Posted on March 29, 2006 at 1:31 PM in @earthlink
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
Last week, Red Herring posted a story about how the City of New Orleans could soon lose the municipal Wi-Fi network that they've been depending on as one of the only means of communication for residents and critical city services. According to the article, a third of the City still doesn't even have basic phone service, and many have come to depend on their Wi-Fi connection as a main source of information and communication with the outside world.
This is the part that really stuck out:
“If I have to go to jail, I guess I will,” [city CIO Greg Meffert] said. “If they really want to play that game, I guess they are right. But we simply cannot turn off these few lifelines we have to our city and businesses.”
Like most people who have spent any amount of time there, I have a big soft spot in my heart for New Orleans. A few years ago my whole family surprised my dad (and nearly gave him a heart attack) by joining him there as he received an award at a meeting. My move to Atlanta two years ago was almost a move to New Orleans instead. I'd still love to set up shop there some day. So the Red Herring article really bugged me. Taking away this one piece of reliable infrastructure from a city in need feels like kicking a friend while she's down. It's not the proudest moment for the telecommunications companies seeking to remove it. What's the motivation here?
I was thrilled to find out this morning that the City of New Orleans had approached EarthLink to ask if we'd take over the network ourselves and keep it running for them. I followed up with our Muni Wi-Fi team and learned that we've agreed to the city's request, and are in the process of applying for the licensing required to get it done. I imagine most EarthLinkers thought as I did when they read the Red Herring story, which was "We build city Wi-Fi networks..They need a city Wi-Fi network...We should lend a hand here." And now it looks as though it's actually happening.
Read on for the details.
It's a complicated situation because under state law, the city does not have the right to create and operate its own municipal network at higher than 128 kbps. I'm still trying to figure that law out. They've been allowed to do so only because of the ongoing emergency. As the emergency status is lifted, telecommunications lobbyists are now trying to shut down the network completely. It's a network that a city trying to rebuild has come to depend on.
This afternoon I spoke to Donald Berryman, the President of our Municipal Networks, to get a sense of where this stands now and what it'll take for us to maintain and improve the New Orleans municipal network. He explained that in the next couple of days we're applying for a telecommunications franchise license. Hopefully that application will be voted on in the next few weeks, and if approved, we'll start adding our Motorola and Tropos hardware to the existing infrastructure. We're looking to serve two audiences with the enhanced network:
- Residents - We'll provide a 15 square mile zone of free wireless access at 300 kbps (upload and download) for the residents of New Orleans. This network will make it easier for them to do things like communicate with friends and relatives in the outside world, schedule appointments, find grants and government aid programs, and connect with essential city services. Once hardware providers bring Wi-Fi phones to the U.S. market, this could also bring affordable telephone service to tens of thousands of people currently without it.
- Commercial - We'll also provide a premium 1 megabit service throughout the city primarily for the 140,000+ city workers and businesses. That service should cost users around $20 per month.
We have the support of the Mayor's office and are hopeful that our franchise application will be approved quickly. Berryman said that we see the project as a long-term investment in the city. "We were pleased to answer the call. We believe in the revitalization of the city of New Orleans, and we think this project will pay off for the citizens of New Orleans and for EarthLink."
I’ll be watching this situation closely and will let you know as things progress.
Update: The original Washington Post article from November announcing the city Wi-Fi network has a useful map of the available phone and internet resources in New Orleans.
Comments
I'd love to switch over to Earthlink in support of your support of New Orleans, but you, Earthlink, are still so dependent on the BS infrastructure here in the ATL.
I'd like to post a Call To Action on my blog, but I'm not sure what to advise at the moment - in terms of alternatives to BS/AT&T.
Any advice?
Posted by Grayson | March 30, 2006 8:18 AM
I accidentally deleted my own comment from this morning in a batch of comment spam removal. Here it is again:
Thanks for your support on New Orleans. One thing you could do is suggest people show their support by signing up for a free EarthLink webmail account. I bet lots of ATLiens don't know they can get a free e-mail account from us with virus and spam protection, along with a free myEarthLink account and Toolbar.
As far as EarthLink's BellSouth-free broadband options in Atlanta, there will be a new one soon. We recently announced that we're working on bringing our Line-powered Voice product, called DSL and Home Phone Service, to Atlanta. It's a superfast (up to 8 mbps) internet connection plus Voice over IP phone service that lets you plug your phones directly into the wall without an adapter and without losing phone power when your household power goes out. Some people refer to that as the total "fire your phone company" product. That's the one I'll be getting when it rolls out here.
In the meantime, for voice stuff you can avoid the telcos by using something like trueVoice over any broadband internet connection.
And for internet access, in most parts of Atlanta, you've got a few options right now -- you could go with cable(Comcast), free wireless (I recommend crashing at Joe's in East Atlanta when you need the internets), or an account with a paid wireless hotspot provider.
Hope that helps! Let me know if there's anything else I can do.
Posted by Dave Coustan (earthling) | March 30, 2006 9:02 PM
Brainjamz is being put together for New Orleans on Thursday, May 4. This may be something you want to get involved with to show a little love for small businesses in the Big Easy
Posted by Lance Weatherby | March 31, 2006 11:45 AM
Great ideas. Keep up the good work Earthlink.
The articles on EarthLing are very nice reads. Composed and written very nice.
Great job!
Posted by litew8 | April 3, 2006 11:33 PM
Thank you Earthlink for providing this service for us down here in New Orleans. I hope your application is approved and please let us know what we can do to help make free WiFi in New Orleans a reality.
Posted by Michael Homan | April 5, 2006 2:37 PM
I'm very excited about Earthlink supporting us folks here in New Orleans, and look forward to it.
I haven't been updated on the progress you've made over the past few months, so I have a some questions:
1. One of the wireless signals I keep getting in the French Quarter/CBD area is named "CityofNewOrleans." Is this the one provided by Earthlink?
2. I've read that Sept of this year is the goal that was set to "unwire" us. Are you able to meet that goal?
3. Will the 1Mbps speed be available to residents willing to pay for it? Or is that speed only for businesses?
4. If the above services will indeed be available to residents, I want to get a headstart and be one of the first to sign up when all is said and done. Is there a way I can recieve an email notificarion?
Again, thank you for all you're doing to help us.
Posted by Dave Ryan | August 30, 2006 5:27 AM
One morning in dec I woke up and turned my computer on. I found an earthlink web page, which suprised me, becuase I have no internet connection. It would have been nice to surf on them for a week to Really see their speed wifi. I am presently using my neighbor's through LAN anfd it is FAST. Having my own e-mail account would be nice, even for business.
When will you be rready NOLA wide, and, if you plan, will the speed ever pick up?
Posted by Angel | January 15, 2007 2:55 PM
Hi Angel, we launched the first phase of the network at the end of December. There's more information on that in this blog entry: http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/12/new_orleans_wifi_network_launc_1.php
Posted by Dave C. | January 16, 2007 10:24 AM