Free, municipally run Wi-Fi Internet access will become a permanent fixture in New Orleans, according to Mayor Ray Nagin, who announced plans to cover the entire city with a Wi-Fi mesh network within a year.
“We are among the first cities to feature a citywide wireless network, and that’s especially important to the recovery of our community,” Nagin said. “Now, with a single step, city departments, businesses and private citizens can access a tool that will help speed the rebuilding of New Orleans into a better, safer and stronger city. This is how technology fuels collaboration, allowing our best ideas to come together so we can speak with one voice.”
In a statement, the city explained that its plans call for two systems to run on the same wireless infrastructure. One network would be available only to city departments, including police, fire, emergency medical services, public works and safety and permits. Another network would be available for residents and businesses.
For the duration of the city’s state of emergency, the wireless network’s bandwidth would be limited to 512 kilobits per second, but according to Louisiana state law, the bandwidth must be lowered to 128 Kbps once the emergency is declared over.
Most of the equipment for the Wi-Fi network already has been donated by Intel Corp., Tropos Networks Inc., Pronto Networks Inc. and other companies. The city said it plans to purchase additional networking equipment.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast region in late August, the city said it had installed a wireless mesh network for crime surveillance and security along St. Charles Avenue during the city’s famed Mardi Gras and JazzFest celebrations.
Today a Wi-Fi mesh network provides free Internet access in the Central Business District, the French Quarter and the Warehouse District. Officials from the city’s Department of Safety and Permits use the network to file permit-related inspection reports on storm-damaged homes at the rate of about 3,000 per day. The city said the next areas to be covered with Wi-Fi are Algiers and the St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street corridors.
RCR Wireless News reported in early November that there are also at least two pre-WiMAX networks up and running in New Orleans. The pre-WiMAX networks were installed for free by a handful of companies to aid with the hurricane recovery effort. The future of the pre-WiMAX networks is unclear.
According to city officials, only about 10 percent of the city’s 500,000 residents have returned since Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city, destroying entire neighborhoods and much of the city’s telecommunications infrastructure. The Federal Communications Commission reported that Hurricane Katrina took out 2.8 million phone lines, more than 420,000 cable-TV connections and cable Internet connections and at least 1,600 cell-phone towers in Louisiana and Mississippi.
While other cities have announced plans to blanket themselves with Wi-Fi networks, none have moved plans along as quickly as hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
Philadelphia chose Internet service provider Earthlink Inc. to build and manage its 135-square mile Wi-Fi network, which plans to offer wireless Internet access to Philadelphians for between $10 and $20 per month, depending on their income levels. San Francisco is still in the bidding process for its Wi-Fi network, with Google Inc. offering to build and manage the network free of charge for the city, as well as providing its residents with free Internet access.
Other cities have announced plans to offer municipal Wi-Fi networks, including Anaheim, Calif.; Milwaukee; Portland, Ore.; and Tempe, Ariz.
