« Smart Growth Skepticism in Metro Atlanta | Main | The Dogma of Municipal WiFi »
February 10, 2006
Drowned-out WiFi
Not too long ago, I took my WiFi-enabled iPaq to Sugar Land (Tex.) Town Square. Given the Road to Paradise nature of this post-modern Houston exurb where I live, Town Square is a planned mixed-use development incorporating the new Sugar Land City Hall building, a Marriott Hotel, a smattering of condos, two dozen or so retail shops, pubs, a wine bar and the requisite Starbucks. In testimony to the changing nature of our communities, Town Square lies adjacent to the First Colony mega-mall and some three miles distant from the old Imperial Sugar refinery, around which the city was originally built.
Town Square is a popular hangout day and night. Sometime last year, the city government began free WiFi service. Best described as an amenity, coverage is pretty much limited to the pedestrian plaza around City Hall, but it certainly qualifies as an example of low-key “municipal wireless” that has been floated elsewhere.
So, in the interest of field research, I drove over, parked and ambled over to a bench and turned on my iPaq.
My handheld immediately detected six signals, defaulting to the hotspot at Starbucks, about 100 yards away. I also picked up a Marriott hot spot as well as a number of unprotected home networks from the nearby condos. My iPaq also detected the Sugar Land city’s WiFi service set identifier (SSID), but its signal strength was low and when I manually selected it, the connection was spotty and data speed slow. It was utterly useless.
I’ll grant that this is anecdotal, but is still raises an issue with public WiFi that I rarely see discussed by either side – that in high traffic areas municipal hotspots will overlap with numerous other free and for-pay hotspots. Laptops and handhelds may not always default to the city service. And even when a user can choose to connect, it may not be the best signal, even among the free connections.
This could create a problem for companies like EarthLink and U.S. Internet, which are winning municipal franchises and cozy right-of-way deals in return for commitments to cover entire cities. In Philadelphia, there EarthLink will be one just one more WiFi service available downtown and other high traffic areas such as airports, stadiums and shopping malls. The amount of traffic the EarthLink network (or any muni system) handles will depend on how often, in areas of multiple hotspots, roaming laptops and handhelds default to it, or make user selection a desirable alternative.
This is the essential difference between municipal WiFi “franchises” and other city franchises. EarthLink and U.S. Internet will have for-pay services but they still won’t have a monopoly. Yet they will still be committed to citywide coverage. The revenues and traffic they can capture in busy areas supposedly will fund the hotspots in outlying residential low-traffic areas, where they may indeed be the only provider. This presents a technical and marketing challenge. At least, the commercial players have the budgets.
One wonders further about cities that attempt WiFi themselves. In Sugar Land, the investment was probably not that high, but when the service is so poor compared to competing networks--free and paid--why spend the money at all? Municipal proponents were flummoxed when the city of Orlando, Fla., closed down its public WiFi system last year because low traffic loads did not justify the expense. The system was downtown in a city that serves as popular business and tourist destination. The service was free. What happened? Perhaps, like in Sugar Land Town Square, its signal was literally drowned out by other hotspots.
Posted by steve.titch at February 10, 2006 08:30 AM
I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but I don't care. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten58320 at January 26, 2007 03:43 PM
---
I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten6845 at January 27, 2007 04:34 AM
---
Not much on my mind these days, but what can I say? It's not important. I just don't have much to say lately. I've just been letting everything pass me by recently, but eh.
Comment by: Sten3119 at January 27, 2007 06:35 AM
---
I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten41424 at January 27, 2007 06:39 PM
---
I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten73644 at January 27, 2007 09:04 PM
---
I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.
Comment by: Sten87648 at January 28, 2007 04:01 AM
---
I haven't been up to anything recently, but so it goes. Such is life. What can I say? Pretty much not much exciting going on to speak of. I haven't gotten much done lately, but I don't care.
Comment by: Sten80896 at January 28, 2007 10:38 AM
---
I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but I don't care. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten73352 at January 29, 2007 02:19 AM
---
Not much on my mind lately. My life's been completely boring these days. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. So it goes.
Comment by: Sten88102 at January 30, 2007 07:43 AM
---
Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't been up to much these days. I just don't have much to say right now. I can't be bothered with anything , but whatever.
Comment by: Sten20426 at January 30, 2007 05:42 PM
---
I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently. I haven't gotten much done recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about.
Comment by: Sten63947 at January 30, 2007 09:39 PM
---
I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen. Whatever. Not much on my mind lately. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten77413 at January 30, 2007 10:14 PM
---
I haven't gotten anything done recently. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I haven't been up to anything these days, but it's not important. Today was a total loss.
Comment by: Sten55464 at January 31, 2007 07:15 AM
---
I just don't have anything to say right now. I haven't been up to anything recently, but it's not important. I've just been sitting around waiting for something to happen, but shrug.
Comment by: Sten3601 at February 1, 2007 05:31 AM
---
I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten53956 at February 1, 2007 08:19 AM
---
I haven't gotten anything done today. I feel like a fog, but what can I say? I've just been letting everything wash over me lately, not that it matters. Shrug.
Comment by: Sten40908 at February 1, 2007 12:28 PM
---
Not much on my mind lately. My life's been completely boring these days. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. So it goes.
Comment by: Sten46763 at February 2, 2007 07:19 AM
---
I've more or less been doing nothing worth mentioning, but eh. My life's been really bland today. I don't care. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten52084 at February 3, 2007 07:34 AM
---
I just don't have anything to say , but shrug. So it goes. Not much on my mind recently. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten90273 at February 3, 2007 11:17 AM
---
I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten3506 at February 3, 2007 05:01 PM
---
I just don't have much to say these days, but so it goes. Today was a total loss. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten78809 at February 3, 2007 09:35 PM
---
I just don't have anything to say. Not that it matters. Eh. I've just been staying at home doing nothing, but I don't care. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten94946 at February 4, 2007 03:19 AM
---
I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten45315 at February 4, 2007 04:48 PM
---
Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten50127 at February 5, 2007 10:15 AM
---
I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen. Whatever. Not much on my mind lately. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten67004 at February 5, 2007 07:08 PM
---
I've more or less been doing nothing worth mentioning, but eh. My life's been really bland today. I don't care. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten78504 at February 5, 2007 10:42 PM
---
Comments