Unable to penetrate indoors? Wi-Fi encounters an awkward situation in urban configuration

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Unable to penetrate indoors? Wi-Fi encounters an awkward situation in urban configuration [Copy link]

More and more cities are looking to build their own wireless networks, but judging by the few that already offer the service, setting up a city-wide Wi-Fi network isn't as easy as it seems.

Some city Wi-Fi networks are built and managed in partnership with a private company, while others are run directly by some governments, which have jumped on the bandwagon in the past few years and faced strong opposition and aggressive lobbying from phone companies and cable operators, who say the government is provoking unfair competition for their broadband businesses.

Not surprisingly, cities that want to provide high-speed Internet access to their citizens will choose technology based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, commonly known as Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi operates in public spectrum, so there is no need to spend a lot of money to obtain spectrum licenses. Coupled with the fact that Wi-Fi is already widely available, the equipment used to transmit these networks is relatively cheap. In addition, it is much cheaper to transmit broadcasts through poles and lampposts than to dig trenches in the streets to lay fiber-optic cables. But running a Wi-Fi network and meeting user expectations for speed and reliability is not easy.

Chaska, a small city in Minnesota, began providing this service to residents more than two years ago. Mayor Gary Van Eyll said: "In the beginning, we were not as successful as we thought. There were some problems when the network was first launched, resulting in some signal dead zones in the city, where the Internet speed was very slow or even unavailable. My home is one of the signal dead zones, which is very frustrating."

Chaska, a city of 8,500 households, has been offering wireless broadband service to residents through its Wi-Fi network, with a monthly service fee of $16.99 and download speeds ranging from 750Kbps to 1.2Mbps. Now 2,500 homes and businesses enjoy this service, almost a third of the city's total number of households.

Dave Pokorney, Chaska's city executive, said that initially the network provided good service to 75% of residents, but for the other 25%, the network had difficulty providing a strong enough signal. He said: "We did see differences in Internet speeds between different users, and in fact we have been working hard to overcome this problem since the beginning. We have seen that some users have a signal of 1.2Mbps, but after six houses, the speed is only 250Kbps. This is simply unacceptable."

About six months ago, the city upgraded all of its wireless equipment. Pokorney said service has improved dramatically since then. Although the upgrade was part of the plan, Pokorney said they had hoped the initial equipment would last at least four years, but poor performance forced the city to upgrade just two years into the four-year plan. "We didn't have to upgrade this early, but we did exceed our expectations," he said. "So our cash flow is a little better than we expected. The network is self-sustaining, and we're happy about that."

Other cities that have deployed citywide Wi-Fi have experienced the same indoor performance issues. Just over a month after the launch of the Wi-Fi network in St. Cloud, Florida, some residents complained that they couldn't get online indoors. Becca Vargo Daggett, director of the Municipal Telecommunications Project at the Center for Local Self-Help, said the problems experienced by St. Cloud residents are common in city wireless network deployments.

People can receive good signals outdoors, but once they enter indoors, the signals are always too weak to be received at all. Vargo Daggett said, "Wi-Fi technology has been recognized for outdoor applications, but adjustments must be made so that this technology can also be used indoors."

Chaska offers residents a wireless bridge device that can be installed in their homes to boost the signal. The cost of the device is included in the $16.99 monthly service fee. Since wireless service in St. Cloud is free, the city recommends that residents go to City Hall to buy one for $170. But Vargo Daggett has noticed that some residents who complain about poor signal reception don't have the bridge installed. "A lot of problems and complaints can be solved by changing people's expectations so that they realize sometimes they need to make some adjustments," she said.