Entries from Earthling - EarthLink blog tagged with 'Wi-Fi'
Clarifying EarthLink Municipal Wi-Fi Plans
I've seen a few articles online this morning suggesting that EarthLink is getting out of the municipal Wi-Fi business. This is not the case. After checking with our leadership this morning, I want to confirm two points:
Philly Wi-Fi Proof Of Concept Approved
This morning EarthLink announced that Wireless Philadelphia has approved our 15 square mile Proof of Concept(POC) area, and given us the green light to continue to build out the full 135 square miles of network.
Arlington VA Chooses EarthLink for Wi-Fi Network -- Now With Short Form
This morning EarthLink is pleased to announce that Arlington County, VA, has selected us to build, own, and operate their 26 square-mile Wi-Fi network. There's more information in the press release, and less information in our new EarthLink Twitter presence, ELNK.
Steps In The Municipal Wi-Fi Process
Last week the cities of Houston, TX and St. Petersburg, FL chose EarthLink to build and operate Municipal Wi-Fi networks in those cities. Before I started working with our Muni Wi-Fi folks I had no idea how something like this comes about or what it means when a city "selects" a partner, so here's a run-down of the major milestones in the development of our Municipal Wi-Fi networks. In practice it works a little differently in each city, but here’s the general shape of the process:
Come Support Muni Wi-Fi In SF
Lil Mike at Metroblogging SF reports that the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco will be holding a hearing about municipal Wi-Fi today, February 7th at City Hall, Board Chamber, room 250, Budget and Finance Committee. At the time of my writing this, the start time appears to be between 1:30 and 2 pm, but I've also seen reports of it starting as early as 1:30. Best to get there early if you want to catch the start of the conversation. The committee meeting itself begins at 1pm. [found via Jesse at The Urban Commons]
Frenchulettas, The Magazine Canyon, and Wi-Fi
Liuzza's on Bienville was packed when Ken and I got there on Friday night. We had chosen Liuzza's for a number of reasons, not the least of which was my having never experienced the Frenchuletta, which is a Muffaletta-ish sandwich served on a huge piece of french bread. It was interesting to see what it was like on a Friday night at a neighborhood restaurant in a part of town still very much in the thick of coming back to life. It was packed, loud, and full of good cheer. When we got there, both rooms were completely full and we ended up waiting outside with our beverages for our guests to arrive.
Atlanta Chooses EarthLink For City Wi-Fi
As both a resident of Atlanta and an employee of EarthLink, I'm excited to announce that we've been chosen to build, own, and operate the City's new municipal Wi-Fi network. The network will be similar in model to what we're building in other cities, including retail residential 1 Mbps up/down service, open access for competing providers to sell over our network, small business support with T-1 replacement services, and programs to help bridge the digital divide. There's more information about the city's RFP process on the Wireless Atlanta section of AtlantaGA.gov.
Liuzza's On Bienville On Friday
Ken Womack from the Search team and myself will be heading down to New Orleans for a couple of days. Ken's doing some research around the local search and portal services in our Municipal Wi-Fi markets. I'm going to help plan some future EarthLink Wi-Fi events, reconnect with friends and colleagues, and hopefully meet some new ones as well. We'll be grabbing dinner at Liuzza's on Bienville on Friday night at 7 p.m. along with whichever bloggers and geeks can make it on the short notice. Feel free to stop by and say hello.
Free Wi-Fi In Philly: Share Your Insights
I wanted to follow up today to show anyone who hops on the network in Philly how you can share your feedback about your experiences. You'll find a feedback link on the landing page you arrive at on the network, in the bottom row:
EarthLink And SF Agree To Terms
“Today, EarthLink and the City of San Francisco reached agreement on the terms of the contract to build a citywide wireless network.
New Orleans Wi-Fi Network Launches
It's been a big week for EarthLink Wi-Fi -- on Tuesday we announced the launch of our network in Milpitas, CA and today we're officially unveiling our New Orleans network.
Wi-Fi Launch And 30 Days Free In Milpitas
Today we proudly launched our Wi-Fi network in the city of Milpitas, CA.
The Wi-Fi Signal Grinch
ArsTechnica's Jeremy Reimer pointed out a new survey by a company called AirMagnet claiming that traditional Christmas decorations like tinsel, boughs of holly, and fa la las interfere with indoor Wi-Fi network signals. Reimer smelled a stunt here: "AirMagnet's ploy in all of this is to draw attention to the company as a developer of WiFi analysis tools, and to be honest, we find it pretty humorous."
