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HarborLink Network News & Events
April
24, 2005
from the April
24, 2005 edition of The Dayton
Daily News
City one of first to offer
Internet service free
By
Timothy R.
Gaffney
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON
| Bill
Hill, Dayton's director of
information and technology
services, likes the irony of
his project: One of the last
few cities with trolley
wires, Dayton is becoming
one of the first to offer
free wireless Internet
service.
While the electric trolley
buses trundle through town,
sliding along twin poles
along wires to draw power,
Internet users can
wirelessly check e-mail or
surf the World Wide Web in a
roughly one-square-mile area
of downtown.
It isn't a huge area, but it
covers Courthouse Square,
Fifth Third Field,
RiverScape, Webster Station
and parts of the Oregon
Business District and
Sinclair Community College.
Dayton is set to kick off
the service next weekend
with an event it calls
Wireless Dayton Days. Dayton
Microcomputer Association
volunteers will show people
how to tap the system at
Sinclair's Ponitz Center.
But it's already available,
Hill said last week.
"It's up and running. People
are using it," he said.
Wireless computing isn't
new. Downtown Dayton is
awash in low-power radio
signals broadcasting from
private or commercial
computer networks.
And municipal wireless
networks are becoming a
worldwide trend as cities
seek ways to draw or at
least keep young, tech-savvy
citizens, much as trendy
coffee shops, restaurants
and bars offer Internet hot
spots to lure customers.
Cities across the United
States are trying different
ways to make it work.
Best known is Philadelphia,
which plans to offer
low-cost Internet service
citywide, underwriting it at
an estimated cost of $10
million.
Advocates say municipal
systems will help citizens
of limited means bridge the
"digital divide" where
education and work
increasingly require
computer skills and Internet
access.
The telecommunications
industry opposes what it
sees as unfair competition
from government, which can
subsidize its wireless
service with tax dollars. In
Pennsylvania and elsewhere,
they've lobbied lawmakers to
block or limit
government-sponsored
Internet service.
Hill said Dayton's business
model is unique. It's a
public-private partnership
that provides free public
service without tax
subsidies.
"I believe in my heart that
if this is successful, it
will become the model for
every city," he said.
HarborLink Network, a local
wireless access provider, is
the city's prime contractor
for the downtown project.
Several subcontractors
provide elements of the
system.
• P&R Communications
Services Inc. is responsible
for equipment, installation
and maintenance.
• DoNet provides Internet
and networking services.
• The Dayton Daily News
provides information from
its Internet site,
daytondailynews.com, as well
as advertising services.
HarborLink President Rick
Tangeman said the service is
to be supported by
advertising revenue.
Hill said Dayton's plan
hasn't drawn opposition from
telecom providers because
private companies provide
the service, and because
Hill said he pitched the
idea to larger providers
first, and they turned it
down.
He said Dayton's system is
also designed not to compete
with commercial providers
who offer Internet services
inside homes or offices.
Dayton's system broadcasts
outdoors and doesn't
efficiently penetrate
buildings, he said.
The system uses more than a
dozen radio devices mounted
on lamp poles, buildings and
bridges around the downtown
area.
Called access points, the
devices are interlinked to
provide a "mesh" of signals
to create an uninterrupted
service area.
"We put up enough of them to
cover the streets, sidewalks
and green spaces," Hill
said. "You can walk from one
park to another and never
turn your laptop off, and
never lose your signal."
Most users are likely to be
business people checking
their e-mail or doing
Internet-related work
outside the office, said
Travis Tangeman,
HarborLink's chief
technology officer.
"Mostly it's going to be
people who just want to stay
connected," said Tangeman,
whose company provides
wireless hot spots for
clients nationwide.
Users of the system will
find a page of advertising,
including ads for downtown
businesses. The page will
"pop up" every 12 minutes as
a user clicks between
Internet sites, Tangeman
said.
Peter Hess, chairman of the
Dayton Microcomputer
Association's Wireless
Dayton Days, said the
wireless system will
encourage visitors and
residence to enjoy the
downtown.
"I look forward to going
(downtown) to the Blues
Festival and being able to
surf the Web while I listen
to good music," he said.
But he said its real value
is as a testbed for a
citywide system that could
improve a range of municipal
utility, health and safety
services.
"Once the network is intact
and working citywide, the
police department can send
fingerprints from a crime
scene to the crime lab," he
said.
Emergency vehicles equipped
with small, inexpensive
repeaters could extend the
range of wireless
communication, he said.
All that lies in the future.
If the downtown system
works, Dayton will consider
a second phase to take it
citywide, Hill said. It
would move out by historical
neighborhoods, eventually
blanketing all 55 square
miles of the city.
The city has reserved rights
to use the system for
municipal services, possibly
including automated meter
reading, he said.
Rick Tangeman, HarborLink's
president and Travis
Tangeman's brother, said
their company would have to
compete for the phase two
contract.
HarborLink is a recent
spinoff from the R. B.
Tangeman Co. Inc., founded
by the brothers' father,
Richard.
"We're Dayton guys, born and
bred," Travis Tangeman said.
Although HarborLink has
commercial clients around
the nation, he said, "It's
neat to do this in your
hometown."
Contact
Timothy Gaffney at 225-2390. |
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