All aboard muni WiFi

Industry Watch

Cities and towns throughout the US are climbing on the municipal WiFi bandwagon, connecting civil workers and citizens to the Internet. But can business users trust free services? A new municipal WiFi network is announced almost every week in the United States. From Anaheim and Arlington to Washington and Waukesha, local governments are looking to wireless technology as a way to connect public safety workers and government staff to back-office applications and to the Internet. According to Sam Lucero, senior analyst for wireless connectivity at ABI Research, they view it as more efficient than using legacy mobile data networks. “And once they start deploying these networks for essential use, they realize they can extend them to offer Internet access to their citizens,” adds Lucero. This is proving a boon to US net surfers who feel they have been short-changed by the broadband revolution. Despite an early lead in Internet usage, statistics on broadband penetration put the US behind other parts of the world. One of the reasons is a lack of competition: it is harder for alternative network providers to use incumbent infrastructure to break into the broadband market than it is in other countries. In addition, the country's vast geography prompts operators to choose the most economically advantageous spots for network build-out. So it’s not surprising that when local authorities extend WiFi coverage to consumers, many are viewing it as a credible alternative to DSL and cable modem services. Cities such as Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Orleans have attracted most attention for their metropolitan plans and the ensuing controversies, but it was actually smaller towns that started the bandwagon.

Small town, big vision Limited DSL availability and non-existent cable service prompted Cerritos, Los Angeles, to build one of the first publicized municipal WiFi networks. In so doing, the small city availed itself of better upstream speeds than those offered on existing wired networks. But even in well-wired cities like San Francisco, local governments want to make broadband internet access affordable for those people who cannot afford or are excluded from current commercial services for other reasons. There is no standard model behind each municipal WiFi deployment. Some places will make network access free, perhaps supporting it through advertising or sponsorships. Others have access fees but they are kept affordable: the 135-square-mile network in Philadelphia is being built by Earthlink which will sell its service to low-income residents at $10 a month, while others will pay just $20. In addition to servicing city workers with connectivity, Earthlink will also sell wholesale access to other ISPs and T1-replacement services to small businesses. Occasional use of the 1 Mbps symmetrical service will be available in one-hour, one-day or three-day packages and charged at around $4, $8 and $16 respectively. Certainly many cities hope these networks will boost business. As Earthlink's VP of Municipal Product Strategy & Marketing, Cole Reinwand, explains, "In Philadelphia, the city is hoping to leverage the WiFi network to address "brain drain". The availability of inexpensive, portable broadband makes Philadelphia a cool, technically savvy place to be." Whether a business user should rely on these networks is another question. Joel Pellegrin, Head of Mobility Marketing at Equant, says that business users will use municipal WiFi if it is convenient. “However, it may not support the security protocols like IPSec that allow secure access to corporate VPNs. Municipal WiFi may also not have been put through the same tests as "business class" WiFi networks included in an operator-supported directory, such as that included in Equant's Business Everywhere.” These could also require an additional fee, further to what the corporate user pays to his or her remote access provider.

Businesses want more not less "I am not convinced that municipal WiFi is the best solution for business people," says Svetlana Issaeva, Manager, Communications, Media, and Technology Research at Pyramid Research. "Yes, there will be successful WiFi networks and business travelers will definitely be using them but quite a few users will require 100% network and service availability, and a certain level of throughput, and that's not what cheap muni WiFi networks are supposed to provide." Earthlink's Reinwand counters this by saying that in Philadelphia, Earthlink will be introducing to the IEEE 802.11e enhancement later this year which will offer quality of service (QoS) features. "Earthlink's WiFi networks are highly secure. In fact, WiFi Net News suggests that Earthlink's security approach should be regarded as the "gold standard" in the industry. Security is of paramount importance to Earthlink in building a carrier-grade network." But municipal WiFi networks are networks for the outdoors. As Sam Lucero of ABI Research points out, "Coverage could potentially be poor indoors so in effect, business users could be stuck with the same WiFi hotspots they've been using in airports and business hotels". WiFi networks may well become a standard municipal service along with electricity and water, but they should be looked upon as useful for ad-hoc sessions rather than something to be depended upon for hassle-free, high-bandwidth and ubiquitous service.