Alexandria Chooses EarthLink To Build City Wi-Fi Network
I'm pleased to report that EarthLink has been selected to develop a municipal Wi-Fi network in Alexandria, VA. The city has chosen EarthLink's bid to create a roughly 16 square mile Wi-Fi network. Our proposal also provided for discounted access for a certain number of qualifying, low-income residents, and free public hotspots in approximately two dozen areas. Like the networks we're building in Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Anaheim, and Milpitas, CA, it will be an open-access network, allowing other providers to sell service over it as well.
Wi-Fi Nodespotting In New Orleans
A couple of weeks ago Schroeder, one of the bloggers I met on my last trip to New Orleans spotted an EarthLink Wi-Fi SSID in the wild. Before my vacation I asked our Wi-Fi team for an update and found out the build-out is in fact in full swing and they're installing Wi-Fi radios on light poles and working on the network infrastructure. I had little intention of doing much work on my vacation, but knowing all that (not to mention the tremendous food options available), I couldn't resist passing through the city on my way back from Baton Rouge. So on Sunday I went nodespotting.
Clarifying Some New Orleans Wi-Fi Questions
There was no particular news here other than the fact that our development efforts in New Orleans are taking shape on the ground. In the original press release and in my coverage on Earthling, it was spelled out that a free tier of service would be available throughout the city's rebuilding efforts and not permanently.
Third SF Wi-Fi Meeting Coverage
There were two more EarthLink/Google Community meetings in San Francisco since I last wrote about them, one last night and one on the 17th. I'm still looking around today for reports from last night, but there was quite a bit of blog coverage from the 17th. The first two were very different from each other, and judging by the reports the third was more raucous than the first. Much of the conversation seemed to center on Google's free service that will run on top of the EarthLink network, and there are also some residents who are coming to these meetings to argue against the current city plan and in favor of starting over to investigate a fully city-owned and operated network.
Second Wi-Fi Community Forum
I wrote this up on the plane back to Atlanta, thinking back on last night's meeting. Each night's conversation was valuable in a different way. The first meeting's discussion was fairly technical, theoretical, and to some extent academic. The second was more practical.
First SF Community Wi-Fi Meeting Notes
As useful as blogs are for two-way communication, there's still something qualitatively different about face-to-face discussions. I've found this when I meet people at conferences who I've only known through their blogs, when I meet some of the bloggers from a particular area, and in conversations that eventually migrate from blog comments to phone calls or e-mails to in-person interactions. Blogs have other benefits that in-person conversations don't have, like findability, creating a lasting record, and the ability to have lots of geographically-impossible interactions. But the give-and-take is never quite the same mediated as it is live and direct. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to be a part of these community forums about the San Francisco Wi-Fi project.
Headed to SF Today
Today will be mostly taken up with travel, as I'm headed to San Francisco for the first two community forums about the EarthLink and Google Wi-Fi project. Over at GigaOm Katie Fehrenbacher writes that she foresees lively discussions and knowing the city's reputation for vigorous local politics, I expect some interesting questions and good conversations. I'm looking forward to it.
Come Find Out More About The SF Wi-Fi Project
I'm headed to San Francisco next week for the first two of eleven public neighborhood forums EarthLink and Google are holding about the city Wi-Fi project. The goal of the meetings is to tell you more about our proposal and hear your ideas. The first meeting will be held on October 3 at the Ocean Avenue Presbyterian Church at 32 Ocean Ave. between Mission and Alemany, and the second will be at Southeast Community Facility at 1800 Oakdale Ave. at Phelps St. Both will start at 6 p.m.
Hyperlocal in NOLA
There are lots of people blogging in New Orleans. I got to meet a handful of them in person at Rocky's Pizza on Magazine Street last Thursday.
Editor B and Michael from Mid-City
It was great to meet Mid-City New Orleans residents Editor B and Michael Homan. They invited me for a conversation at Finn McCool's, an Irish pub in Mid-City that also has set up its own free Wi-Fi access. They're both rebuilding there, and wanted to show me what their neighborhood is like and talk to me about their interest in having EarthLink include the area in future expansion of Wi-Fi service in New Orleans.
Blogging From NOLA Next Week
A quick on-the-road note -- I'll be in New Orleans all next week, so I'll be blogging but may be off schedule a bit. On Tuesday evening Donald Berryman, President of EarthLink Municipal Networks will be speaking at the Louisiana Technology Council's Tech Tuesday event. I'm giving a talk about Earthling and corporate blogging the following morning. I'll also be meeting some of the EarthLink Wi-Fi team and getting a quick tour of the New Orleans project.
