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County-Wide Wireless To Be Deployed in Michigan

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the washtenaw-rePREsent dept.

alien88 writes "Late last week, the Washtenaw County Board approved Wireless Washtenaw Advisory Board's recommendation of 20/20 Communications to cover the entire county with wireless by the end of 2007. This includes Ann Arbor, the home of University of Michigan and future home of Google's Adwords division. The wireless network will be free for speeds up to 85kbps and $35/month for 500kbps. 20/20 Communications estimates it will take around 6,000 radios to cover the county.

This initiative is being funded without taxpayer dollars and is one of the most ambitious wireless deployments in the U.S. Will it succeed or will it fail? Check out the county's wireless website for updates on the project." Of course, the real reason this is worth posting is it's because this is the county where Rob, myself and a number of the others live.

4 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Washtenaw's neighbor, Oalkand County tried this.. by bensafrickingenius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    and the telcos used their lobbying dollars to CRUSH the effort. Good luck Washtenaw!

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    I am not left-handed, either!
  2. Wireless in other states? by Kranfer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am a HUGE fan of the county/city wide wireless programs that are popping up all over the U.S. And Canada. While I do love this, I do have a few reservations. One reason why I do not live out where I want to (The Catskills in NY) is I cannot get broadband service without paying a huge amount of money. However, I am wondering how well a system like this would work in a mountainous area such as the Adirondacks or the Catskill Plateau... Does anyone have any information on a town/county/state implmenting a wireless network over ruggard terrain to reach the rural people where wireless might be blocked by hills, mountains etc? I would be very interested to see how something like this would be put into good use.

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    -- Josh
    "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me!" - Pete Conrad
  3. A naive question by LaughingCoder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps someone out there knows the answer to this ... if I were to fly over this region would I (briefly) be able to access the internet from my laptop? If the Access Points have miles of range, does that range extend *up* as well as *out*? Just curious. And of course, by extension, as more and more cities roll these things out, will we have access to the net wherever we fly? Assuming the answer to my question is yes, could this begin to impact airplane design (especially small planes), by assuming net access? Planes could report their position (on board GPS tells them where they are, then they use the wireless net to communicate to "Air Traffic Controller" servers, which could then send back flight instructions). Just a few random thoughts for a Monday morning ...

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    The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
  4. Re:Ann Arbor was always ahead of the game. by bensafrickingenius · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Merit is still a HUGE Internet (and Internet2) player in Michigan and surrounding states. Check out their newest (well, coolest-newest) project here: http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0508&L=msunag &D=1&T=0&O=D&P=131. I'd love to set up a LAN party on that baby!

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    I am not left-handed, either!