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June 7, 2007

Metro Round-Up: Minneapolis (Minn.), Smaller Cities' Lonely Pursuits

By Glenn Fleishman

Minneapolis’s Wi-Fi network’s first phase lights up: A section near the University of Minneapolis West Bank campus is running, with downtown coming as soon as next week. The rest of the city will be unwired by November. Unlike many other recent tests by local or national reporters, Steve Alexander of the Star-Tribune was able to get excellent service wherever he tried in the current coverage area, an improvement over his tests a few weeks ago.

Smaller cities must court vendors for wireless networks: As I have been hearing with increasing frequency, smaller cities that want Wi-Fi networks can’t count on having many bids arrive offering to bear the costs and risks. Instead, News.com reports from the MuniWireless conference, small communities may be shunted to local integrators and resellers for major brands, or have to build networks themselves. There just aren’t enough service providers in the business to deal with smaller towns, and there’s a greater focus on higher densities. You know, low-hanging fruit. A local corporation—as in a case cited by provider Azulstar—could anchor a town’s service by agreeing to buy services on a long-term basis.

Posted by Glennf at June 7, 2007 10:37 AM

Categories: Metro-Scale Networks, Municipal

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