The Seattle Times reports that a pilot program for neighborhood Wi-Fi access is erratic: A service launched five months ago to bring Internet access via Wi-Fi to two communities isn't working as expected. Demand is remarkably high for this kind of service, although quite low by other standards.
Fifty people a day on average use the network at four parks, and 231 per day in the busy University District. Columbia City saw just 27 users a day on average, but their network has performed the worst, the article says. The Columbia City network has been shut down, and the city has brought in a consultant.
I haven't heard stories of erratic performance of networks, but perhaps other cities aren't being as upfront about these problems. There's some expectation that these small area systems should work better than citywide wireless networks, and thus any reports of "interference" causing erratic problems are being looked at sharply.
However, Columbia City is considered historically disadvantaged and certainly has less Wi-Fi in the air than the bustling U District, not far from my home. The equipment comes from D-Link which has a relatively new outdoor business. Most of the citywide networks are using equipment from Tropos, which has offered ruggedized outdoor devices from the start.
Update: Local weekly The Stranger claims to have found this story first, and their article says that not only does the Columbia City Wi-Fi not work well--but all the equipment has been removed.
Updated update: Columbia City's management software has been reverted to an earlier version which the city's engineers expect will fix the problem.
A lot of people are working very hard to make this project a success and it will be in Columbia City and elsewhere.
Stay tuned...
Greg
Actually, D-Link has been making outdoor wireless products for some time now.
Here is a press release from 6/03
http://presslink.dlink.com/pr/?prid=97
[Editor's note: I don't mean to split hairs, because you're correct on the timeline. Rather, D-Link's primary line of business isn't selling gear that's largely intended to be operated outdoors. They have a good array of products, but it's one line. Tropos' focus has shifted to metropolitan/campus deployments, and through their integrators, they have a lot of experience. D-Link may now, too, but it's hard to see how given who is getting the contracts and what gear that's being deployed.--gf]
Keep in mind that this is a WDS network as opposed to a mesh so it's really not a apples-to-apples comparison.
In some situations, WDS makes sense.
Greg