NEW ORLEANS—The Big Easy’s municipal Wi-Fi network may go private to sidestep growing legal pressures from BellSouth Corp. and the Louisiana state government.
Though the company and the city have not confirmed the reports, EarthLink Inc. is rumored to be in talks with New Orleans city officials to take over and expand the city’s Wi-Fi network.
According to an Internet posting, EarthLink is applying for the required licensing to provide a 15-square mile zone of free wireless access at 300 kilobits per second for residents, and a commercial 1-megabit per second service for the city’s municipal and business users, which will likely cost about $20 per month.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the city had installed a wireless mesh network for crime surveillance and security. After Katrina, the city’s Chief Technical Officer Greg Meffert put the mesh network to work as a free communications tool for those who needed it. For the duration of the city’s state of emergency, the wireless network’s bandwidth would be limited to 512 kbps, but according to Louisiana state law, the bandwidth must be lowered to 128 kbps once the emergency is declared over.
Meffert and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin say BellSouth, through telecom lobbyists, is pushing for legislative measures to shut down the Wi-Fi network. Meffert maintains that the network has become the communications lifeline of the city, and he says he will not shut it down.
BellSouth says its Wi-Fi strategy is being portrayed unfairly by media reports. “Contrary to what has been reported, BellSouth is not trying to shut down the City of New Orleans’ Wi-Fi system,” stated Merlin Villar, director of external affairs at BellSouth.
