April 2, 2005

Dayton’s Uniquely ‘Hot’ Wireless Initiative

By Joseph Kornowski
LexisNexis Product Planner

Among the nation’s few free municipal wireless Internet services, Dayton’s Hot City network embodies a unique partnership with other cities and private entities.

“This is the model that will sustain municipalities long-term,” says Bill Hill, the city’s director of information and technology services.

About 18 months ago, when wireless technology finally appeared ready for prime-time outdoor use, he approached the city about an economic development initiative to provide a wireless network. Officials agreed to help launch the pilot program but did not want to finance it with the city’s general fund.

It seemed unfair to use taxpayers’ money for what was supposed to be a truly free service, Hill says. His department couldn’t support the initiative and still provide other essential services for which it is responsible.

In the true spirit of technological and municipal innovation, Hill went looking for private-sector funding. He started with large Internet providers who offer proprietary broadband access within the city. Those providers, however, would have required wireless users to pay monthly subscriptions between $20 and $80. So he approached other local businesses he had worked with in the past.

He and the city reached an agreement with HarborLink, then a division of R.B. Tangeman Co. Inc., as well as P&R Communications Service Inc. and DONet Inc. Under the public-private partnership arrangement, HarborLink agreed to act as prime contractor, making the largest investment in the infrastructure, while P&R handled the installation and service of the radio units (the “access points” in the wireless network). DONet provided the backhaul access - the “pipe” - to the Internet.

In exchange for Harborlink’s significant investment - an amount company representatives do not disclose - the business will receive revenue from small ads it serves up on the wireless service. Ads appear on pop-up windows every 12 minutes “only if you click to change the stream,” Hill says. However, to minimize intrusion on the users’ experiences, ads will not emerge when people simply read or research a particular Web page.

Another first in this service model is what Hill calls a “me too” clause in the city’s contract with its private partners. It allows other cities in the area to sign onto the city’s contract and receive the same features and benefits as the Hot City service. “This allows entities to get into the game that otherwise wouldn’t be there,” he adds.

Hill stresses the service targets outdoor spaces, in part so that it does not conflict or compete with indoor wireless zones created by local businesses. By the same token, the city wants to allow businesses the opportunity to enable Hot City users to roam into the businesses’ proprietary systems.

The network’s current pilot program, offering wireless service in about 1 square mile downtown, will test the technology, coverage areas, placement of access points and the degree of user adoption. The city wants to “see if the model supports the volume,” Hill says. Also, the city will be looking to test the technology’s ability to facilitate city services.

If the pilot succeeds, the city may request proposals from all interested vendors to cover 55 square miles in Dayton. Additionally, the city may try to expand coverage right up to the edge of Dayton schools and college campuses, offering them the ability to take over the service for students and faculties. The pilot program may end Dec. 31 or sooner, Hill says.

Coverage – From Pilot to Pervasive

The service uses wireless local-area network (WLAN) technology, sometimes referred to as Wi-F i- (“Wireless Fidelity”) or 802.11 (the technical standard), whereby data is sent and received via high-frequency radio waves rather than cables or wires. This is the same technology that provides wireless access to patrons of coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and other public establishments in which people may retrieve e-mail, check news and sports scores, and browse the Web.

These stores, buildings, parks or schools are “hotspots” - islands of wireless coverage typically no larger than football fields but usually smaller. People who leave hotspots lose wireless connections, which is inconvenient for those needing the Internet while on the move. Still, the proliferation of wireless hotspots has driven the mainstream popularity of Wi-Fi access. The market research firm In-Stat/MDR forecasts that the number of hotspots will grow to more than 40,000 by the year 2007.

Dayton’s Hot City service is no mere hotspot; access to the wireless network is not limited to a particular building or park. The pilot phase of the city’s initiative will offer connectivity in an area of the Central Business District bordered on the north by the Great Miami and Mad rivers, on the west by I-75, on the south by the railroad tracks near Fifth Street, and on the east by Keowee Street. This includes the Oregon Business District, RiverScape, Fifth Third Field, Webster Station and the Tech Town area.

Eventually, however, Dayton’s wireless service aspires to offer coverage in “all 55 square miles of the city, all of the city for outdoor public spaces,” Hill says. This will make Dayton “the first city in Ohio to initiate citywide, edge-to-edge WiFi coverage,” according to the city’s press release.

A growing number of cities seek to provide expanding wireless coverage areas. Two types of initiatives include “wireless zones” and “wireless clouds,” says a December report by the University of Georgia’s Mobile Media Consortium titled Wireless Clouds and Zones: A Survey of Municipal Wireless Initiatives.

A wireless zone is an aggregation of hotspots covering a large area, such as a mall or a convention center, says the report, authored by Scott A. Shamp and Bailey White. Coverage gaps may exist inside the area.

Wireless clouds, however, “offer continuous coverage over a significant portion of a city’s or town’s geographic area usually using multiple hotspots,” the report says.

Dayton became a proud new cloud city this month. And the cloud, says the report, “is the most significant step toward ubiquitous and pervasive coverage to be found in the Wi-Fi® movement today.”

The study’s researchers surveyed 16 clouds and 38 zones throughout the United States. While 28 percent of the report’s cloud municipalities offered free wireless access, 40 percent of those clouds were financed by cities.

Dayton’s program is free to users and to taxpayers.

Here are some goals Dayton officials hope to achieve by offering wireless access:

• Enhance the community: Two city commissioners, Joey Williams and Matt Joseph, have been instrumental in making the wireless service a reality. Both have advocated strongly for using technology to enhance services and the quality of life for citizens.
• Develop the economy: Williams believes the service will make the city more competitive and “go a long way toward helping Dayton attract that creative class of people who will help fuel our community’s future success.”
• Bridge the digital divide: The city seeks to offer broadband Internet access to all its residents and visitors, including those who cannot afford such services. “Dayton is working to break down the barriers of the digital divide without burdening taxpayers in the process,” Mayor Rhine McLin says.
• Improve city services: Wireless technology could help the city by facilitating automated meter reading for gas and water services, automated vehicle location for improved routing of waste-disposal and snow-removal vehicles, and mugshot and fingerprint transmissions for public safety agencies, Hill says.