Free, municipal Wi-Fi lands in Ohio
Radiant Networks, Proxim Wireless team for coverage in Solon
December 3 2008 - 1:51 pm ET | Gary E. Salazar | RCR Wireless News
Despite widespread trouble on the municipal Wi-Fi front in other cities across the nation, a suburb east of Cleveland, Ohio, is giving the effort a shot.
Radiant Networks and Proxim Wireless have teamed up to provide residents in Solon with free Wi-Fi access within their new community center and throughout their public parks area.
Solon asked the two companies to build the network to lure companies into the community and to provide existing businesses with the service. A multipoint network was built with a single tower in the middle of the city.
“This is another of many ways a city can work with their community to provide needed services and enhanced communications to a global market,” Jeffery Pokorny, Solon IT director, said in a statement. “Working with local Radiant Networks personnel and local firms provided a personal value of the project.”
Winncom Technologies Corp., a Solon-based wireless distributor, supplied the hardware for the project. In June, Oklahoma City said it turned on the largest city-owned and operated Wi-Fi mesh network in the world.
However, Oklahoma City and Solon have largely gone against the grain. Among the many muni Wi-Fi flameouts: Municipal Wi-Fi vendor MetroFi Inc. announced earlier this year it was shutting down most of its networks; and EarthLink Inc. and Google Inc. have also had their share of problems with their venture into municipal Wi-Fi.
Solon has a population of 24,000 and is regularly listed on Money Magazine’s list of top places to live in the country.
December 3, 2008 02:06 pm
Does anyone remember CT2 and Iridium? Like Muni Wi-Fi, they were technologies in search of markets that didn’t exist. You’d think somebody would have talked to end users…some focus groups or user surveys. Lesson learned: Don’t let engineers be marketers. WiMax 802.16e in the U.S., please pay attention. You could be next.