Wi-Fi

Feasibility Report on Free Wi-Fi in the Fox Cities Area XXX July 30, XXX Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………..iv Introduction………………………………………………………………...1 Coverage Area……………………………………………………………...2-3 Technology………………………………………………………………....4-7 Price………………………………………………………………………...8-9 Benefits……………………………………………………………………..10 Limitations and Cautions…………………………………………………...11 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….12 Works Cited………………………………………………………………….13-14 Executive Summary Free wireless Internet is the way of the future. By creating a free wireless network it brings in tech savvy citizens, generating business in the technology sector, eating a more accessible government-citizen relationship for example and keep the area competitive compared to its neighbors. The Fox Cities area is made up of 11 communities: the City of Appleton, both the Cities and Townships of Kaukauna, Menasha, and Neenah, the Villages of Combine Locks, Kimberly, and Little Chute and the Town of Grand Chute. This area has a combine square mileage of 73.0 and a population of 190,915 people. The technology that is being used in the set up wireless networks is a mesh (mixture) network of Wi-Fi and WiMAX. WiMAX mixed with a Wi-Fi network is a very viable option in this area due to the urban sprawl that has taken place. The Wi-Fi wireless Internet is the more familiar type of Internet while WiMAX is a newer technology that has expanded range and faster Internet speeds compared to Wi-Fi. The best way to deploy the wireless network is to gain proposals from Internet providers such as EarthLink and MetroFi. This has worked very well for communities because it allows them to provide free wireless Internet to its citizens with having limited to no costs to the community. The provider takes on all risk but makes a profit through ad-supported wireless Internet or no ads but the customer must pay a small fee for the service. Introduction What would it be like to go to your favorite park and have free Internet on your laptop' Now just image a whole city having this capability. Well some area are now experience this giving them the leisure of having the ability of a flexible work environment attracting tech savvy citizens to the area. It is call a Wi-Fi Hotspot and it may not be so hard to put in place. A Wi-Fi Hotspot can be made of either Wi-Fi or WiMAX technology and gives either paid or free Internet service for consumers use. In the following report the Fox Cities area will be defined, the technology to be deployed will be explained, price will explored, and benefits, limitations and cautions will explained. Coverage Area In order for the project to go forward an area of coverage has to be defined. Since there are many conjoining communities around Appleton, the area should include the major cities that touch it to give it a great affect on the community as a whole. The area is to include: • City of Appleton • Both City and Township of Kaukauna • Both City and Township of Menasha • Both City and Township of Neenah • Village of Combine Locks • Village of Kimberly • Village of Little Chute • Town of Grand Chute This gives the presumed area a population of 190,915 people (Fox Cities Economic Development) and a total square mileage of 73.0 sq miles (City-Data.com). Projections of the area give a population for 2010 of 195,805 people and by 2020 of 210,991 people (Figure 1). This means that the Fox Cities area as one of the largest and fastest growing urban centers in Wisconsin. Figure 1: Breakdown of the Fox Cities Area 1990 Census 2000 Census 2006 Percent Change 2000-2006 Projection 2010 Projection 2020 Square Miles 2007 Fox Cities Area Total 164,505 181,001 190,915 5.50% 195,805 210,991 73.0 City of Appleton 65,695 70,087 72,004 2.70% 75,396 79,534 20.9 City of Kaukauna 11,982 12,983 14,515 11.80% 15,081 16,890 6.2 City of Menasha 14,711 16,331 17,282 5.80% 17,443 18,460 5.3 City of Neenah 23,219 24,507 25,430 3.80% 25,845 26,695 8.2 Village of Combined Locks 2,190 2,422 2,868 18.40% 2,862 3,174 1.5 Village of Kimberly 5,406 6,146 6,414 4.40% 6,576 6,794 1.9 Village of Little Chute 9,207 10,476 10,955 4.60% 11,467 12,475 4.1 Town of Grand Chute 14,490 18,392 20,425 11.10% 22,136 26,208 24.9 Town of Kaukauna 939 1,142 1,226 7.40% 1,306 1,471 Included in the city of Kaukauna Town of Menasha 13,975 15,858 17,005 7.20% 17,693 19,290 Included in city of Menasha Town of Neenah 2,691 2,657 2,791 5.00% 2,802 2,869 Included in city of Neenah