials. About a year later, SBC (now AT&T) began offering traditional broadband service. This significantly cut into sales, but the network remains popular enough to be economically viable. Nevada is currently retooling the network to make it easier for small businesses in town to resell the service.

The city sees the wireless network as a way to enhance local economic development, and the project follows on the city’s 1997 telecenter project, which had similar goals. The Nevada TeleCenter houses two interactive video classrooms for 25 students each; a satellite downlinked classroom for 50 participants; a multimedia production room equipped to produce educational and training materials; and five computer work stations for free public access to the Internet.

Learn More:

Rural Town Creates Unique Solution for Technology Problem. City of Nevada, 2006. http://www.nevadamo.org/pages/press/neighborlink.htm

NeighborLink Wireless (recently acquired by Inetvisions)
http://www.inetvisions.net/

Nevada, Missouri - Nevada Telecommunity. Smart Communities Profiles. Industry Canada, December 1999.
http://198.103.246.211/profiles/nevada_e.asp

Location(s)

ParkWiFi is a private-public partnership between the City of St. Louis Park (which owns the network), Unplugged Cities (which will operate and maintain the network and provide subscriber services), and ARINC (which will build the network).

Learn More:

St. Louis Park Resident’s Information Site
http://www.stlouispark.org/residents/wireless.htm

Park WiFi
http://www.parkwifi.com/

St. Louis Park, Minn. Approves Solar-Powered Wireless. Government Technology. November 10, 2006.
http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/102210

Location(s)

The City of Mountain View, the location of Google’s headquarters, was approached by Google to establish this no-cost (to the city and to users) wireless network. Google must pay the city for the use of streetlight poles and for all electrical utility and connection charges, which amount to approximately $12,600/year. Google hopes to use the Mountain View network as a testing ground and to show ground to show large municipalities that it can provide citywide Wi-Fi access.

Learn More:

Google Wins Approval to Give Home City Wi-Fi. Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service. November 17, 2005.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/11/17/googlewifi/index.php

Location(s)

The San Mateo Police Department (SMPD) uses a wireless broadband network to aid them in their duties. Before the wireless network, the SMPD, like most law enforcement agencies of its size, had used a mobile data radio system. While this was useful for computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and text-only incident information, this kind of system is slow (9.6 Kbps), much slower than dial-up. Access to a high speed network throughout the city saves police officers time, and trips back to headquarters, as they can now perform vital tasks such as report filing, database access, photo-lineup generation, and other investigative activities from Wi-Fi enabled PDAs and laptop computers while on the road. The SMPD has 35 patrol cars and more than 110 police officers.

Learn More:

Metro-Scale Wi-Fi for Public Safety. San Mateo Police Department. Tropos Networks Case Study. July 2007. www.tropos.com

Location(s)

The Lompoc, CA wireless network was built and is owned by the city. It provides both residential and business service. The city conducted a detailed study of the feasibility of a municipal broadband network before going forward with the project. The report (see below) is a valuable resource. It covers basic questions about broadband feasibility, such as: How risky is this for the city? Does wireless best help the goals of the city? Should the city deploy both fiber and wireless? Is there enough public demand to support such a network? The report also analyzes different technologies (fiber, wi-fi, etc.); proposes a conceptual design for the system; lays out a base business model for a network, including detailed financial projections (see end of report for the numbers); and describes various build-out scenarios. While this report is targeted to the context of the city of Lompoc, it may be a useful model for other communities considering feasibility studies, in terms of what factors the community might consider in such a study.

Learn More:

LompocNet
http://www.lompocnet.com/

McKibben Consulting (2003). Lompoc Broadband Services Feasibility Study. Chatsworth, CA. www.arrl.org/~ehare/bpl/final_report.pdf

City of Lompoc, California, Subcribes to Broadband Wireless Managed Service Platform from Siemens. Siemens Communications Inc.. March 7, 2007. http://www.bbwexchange.com/pubs/2007/03/07/page1423-485637.asp

Lompoc launches citywide wireless broadband network. Esme Vos. Muniwireless.com. March 23, 2005.
http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/4629/1/23/

Location(s)

St. Cloud built, operates, and maintains its municipal wireless broadband system called Cyber Spot. Free service is available for homes and businesses in St. Cloud. The network's construction costs, including first year operating costs, were $3.1 million, and were paid from the City's economic development fund. Estimated annual costs for ongoing operations, for which the city contracts with Hewlett-Packard, are $500,000 per year.

Learn More:

Cyber Spot – Frequently Asked Questions
www.freepress.net/docs/stcloudfaq.pdf

St. Cloud, Florida citywide Wi-Fi update: launch plus 10 days. Muniwireless.com. Esme Vos. March 21, 2006.
http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/5090/

St. Cloud ranked no. 1 metro Wi-Fi deployment. Esme Vos. January 26, 2007. http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/5581/1/23/

Tax rollbacks could endanger city Wi-Fi. Muniwireless.com. Carol Ellison. April 4, 2007. http://www.muniwireless.com/article/view/5862/

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)

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)

Tacoma’s Click! Network is a publicly owned and managed wholesale cable network. It is a project of Tacoma Power, the local power company. To provide broadband, the city wholesales its cable Internet service to three small local Internet Service Providers (Net-Venture, HarborNet, Advanced Stream), which provide service directly to consumers. Tacoma citizens can choose among Click!, Qwest, AT&T for broadband services. This competition has led to lower prices for Tacoma users as compared to users in neighboring regions.

Learn More:

Click! Network
http://www.click-network.com/

Cheaper Cable? Go to Tacoma: in Seattle, Rates Will Jump. Jane Hadley. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. May 29, 2002.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/72341_modem29.shtml

Location(s)

Technology: Wi-Fi, pre Wi-Max, Wi-Max

Azulstar provides wireless internet and voice services in Rio Rancho, NM, with a coverage target of 95% of the city. Azulstar is an up-and-coming wireless ISP, and is participating in the ambitious Wireless Silicon Valley Project. Rio Rancho is home to Intel’s largest manufacturing facility, and other high-tech companies. Azulstar has negotiated an agreement with the city that resembles a cable television franchise. The city gives Azulstar access to public right of way. In return, Azulstar provides wireless service, and pays a fee for being allowed to operate in the city. The fee is 3 percent of the gross after the company receives $100,000 gross per month, and once monthly revenues reach $500,000, the fee goes to 7 percent.

Learn More:

Azulstar
http://azulstar.com/

Azulstar rescues city Wi-Fi network in New Mexico. Loring Wirbel. EE Times. November 4, 2004. http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=OLY2TKLYXSO1CQSNDLRS...

New Mexico City Hopes for Wi-Fi Access by Christmas. Wayne Rash. E-Week. October 29, 2004. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1699517,00.asp

Rio Rancho: Citywide VoWi-Fi. Gerry Blackwell. Wi-Fi Planet. July 21, 2005. http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3521966

Azulstar Could Give EarthLink a Run for the Muni Market. Carol Ellison, May 25, 2007. http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/6033/1/3/