Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nation's First City-Wide WiFi Network Completed

Posted by timothy on from the depends-who's-defining-things dept.

According to a reader rockwellpa, Grand Haven, Michigan has recently completed the United States' first truly city-wide WiFi nework. According to the press release, "Other cities have announced intent to build similar networks or have announced partial deployments; in contrast, the Grand Haven implementation, by Ottawa Wireless Inc., is the first full and complete city-wide WiFi deployment in the country. 'As the first WiFi city in America, Grand Haven has truly lived up to its name in the Internet era, as we now allow anyone anywhere to connect to the Internet and roam the city and waterways in a completely secure computing environment'"

18 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. How does this affect local ISP? by rice0067 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the idea of city wide WIFI is nice, but how is it paid for? Do people still have cable modem at home? (or that silly phone line thing)
    With whole city wifi.. will people even use land lines for home telephone?

    1. Re:How does this affect local ISP? by Kphrak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would be against this sort of thing being provided by the local government. This is not the purpose of government.

      The local government is actually the perfect place for it if enough people in the city actually want it. There is nothing wrong with a small government, participated in at a local level, voting for a convenience for the city.

      Of course, the above is in a perfect world. City governments are often owned by special interests such as corporations, or even a local mafia -- both of whom try to get the voted-on service outsourced to themselves. In my city, the local city council often votes for the most expensive and least useful things it can get (right now, for instance, there's a movement to get a major league baseball team, and a multi-billion-dollar project to bury all the reservoirs in a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 just got cancelled -- but not after spending 4 million dollars on preparation for it). It really depends on how involved the citizens of the city were in the decision.

      --

      There's no sig like this sig anywhere near this sig, so this must be the sig.
  2. Releasing viruses into the wild... by NeoGeo64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This town will soon become a favorite stop for people looking to anonymously release viruses into the wild.

  3. LOL by Beuno · · Score: 5, Funny

    "completely secure computing environment". Hahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha... *whipes tears*

  4. Is it me, or is this service really... by iammaxus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... slow. If you go to http://www.ottawawireless.net/services/pricing.htm l, you see that they offer 256kbps for regular users. That's only about 5 times dialup. With modern websites, that really doesnt cut it.

  5. Breaking monopoly by usefool · · Score: 3, Informative

    always-on broadband Internet starts at $19.99 for 256 kbps, and unlimited mobile VoIP calling is $29.99

    In countries where there is only one telo, this kind of deployment might be one way to get around the telephone grid and compete in the once-me-only market.

    --
    Uselessful technology (Air-Charged
  6. Not True by JonahDark1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Aspen Colorado had the first city-wide WiFi Network running in 1997. It was a private network built by Sun Microsystems. It was running 802.11 (not a/b/g) at 2Mbps.

  7. No Kidding! by DaedalusLogic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't it inherently insecure since the public can access it? What are they going to do... register MAC addresses of adapters? What are they going to do when those are spoofed? I think that wide ranging public access to the internet via 802.11 anything is a bad idea. Is anyone else with me on this? What's the motivation for doing this to an entire town?

  8. Haven for Computer Crime by iendedi · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other news, Grand Haven, Michigan has been experiencing an unusually large growth rate in specialty computer stores, comic book stores and other geeky novelty stores. Asked about this unusual growth, mayor Gaven Hrand replied, "We don't understand it either, but we have noticed that most of the operators of these stores know each other and lug around quite a bit of equipment when they aren't watching their shops."

    On an unrelated but also interesting note, the FBI recently decided to place a district office in Grand Haven, citing the nice weather.

    --

    It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
  9. Network Neighborhood? by moankey · · Score: 4, Funny

    So how many computers will be cached up in my network neighborhood under "Workgroup" or "MSHome"?

  10. Not so fast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in Chaska Minnesota and we have had city run wifi internet access for a few months now. It's run by the City and it costs $15.99 a month. If you'd like more information, check out http://www.chaska.net/

  11. Not even the second by voidref · · Score: 3, Informative

    Half Moon Bay, in California was had this at least a year ago, and there was even a story on the Science Channel about it!

  12. Re:Public Access Locations by Syncrou · · Score: 5, Informative

    They attached them to telephone poles across the city. They're hoping to widen the range over the next couple of years. One cool thing: You can surf the web in your boat off the coast of Lake Michigan. I forget how far off the beach, but I want to try it.

  13. Free as in.... by microcars · · Score: 3, Informative
    "...Monthly prices for always-on broadband Internet starts at $19.99 for 256 kbps, and unlimited mobile VoIP calling is $29.99.
    Connections up to 1 Mbps and per-day pricing options are also available."

    RTFA

    --
    I like microcars
  14. Re:Vague press release by scottking · · Score: 3, Informative

    this answered a lot of the questions i had...http://www.walkersands.com/Grand-Haven-WiFi- FAQ.htm what kinda web publisher puts the FAQ at the top, above the title in "ad space"?

    makes it very skippable.

    --
    scott king
  15. Re:Public Access Locations by wayward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Illinois also gets snow, though not as much as Michigan, so our community wireless project makes a point of waterproofing nodes. The card is enclosed in a really tough container, and they're using a combination of electrical tape and plumbers goo to waterproof the connections.

  16. Re:Dear moderators by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not to mention he posted it just to show his GroupShares spam ad.

    artlu@artlu.net

    Eric Karch
    eric.karch@lawyer.com
    1221 Brickell Ave. Suite 900
    Miami, FL 33131
    (305) 377 8767 (FAX)

    Heh, the IP his site resolves to reverse-resolves to some Miami bail bonds company.

    Of course, seeing as how the company is in Florida, it would not be wise for anyone to do business with stock scam artists.

  17. First? Not even close... by kennybain · · Score: 3, Informative

    I see the post referencing my deployments in LA & TX - thanks Entity1633. Actually - not to toot my own horn, there are several towns in this region of the US that have city-wide WiFi. In addition to the TWO citywide Fastline http://www.fastlineinternet.com/ networks that have been running for over a year now(Vivian, LA & Linden, TX) another group NETWI http://www.netwi.org/ has deployed city-wide WiFi across Queen City & Atlanta, Texas. NETWI are working on other cities in East Texas. In addition, there are at least three other WISP's in this region actively deploying citywide WiFi. All of us use LocustWorld software & off-the-shelf hardware. Still, I applaud these guys. What they have done is to be commended.