BOSTON—Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston unleashed the city’s wireless initiative today, announcing that a square-mile Wi-Fi network is being built in Roxbury’s Gove Hall and Dudley Square neighborhoods.
Menino also unveiled two public hot spots, one in the city’s Quincy Market neighborhood, the other in the North End’s Columbus Park area.
“We said we would move quickly and we have,” said Mayor Menino. “The Boston Wireless Initiative is up and running.”
City officials confirmed that the Quincy Market hot spot will provide service throughout the marketplace area and will also cover the area around City Hall Plaza. Two companies, Galaxy Internet Services and SkyPilot, donated the service and equipment.
The Columbus Park hot spot is the result of a collaboration among Verizon Communications Inc., Cisco Inc., the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the Boston Parks Department. The task force said its aim is to bridge the area’s “digital divide” while at the same time jump-starting economic growth. The business model relies on a nonprofit entity to build the citywide wireless system, providing a wholesale network open to any Internet service provider with service expected to cost $10 to $15.
According to Menino, the Roxbury demonstration project will cover about one square mile and will reach about 5,000 households. The service, which will be 25 times faster than dial-up, will initially be offered free but eventually will move to the fee-based structure envisioned by the task force.
Four companies have agreed to donate time and service to the Grove Hall and Dudley Square project: BelAir Networks will provide Wi-Fi mesh radio nodes, antennas and other equipment; MetroNext Inc. will provide the network’s Internet backhaul connection; GigaBeam Corp. will provide radio equipment for Internet backhaul traffic; and Charys will install and operate the network. In addition, Galaxy and US Internet have agreed to be retail ISPs for the demonstration project.
The city said equipment is set to be installed later this year.