New Orleans Wi-Fi Update
The Times-Picayune published an
I guess this is why the "take notes now, blog them later" strategy is risky. I'm occupied all day with an internal presentation, and not only do I have more BlogHer stuff to write about, but we also just announced another Muni Wi-Fi city. Here's a collection of municipal wi-fi-related stuff that's ended up in my bookmarks (currently straddling myFavorites and del.icio.us). I'm back in the Atlanta office and working on publishing the rest of my notes. Here are some brief highlights from the speeches commemorating the launch of the EarthLink Wi-Fi Network in Anaheim: I've found a nice shady spot to blog from, over by the concessions tent. Rosie is being interviewed for Cnet in front of me and people are trying out the network from a couple of kiosks. I've got a free moment, so I'm looking over my notes from the speeches I just heard. Here are some of the points from Don Berryman, President of EarthLink Municipal Networks: I'm under the tent listening to the speeches from the leaders of EarthLink, Motorola, Tropos, and the City of Anaheim at the Wire Cutting Ceremony. I'm blogging from the EarthLink Wi-Fi network itself, and appear to be the only nerd in the audience taking notes live with a laptop right now. I'm guessing that's going to change quickly. Here's Staff Network Architect Tom Holbrook and Paul Varnedoe running some network tests in the parking lot near City Hall. Between the ubiquitous laptops and the tangle of wires Tom's got, we're not a tough group to spot. Here's a close-up of the current Anaheim EarthLink Wi-Fi coverage area:
There's good coverage of the Anaheim project and today's unwiring ceremony in the LA Times this morning. They mention one of our first test customers -- Rosie Navarrete -- and her store Caracol Toys and Candy. I got to meet Rosie yesterday. Her Wi-Fi and technology knowledge is astounding, and she makes really cool custom piñatas too. I'm declaring Caracol the official Piñata maker of record for Earthling. For $20, you can get one made to your specifications. Rosie said she gets all kinds of clients from all over LA, from emo kids to graduation parties to *ahem* bachelor parties and the like. In addition to the Piñatas, her store is stocked with strange and wonderful mexican candies. They don't sell online yet, but I'm hoping they head in that direction. Where was towering giant Brad Day from Tropos when we were putting these things up all over the city?... I'll be taking off for Anaheim this afternoon and will be blogging from there all week, to get a nuts-and-bolts tour of the EarthLink Wi-Fi network, celebrate our unwiring of the city, and attend the Taste of Anaheim festival. Drop me a line if you're in the area and would like to meet up.
Last week was a busy one for Municipal Wi-Fi. In addition to the New Orleans announcement, there was also good news in Philadelphia where mayor John Street held a signing ceremony that officially put the plan for EarthLink to unwire Philadelphia into action. I'm very pleased to report that we've been approved to build out and support a Wi-Fi network in New Orleans, thanks to a New Orleans City Council ordinance this week. More on the project's history here. EarthLink To Build Out Pasadena Wi-Fi Network
Muni Wi-Fi In The News
Highlights from Anaheim Launch Speeches
Don Berryman's Opening Remarks
Wire Cutting Ceremony
Canopy Gear Atop City Hall
Anaheim Coverage Area
Click to get to a bigger photo
It's not the clearest photo -- I'll work on getting a better one today. Here's the whole map including current and future plans:
Click to get to a bigger photo This Morning In Anaheim
Who Needs Pole Trucks
On The Road This Week
Mayor's Event For Philly Wi-Fi
EarthLink Gets Approval For New Orleans Wi-Fi Network
A Few Updates
EarthLink Wins Bid For San Francisco Wi-Fi Network
This evening I received the exciting news that we've been selected to build the municipal wireless network for the City of San Francisco. Read on for an official statement from Executive Vice President Donald Berryman.
Working To Keep Wi-Fi In New Orleans
I was thrilled to find out this morning that the City of New Orleans had approached us 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 found out that we've agreed to the city's request, and are in the process of applying for the licensing required to get it done. Read on for the details.
More On EarthLink And Google And A Lack Of Wires
... I feel like today I should go back and explain a little bit about the history of the San Francisco proposal for those of you who are just now learning about all of this Muni business.
EarthLink and Google Offer To Build SF Wi-Fi Network Together
The following statement is attributed to Donald Berryman, executive vice president of EarthLink and president of the ISP’s municipal networks unit: “Yesterday, EarthLink and Google jointly submitted a ‘Request For Proposal’ (RFP) to the City of San Francisco to build a citywide wireless municipal network. This proposal presents a unique opportunity for both companies. By coming together to leverage the strengths of both companies, we will be able to offer services to different customers on the network that fit with their own individual needs and wants.
Best New Digital Camera Feature
This best is about the idea of wireless photo transmission between your digital camera and your computer and/or printer. Pictures tend to stay awhile on my digital camera. Rather than traveling the few feet from the camera to my computer,...
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