Chestertown’s downtown public parks will have free wireless access perhaps as soon as this month thanks to an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) project, and cooperation between the Town and Main Street Historic Chestertown. The ARRA project involved running a trunk fiber optic cable from Cecil County to Talbot, passing through Chestertown along the way.
While the town of Chestertown did not solicit for the project, it did benefit from it, as the cable will give the town enough bandwidth for WiFi availabilities in Fountain Park and Memorial Park.
The Town was able to install proper WiFi equipment in order to make use of this cable with money from a $30,000 Maryland Community Legacy Grant.
Excellent! Any prospect of an additional router, down by the dock at the foot of High Street?
Wilmer Park?????
Great,
Maybe I’ll stream some of the Music In The Park shows. I streamed part of the Tea Party Festival last year but I got a connection from The Prince and Hogans.
The waterfront public area, including the marina, is our second goal. The system that we have was designed to be expanded in the future, when funding allows and the Council approves it.
I think it is vital to have WIFI in place since I believe in the not too distant future, almost all of our communications (including radio, television, etc.) will be delivered via WIFI and any community that isn’t there will be effectively isolated from the rest of the country.
Consider that the town can only use the wireless spectrum that’s available (900 Mhz, 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz) , and that it is freely mingled with every wireless router in town, Baybroadband, wireless house phones , broken microwaves, kidney dialysis machines, and can even bleed over into Sprint and Verizon’s licensed frequency if not properly configured/maintained, I don’t think this is going to be the techno-miracle a lot of people are envisioning.
On that note, personally, I think it will be a ton of fun to play with. Anyone have any idea who’s putting this in?
@Keith
Until Wifi can operate in the spectrum that was used by ye olde analog TV, it’s never gonna happen. Considering Verizon, AT&T, Qualcomm, and several other own it all now, it’s likely to never be free and open to the public. Because of current FCC guidelines (thank GE, Motorola, etc), unlicensed spectrum is physically incapable of pathing and covering an area which could ever replace traditional line based solutions, or paid cellular solutions. The amount of wattage you need is only legal in places like….Chile?
@Alex,
You’re the technical guru on this, so I yield to your expertise. To clarify, I’m not assuming that all WIFI will be free, just that I think it’s important that communities have WIFI available. I also expect that the technology (and the accompanying regulations) will advance rather quickly.
Whatever it takes!
If you look at the history towns on the eastern shore it was the arrival of trains and grain elevators that made them grow. The internet will be like that. Addresses anywhere that do not have internet access will dry up and blow away while those with good access will prosper into the future. (What Keith already correctly stated)
I thought the FCC kicked analog TV off their part of the spectrum to make way for the internet.
Anyhow, whatever it takes to get some form of WIFI access has to be done. “The last mile” connection using any kind of cable will continue to be a problem. I would forgo building another community playground, go back to using plastic bags and even invest in the stock of a company that could get the internet to all. A world without poles and cable…..priceless!
Joe
@Keith
If the big corporations own the spectrum, it’s never going to be available for product developement (general public use) at places like Cisco unless they specifically license the band from Verizon, AT&T, etc. That’s all I’m saying.
I have run wifi in that area several times using connections I got from business. I never had a problem and ran for over an hour continuously several times.
The spaces between the TV stations in the spectrum are becoming available as we speak and so getting a spot in the spectrum should not be a big problem. Some of theses White Spaces can be licensed also I believe.
@Steve
I think the proof is going to be in the pudding, as the saying goes. We’ll see how well this is executed, and I’ll withhold further judgement until that point. One thing I would like to point out is that a small mesh network like this is not too terribly difficult to construct, nor is it terribly expensive if the proper hardware is used.
I assume the fresh fiber being run is the source, however a simple debranded verizon DSL line (or several) would work just as well.