Source: City-Data.com Technology Wi-Fi Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity and is used to define any of the wireless technology in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11 standard. The IEEE regulates radio-transmitting frequencies that are used by different wireless devices. When using Wi-Fi technology the user connects wirelessly to a base station that provides the link to the Internet or other type of network (Figure 2). The base station is set on cities street light poles to allow for discrete and strategic deployments of the base unit (Figure 3). Figure 2: How Wi-Fi Works Source: University Co-Operative Bookshop Limited Figure 3: Wi-Fi Antenna Source: Harris. The preferred 802.11 protocols in use are 802.11b or 802.11g. Both 802.11b/g run at 2.4GHz frequency spectrum while 802.11b uses a bandwidth of 11Mbps and 802.11g uses a bandwidth of 54 Mbps (Palm Inc.). WiMAX WiMAX stands for World Interoperability for Microwave Access is based on the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.16 standard. In practical terms, WiMAX operate similar to WiFi but at higher speeds, over greater distances and for a greater number of users (Figure 4). A WiMAX system consists of two parts: • A WiMAX tower, similar in concept to a cell-phone tower - A single WiMAX tower can provide coverage to a very large area, as big as 3,000 square miles (Figure 5). • A WiMAX receiver - The receiver and antenna could be a small box similar to a wireless router, a PCMCIA card that is similar to the ones plugged into the sides of laptops, or they could be built into a laptop the way WiFi access is today (Figure 6 [Intel Corporation]). Figure 4: How WiMAX Works Source: Intel Corporation Figure 5: WiMAX Tower Source: Grabianowski and Brain Figure 6: Lower Right is a Receiver; Upper Left is a PCMCIA card Source: ZyXEL The distinction between WiFi and WiMAX is speed and coverage distances. WiFi has a typical bandwidth of 11MBps bandwidth in comparison to WiMAX can have a bandwidth of up to 75MBps or greater. The coverage distances also differ to a great extent. A Wi-Fi hotspot typically covers a few hundred feet radius whereas a WiMAX can cover distances measured in miles. In Fox Cities area the preferred method is to use a mesh (mixture between) of Wi-Fi and WiMAX due to the urban sprawl that has taken place. There are relatively few people in such a large area making a complete Wi-Fi system unpractical due to the amount of Wi-Fi routers need to provide proper coverage. The only downfall due to WiMAX is such a new technology many users may need to upgrade their systems to handle the new 802.16 standard. Price This maybe a great idea but citizens are going to want to know what the price is going be. The surprising thing about this great technology is that it can all be brought to the citizens with a price tag of free, no tax dollars and no or very limited cost to the city itself. This is done through gathering proposals from Internet providers like EarthLink and MetroFi. These two organizations are willing to take control of the costs but provide ad-supported free Internet in place. In doing this the companies take all the revenue from service, subscriptions and advertising. The reason for this type of arrangement is the belief that if the service provider shoulders all of the cost and risk of building and operating the network, then it should keep the revenue that is received from it. Example 1 is EarthLink. EarthLink would pay the city of San Francisco $2 million over four years for the right to build, own and maintain the network. Subscribers would pay $22 a month for 1 megabit per second of broadband service or receive free service with speeds topping out at 300 kilobits per second (Kopytoff and Kim). Example 2 is MetroFi. MetroFi provides free wireless Internet service at speeds of up to 1 Mbps downstream / 256K upstream with no contracts, no fees, and no hassles. They already have part if not all of these cities cover: • In California: Concord, Cupertino, Foster City, Riverside, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale • In Illinois: Aurora • In Oregon: Portland MetroFi runs the wireless networks with the following in mind: • You don't have to download any software, just check for availability of the MetroFi service in your area and register. • You must have a Wi-Fi enabled PC. • You can use the MetroFi Free Service indoors, outdoors, and throughout your community. • Business travelers, students