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06.07
Wireless –
Everywhere Soon?
By George McClure
Few could foresee, when
radio-telephony was in its infancy, the extent
to which the mobile telephone (the name applied
when the electronics was so bulky that a vehicle
was required to carry it) would evolve into the
personal cell phone and then the revolution in
other applications for the service. When the
east European countries started breaking away
from the Soviet Union, they were eager for better
personal communications. A visitor to Hungary,
walking down the sidewalk, could peer into an
open Magyar manhole and marvel at how few
telephone cables there were underground. At that
time, a wire line telephone could take more than
a year to be installed in Budapest. Applications
for service were so valuable that they could be
inherited if the original applicant died.
In the United States, cell phone service
became a convenience for nearly everyone, from
elders who kept one in the automobile for use in
case of emergency, to teens who couldn't imagine
life without text messaging. A kidnapping was
thwarted when the quick-thinking teen being
abducted managed to send a photo of the license
plate of the vehicle, from her cell phone
camera. Cellular phone networks provide good
coverage and the cells have even been linked
into 911 emergency call systems, to triangulate
positions of mobile users. World-wide, there are
around 2.8 billion mobile phones in use, with
another 1.6 million being added daily, according
to The Economist.
A criticism leveled at the
United States
is that we do not have as high a level of
penetration for broadband service as nine other
countries do. Among the 30 OECD countries last
year, the United States had broadband reaching less that
20 percent of its population. Canada had 24
percent, while Denmark
and The Netherlands had over 30. [www.economist.com/markets/indicators/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9079991]
In January, Governor Eliot
Spitzer reported that “Here in New York, we face
a digital divide. If you’re a child growing up
in South Korea, your Internet access is ten
times faster at half the price than if you are a
child growing up in the Southern Tier or in the
South Bronx. New Yorkers on the wrong side of
the digital divide simply cannot compete in
today’s economy.”
The growth area is wireless
access to the Internet. Wi-Fi is now found in many public spaces and
has become a convenient way to extend home
networks. Intel encouraged the trend with Centrino chips in notebook PCs. Now Intel has
joined with Sprint Nextel to build a mobile
broadband network across the U.S. based on WiMAX
(worldwide interoperability for microwave
access). Intel’s goal is to make its WiMAX chips
the standard for the “4G” (fourth generation
network).
About 175 U.S. cities or regions have Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi operates in
unlicensed spectrum with data speeds around 1
megabit/second. WiMAX, conforming to the IEEE
802.16 standard, expands ranges up to 30 miles
and data transfer rates to 70 megabits/second.
There are four types of
city-wide municipal wireless:
-
operational — public use
only
-
commercial — make money and
aid low income users (not a concern here)
-
Entirely free — usually
fragile networks, supported by advertising, with growth as the incentive
-
Free service outside in
parks and transit stations, but sell service
to residents
Many municipalities have found
that Wi-Fi coverage (the IEEE 802.11 standard)
has enabled communications interoperability and
data access for their own employees, ranging
from police and fire protection to maintenance
crews and building inspectors. Some have
expanded civic services to permit residents to
use them, too, for their own convenience,
accessing the Internet and exchanging e-mail on
the move. St. Cloud, Florida, with 10,000
households, spent $3 million to build its Wi-Fi
network. Savings realized by the city government in using
it pay for the initial cost and operating
expense, so the service is offered to residents
for free. More than 4,000 have signed on for the
service.
A policy issue arises: should
governments offer communication services in
competition with private enterprise? Telcos and
cable companies think not. But Chaska, Minnesota
offers Internet service for $16.99 per month,
charged to the utility bill. About 25 percent of
its 8,500 households have subscribed [www.chaska.net].
A current debate surrounds a
Wi-Fi network in Toledo, Ohio, to be provided by
a California company. The cost to the city could
range up to $2.16 million over five years,
partly offset by advertising. The attraction is
for the city’s public safety departments –
police and fire – which will be able to download
data on the move. Residents will be able to get
Internet access for free, with advertising, or
for $19.95 per month without ads
[http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/NEWS16/706010394].
Is Internet access part of the
basic infrastructure needed to encourage
economic activity, like roads, bridges and
harbors, considered within the province of
government? Some cities think it is, and are
taking steps to provide it, usually where
telephone and cable companies are not filling
the need. They are supported by makers of chips
and wireless-enabled laptops who stand to
benefit through more sales. Big phone companies
oppose the trend, on the basis that cities
should not be allowed to subsidize high speed
Internet service — even where it is not yet
available privately. Some states have enacted
laws restricting government-sponsored wireless
service.
One pilot program was organized
by the city of Alexandria, Virginia, to meet the
needs of city employees and to include
Internet-access capacity available to residents
and businesses, by subscription [www.wirelessalexandria.com].
No public funds were involved. The network
launch is scheduled for the summer of 2007 [www.wirelessalexandria.com/alexwireless_bid.html].
The ambitious Wireless Silicon
Valley project has been delayed; test areas in
San Carlos and Palo Alto are not yet up and
running, owing to system complexity. The variety
of services planned include automated gas and
water meter readers, public safety webcams, and
real-time traffic information for vehicles [www.jointventure.org].
A system for Lampoc, California,
(population: 42,000) near Vandenberg AFB, has
not lived up to expectations in its first year.
It needs 4,000 subscribers to begin repaying
utility loans, but only a few hundred have
signed up [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MUNICIPAL_WIRELESS_WOES?SITE=INRIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT].
But the bigger trend (than
government investment) is for private investors
to build and run the network, taking a risk in
expectation of a return on their investment [www.muniwireless.com/article/view/6028/].
However, the biggest player in that field,
Earthlink, is rethinking its position after a
$30 million quarterly loss. It concludes now
that it needs 2,500 subscribers per square mile,
requiring 15 to 20 nodes, and that the likely
return is closer to 15 percent than to the 20-25
percent estimated earlier [www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9244199].
Delayed again is a plan for free
Wi-Fi access across San Francisco, courtesy of a
venture backed by Google and Earthlink. This is
the only system Google has become involved in,
with the expectation that it will reap favorable
publicity. The mayor, up for reelection, would
like a signed deal, but the Board of Supervisors
is delaying that. Asked about a backup plan, the
mayor says there is none (if Earthlink pulls
out) [www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/6025/1/23/].
Equipment suppliers are focusing
on 4G technologies, WiMAX and IMS (IP Multimedia
Subsystem), expecting that consumer demand will
grow to include mobile video.
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) has
introduced the Wireless Innovation Act of
2007. It would permit the use of so-called
“white space” in the analog TV band to be turned
over to wireless use. His bill covers some prime
spectrum real estate and would permit the
"unlicensed, nonexclusive use" of frequencies
between 54 MHz and 698 MHz — channels 2 through 13
on the VHF dial and 14 through 51 on UHF — for
wireless Internet service. The bill had been
introduced in the previous session, but never
got out of committee. The frequencies should be
available by February 2009. [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070322-bill-would-open-up-tv-white-space-for-wireless-internet.html]
Details on Alexandria municipal
wireless network [www.wirelessalexandria.com]:
Acknowledgement: Assistance
provided by Pike & Fischer: “Municipal
Broadband:
The Economics, Politics and Implications,” July
2006. Silver Spring, Md.
www.broadbandadvisoryservices.com
George McClure is a member of IEEE-USA's
Communications Committee, a member of the
IEEE-USA Career and Workforce Policy Committee,
and technology policy editor for IEEE-USA
Today's Engineer.
Comments may
be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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