No strings attached

EVERETT – This former mill town turned all-America city may soon enjoy something few cities in the country can boast: free, wireless Internet access everywhere within its borders.

Photo illustration by Dan Bates / The Herald

Free citywide access would make all of Everett a wireless hot spot.

City Councilman Drew Nielsen, who sparked a discussion of the possibility at the council’s annual retreat early this month, said the city could decide whether to pursue municipal Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, within 30 days.

“This would tell people something they may not realize: that Everett is very technologically capable,” Nielsen said.

By year’s end, everyone with a wireless-enabled computer in the city could have access to high-speed Internet service – completely free.

“From the standpoint of what the city has to do to get it up and running, it isn’t all that complicated,” said Nielsen, who discovered MetroFi, a municipal Wi-Fi company, at a conference last year.

Unlike some city programs, where only downtown business districts or parks have wireless capability, MetroFi focuses on residential users.

Someone with a wireless-enabled laptop could pull up MapQuest.com for directions while stopped at a traffic light. Grand Avenue Park in north Everett could become an alternative work site for computer users on a warm afternoon.

Everett residents who currently pay anywhere from $10 for dial-up Internet service to $50 or more for broadband service could use MetroFi’s Wi-Fi service for free. Those who frequent local hot spots, or wireless access points, as an alternative to residential Internet service could surf the Web at home.

Knowing what he knows about what MetroFi could do for Everett, Nieslen believes that if the city acted quickly, it could be part of a new wave in technology.

City Council President Brenda Stonecipher recently named Nielsen chairman of the council’s technology committee.

Stonecipher, Nielsen and Councilman Ron Gipson, the third member of the committee, will discuss the city’s next step on Tuesday. Nielsen said the committee will likely investigate MetroFi and other companies that offer municipal Wi-Fi.

Cutting the cord

MetroFi, a 4-year-old Silicon Valley startup based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is quickly gaining a lead in the race to cut the cord on America’s cities.

In December, MetroFi launched Wi-Fi in its hometown. The service – the first of its kind in the nation – is free to city government and residents.

The company rented streetlights and telephone poles throughout the city for $36 a year. Each pole was fitted with wireless components that provide a service range of about 250 feet.

The service is free because businesses advertise in banners that constantly flank the computer user’s screen. Discriminating users can opt out of the advertising for $19.95 a month. About a third of the 24-square-mile city has wireless access; the rest is expected to get the service in the coming months.

“It’s something that’s important for our residents, as well as for businesses and economic development,” Sunnyvale spokesman John Pilger said. “It definitely gives us an advantage.”

MetroFi also provides paid Wi-Fi to the nearby cities of Santa Clara, Cupertino and Mountain View, where free service will soon be available. The company is a finalist to provide free service in Portland, Ore., and is discussing its product with Plano, Texas.

Late last year, Google announced a plan to launch wireless access in Mountain View, the search engine’s 12-square-mile hometown. MetroFi CEO and co-founder Chuck Haas said the two providers’ services will overlap; MetroFi’s contracts are not exclusive.

“The beauty of the MetroFi approach is there’s no cost to the city,” Haas said. “The residents get free wireless Internet access, and local businesses have a new advertising medium to reach their customers.”

Mayor isn’t sold yet

Free citywide Wi-Fi seems almost too easy, and that gives Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson pause.

“If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is,” he said. “My sense is that there would be public benefit, but at what cost?”

If a company such as Verizon approached the city to rent space for wireless transmitters, Stephanson said the city would welcome it, as it would any business. Stephanson worked for Verizon for 30 years.

The Everett Police Department is already on the cutting edge of technology, the mayor said. A dozen patrol cars are wireless-equipped, and five more will be added this year.

As far as citywide wireless goes, Stephanson said it could take a year or more to assess the possibilities.

Wi-Fi goes nationwide

A handful of cities provide hot spots for a limited amount of time, usually in a business district or park. Others charge residents for W-Fi service.

Spokane surprised the nation in 2004 when it became one of the first U.S. cities to launch a free cloud of wireless access. A 100-block downtown area was blanketed with antennas by Spokane-based Vivato, a now-defunct Wi-Fi company. Access is free for up to two hours. After that, there is a charge.

“At the time, we were the biggest hot zone,” Spokane spokeswoman Marlene Feist said. “A lot of communities had deployed hot spots, but we were the first to really blanket an entire downtown with it.”

Spokane residents use the service to do research while they eat lunch in downtown parks. They use Palm Pilots to check flights on weekend trips while walking down the street. Visitors use it to find out about local events.

“We put a limit on the time so it would be used the way we intended,” she said.

In Portland, city officials looked to free Wi-Fi to bridge the digital divide between those who can afford costly computer services and those who can’t. When Portland awards a Wi-Fi contract in February, it will favor companies that create computer training programs for low-income people, senior project coordinator Rashid Ahmed said.

“Internet connection doesn’t matter unless you have access to a computer, but you can’t think of them as two separate issues,” he said. “The (free) network is one major component of that.”

The service will save Portland money as well.

The city’s 1,100 parking meters will be equipped with wireless to conduct credit card transactions, saving the city 15 to 20 cents on the dollar, Ahmed said. Nearly 100 remote city facilities, including power stations, will be automatically connected. Every city classroom will be connected. Eventually, city buses and light rail trains will go wireless.

Portland is expected to begin installing its wireless service as early as this spring.

There are other reasons cities are turning to Wi-Fi.

In Charleston, S.C., a local newspaper teamed with Widespread Access to blanket the city with wireless to encourage newspaper readership and advertising, and to promote computer literacy in low-income households. That network is scheduled to be completed this month.

In Tempe, Ariz., NeoReach is in the final phases of wiring the entire 40-square-mile city for $29 a month to subscribers. As a result, police, fire and public works employees will be better connected to their headquarters.

As far as the Everett City Council’s Nielsen is concerned, Everett shouldn’t consider a wireless provider that wouldn’t offer free service to every resident.

“One of my hopes is that it would level the playing field,” Nielsen said.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@ heraldnet.com.

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