and community visitors are also welcome to use MetroFi. • MetroFi is free to use. Online advertising supports the expenses to provide the service. • If you do not wish to view online advertising, you can subscribe to a fee based service $19.95 per month. The way the advertising works is that the users who access the free Internet service will see a variety of online ads while accessing the Internet. MetroFi places great value on your privacy. Your personal information will not be shared with third parties. MetroFi will share general demographic information about its subscribers to online advertisers to provide targeted online ads; no personal details are revealed. In addition, MetroFi will not download any software, including cookies onto your computer (MetroFi). Benefits • “Anywhere, anytime” mobile Internet access. It gives citizens the ability to have a more flexible work environment. Just image being able to go to a favorite park and being able to do what ever type of work that needing to be done there while enjoying the outdoors. • Attract the tech savvy citizen to the area. This is another way to sell the area as being different. • Allows valuable access to local business that can help with sales and marketing of the company. • Increased business in the technology business sector. People will purchase new equipment to gain access to this new resource, increasing sales to existing technology firms or creating new firms to meet the demand. • Creation of a better-educated society. • Gives citizens an expense break. • Gives local government another means of staying in constant contact. Local government officials can meet in person with individuals and send the information back to the home station. • It is a building block toward a more accessible government-citizen relationship. Limitations and Cautions • Users need to have knowledge of how to use and connect to the Internet and have a computer with the capabilities to connect to a wireless Internet. • Problems with connectivity. Wireless routers may need to be purchased to boost strength within homes. • Issues with local Internet providers. They will try everything in their power to stop this from happening. • Legality issue may emerge whether municipalities can help in provide a free Wi-Fi network. Regulatory issues are emerging in several municipalities vis-à-vis the ongoing debate as to whether municipalities are able to offer free Wi-Fi. At the core is the argument that it is an anti-competitive maneuver by local councils. • Security issues. Hackers and viruses may shutdown networks for times or retrieve sensitive data from other users of the network. Conclusion The choice of keeping the Wi-Fi network to the City of Appleton, both the Cities and Townships of Kaukauna, Menasha, and Neenah, the Villages of Combine Locks, Kimberly, and Little Chute and the Town of Grand Chute keeps the total area down to only 73 square miles while still touching a population of 190,915 people. This limits the urban sprawl, which should help in drawing proposals from Internet providers. The use of a mesh (mixture) network of Wi-Fi and WiMAX technologies will provide a blank wireless coverage to the Fox Cities area. The wireless network is done through gathering proposals provided by Internet providers who take up the set up costs, maintenance cost and operating cost of the network at limited or no cost to the citizens or the city. It may sound too good to be true but there are cities already out there with this technology in place just look to the south in Illinois where Aurora has a free Wi-Fi community and many more communities are looking into it. Just imagine free Internet for the Fox Cities area. Works Cited City-Data.com. (2007) Davison, Peter. Wireless Internet. (2005) Fox Cities Economic Development. (2007) Grabianowski, Edward and Marshall Brain. How WiMAX Works. (December 2, 2004) Harris, Blake. Tempe, Arizona: First U.S. Citywide Public Access Wi-Fi. (December 1, 2006) Intel Corporation. WiMAX Broadband Wireless Technology Access. (2007) Kopytoff, Verne and Ryan Kim. Google offers S.F. Wi-Fi -- for free: Company's bid is one of many in response to mayor's call for universal online access. (October 1, 2005) MetroFi. (2007) Palm Inc. What is Wi-Fi technology, and how do I connect to Wi-Fi HotSpots' (April 24, 2007) University Co-Operative Bookshop Limited. (2006) ZyXEL. New ZyXEL WiMAX portfolio to replace the need for BT landlines and challenge 3G adoption. (November 20, 2006)