Municipal WiFi

Sorry if this subject has been brought up before, but does anyone know if there are any thoughts or plans of OKC having a WiFi or WiMax network established?

Yes, one has already been implemented although it was kept private for government and police/emergency use.

RFP's just went out a few weeks ago for a public city-wide network. It should be implemented by spring at the latest.

ah, ok. I had a similar question in the web building and tech talk section a few weeks ago.

Metro, are they planning to charge for the service and if so, do you know the rate?

Some cities -- like Philly -- are offering the service completely free. It would be nice if OKC would do that, at least in the central core.

Yes, Metro please give us more information if available.

If you guys hear that the company Airpath may be attached to it...flood the city to pick someone else. They handle a few of these metro deployments, but just a lot of bad news follows them.

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Well, just a few quick things. I can't as well as the city couldn't answer a question, before all the facts are known. As I mentioned RFP's are out right now, meaning no telling what will come back. I know at one time OKC looked at modeling Philly but decided that type of network is not completely secure. OKC wants a more secure network. The intention is to hopefully make it free or low-cost and be supported by ads or donors. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Like I mentioned they hope the system is implemented by early spring at the latest.

I have been noticing that the city police cars now have two new white colored antennas on their roofs.
Is this WiFi related? Some scout cars have computer screens on their dashboards.

Probably so. Emergency Services have full city-wide wi-fi access

So who is running our network for wimax in OKC?!?!?

Some of you may already know this, but all of the main branches of the Metropolitan Library System have free wi-fi, and most likely even the extension branches will have it soon.

Those two white antennas are for the MDC (Mobile Data Computers).... I work for the city and as for as I know that is for the PD CAD(Computer Added Dispatch) that we use to show what calls are holding and what calls have been assigned..

They are also for the new 800mhz radio system.

Actually, the two white antennas have nothing to do with the 800 mhz radio system. It is strictly for their MDT's in the police cars. Right now they are having some big time problems with the MDT's because they are still operating them under the old system. The old system can't handle all that is going through them right now.

I spoke with the tech's at the radio shop, and they tell me that the MDT's will continue to be either very slow, or not work at all......until the new system is up and running. There is no definite date for that.

As a matter of fact, I was at the radio shop a couple of weeks ago to have a couple of our new hand held radios programmed, and there were two police cars at the radio shop, experiencing some difficulties with their MDT's.

The fire department has it made.......their new system has been up and running for two months.

What's taking the PD system so long? It seems like it's been a long time since the funding for that system was approved.

The main resason it is taking so long to get everything switched over is their are a lot more police cars then there are fire trucks lol.. Last night I was working on Springlake radio and the new radios sounded like crap... We are having a lot of proplems with the new radios and the new MDC..... On top of all of that, the city if trying to get a new CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system, which the old system still runs in DOS and goes down a lot.... Right the system that we use only shows us Fire, Police, ECC, EMSA is on a totally different system. The new system should tie all toghter.

Sounds like we are taking a 'wait and see' attitude instead of being progressive on this issue:

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Wireless in the city: Who to pay?

By Bryan Dean
The Oklahoman
Local leaders know what they want -- a wireless network stretching across the center of Oklahoma City.

They want convention visitors and tourists to have an easy way to connect to the Internet on their laptop computers, something many are coming to expect from major cities. How to make it happen is another question.

Story continues below advertisement


State and local chambers of commerce agree establishing large wireless networks in Oklahoma communities is an important tool in luring employers and conventions to the state. But they don't know how they'll pay to have the networks put in place and maintained.

The state of Georgia is offering $4 million in seed money for communities to begin establishing wireless networks. Such incentives haven't been offered in Oklahoma, where luring wireless providers has fallen to local officials.

The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce is working with Oklahoma City officials to establish wireless hot spots in the central parts of the city that have the most visitors. Downtown and Bricktown are obvious choices. So is the Meridian hotel corridor.

Roy Williams, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, said chamber officials are reviewing proposals submitted by several national wireless providers.

"We want someone who is in that business and understands that industry to tell us whether it is economically viable," Williams said. "The reason you don't see this everywhere is that it's still evolving. There are multiple ways to approach it. That's why we're anxious to see these business models."

The biggest question is who will pay for the service and how much. Some wireless networks charge individual users when they log on. But there are ways to make the service free to visitors.

Local businesses could underwrite a wireless network. Williams said some wireless providers are looking at ways to generate advertising revenue to keep user charges down.

"We do know that if it's not user-friendly, then it's not going to work," Williams said. "If it's a cumbersome system that's expensive, that's not a viable business model."

A decision on how to proceed with wireless in Oklahoma City is expected by the end of the year, Williams said.

Officials in Tulsa are playing the waiting game.

Ben Stout, Tulsa's chief technology officer, said he's been watching what other cities are doing, including Oklahoma City. He said many cities are moving slowly because they can't afford to make mistakes with the new technology.

"A lot of cities are touting that they have wi-fi," Stout said. "But we're being cautious. We want to make sure we don't spend a lot of money on something we would have to go replace in a few years."

Statewide, there is no coordinated effort to establish wireless networks. The issue is being discussed by government officials, but there are no concrete efforts in place, such as in Georgia.

Paul Sund, spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry, said the governor's staff is working with the Commerce Department and local chambers of commerce to encourage wireless network development. "The way you land the best jobs is to make your state attractive to high tech industries and the kind of people they are looking at for employees," Sund said. "Wi-fi is critical in doing that."

The same questions being asked by those in Oklahoma City are keeping many communities out of the wireless game for now, said Jim Mason, vice president of technology initiatives for The State Chamber.

He said there is a lot of talk about wireless, but until it works somewhere in the state, many communities are nervous about taking the lead. One of the big questions is how many people will actually use a broad wireless network.

"We're kind of hoping to see someone be successful so we can look at it as a model," Mason said." Statewide, I think it makes a lot of sense to be able to offer this service. But it takes kind of a groundswell of need. You can't just build it and hope that they'll come."

Could the slowness of the implementation of wifi be due to agressive efforts of broadband companies to protect their downtown market shares?

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Could be, but what I dont understand is why the city is waiting.

I mean, we're not asking them to implement a 100 Mb per second highspeed wireless internet or anything (so broadband companies can rest assured that there would be little hit to their market). How about a simple T1 line or two in different sectors of downtown, where business people, creative class, and suburbanites can come and use their laptop or PDA and be downtown!!!

Wouldn't that be yet another incentive - an internet connection. And it wouldn't have to cost so much or be market intrusive either.

Get off of your a**es and get with the 21 Century. Especially since OKC is looking to improve its I.T. ness and creative class downtown!

Let me tell ya, that might do it.

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