Wireless (and Wired) Minneapolis

Copyright 2005 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

September 28, 2005

Threading a wireless Net; St. Louis Park's citywide Internet service could be inexpensive and convenient, but some critics say the city has no business competing with the private sector.

BYLINE: Ben Steverman; Staff Writer

BODY:
St. Louis Park soon could be going head-to-head with commercial Internet service providers by offering wireless Internet access to all areas of the city.

Residents could log on for less than $25 per month if the city proceeds with plans to install a $4.4 million wireless network throughout St. Louis Park, according to a consultant's report.

Internet service would come to users not through wires but through radio waves, transmitted from about 300 devices placed on streetlight poles.

Advocates of the system say it would give residents a low-cost way to get a fast Internet connection, an approach that's already been tried in Chaska with some success. The wireless system also could be useful to local schools and the city police and public works departments, and supporters of the plan say it would help attract residents and businesses to St. Louis Park.

Critics, including the local Chamber of Commerce, argue that it's a risky investment for a municipal government, whose proper role should not include competing with private businesses such as Qwest and Time Warner Cable.

The city has been investigating wireless Internet for months, holding public meetings, surveying residents and businesses and hiring Virchow & Krause, a consulting company, to study the idea.

The consultants have recommended deploying the system, saying if all goes well, the city could even make a profit on it.

The St. Louis Park City Council is now contemplating three options: Embracing the plan immediately, launching a pilot project to try it out in one area of the city, or rejecting it outright.

The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce will be lobbying against the plan.

"The public sector's role should be to encourage a vibrant, competitive marketplace for business, not copy or compete with private businesses in the actual providing of services," the chamber said in a statement. The chamber warned that a city wireless system would discourage private sector investment and could become obsolete in a few years.

'Social necessity'?

But supporters of the idea say the city would be entering a marketplace for high-speed Internet that's anything but competitive. High-speed Internet access is too expensive, they say, and not available everywhere in St. Louis Park.

"I'd sign up in an instant, and my neighbors would too," St. Louis Park resident Julius Edlavitch said when told the service would cost about $25 per month. He said he's been frustrated by the cost of his high-speed Internet connection, which will increase to $40 or more per month after an introductory offer of $29 per month ends next month.

Some argue that the Internet is becoming like other public utilities. "It's becoming an economic and social necessity for communities to offer these types of options," said City Council member Phil Finkelstein.

Police, school uses

A wireless network also would be useful to police. Capt. Kirk DiLorenzo said officers, using laptop computers in every squad car, try to be at the cutting edge of technology. But their connection to the Internet - using a modem over a mobile phone connection - is slow and can't handle all the data police would like to use, he said. Because a wireless network would make the Internet available from anywhere in the city, officers could download lots of information, especially maps and photos, while on patrol.

The city public works department also could use wireless technology to more efficiently monitor residents' water meters, said Clint Pires, the city staff member who has led the wireless Internet study.

One partner in the project could be the St. Louis Park School District, which already has some of the Internet infrastructure the city would need to deploy a wireless network. Also, the district's director of information services, Tom Marble, said widespread wireless Internet could have an educational benefit. It could better connect parents with their children's schools, and it could make it easier for low-income students to get on the Internet at home.

The school board will review the proposal next month.

Virchow & Krause, the consultants, analyzed the financial implications of a wireless system. Under the current plan, the $4.4 million in start-up costs would be borrowed, and it would take about 7,000 customers for the system to break even. But if cost savings from police and other city departments are included, the city would need fewer customers - about 3,700 - to break even.

The one-year-old system in Chaska - a city with half St. Louis Park's population - has almost 2,300 customers.

The wireless network would rely on so-called "Wi-Fi" technology. Pires said the advantage of Wi-Fi is that it's widely available - most new laptops contain Wi-Fi devices - and it's relatively inexpensive. Customers without the devices could buy or rent one from the city.

If approved, a wireless network could be fully deployed by the fall of 2006.