MuniWireless

Lompoc, California has announced the launch of its citywide Wi-Fi network called LompocConnect. I wrote about Lompoc’s FTTH plus citywide Wi-Fi project last year (see November 2004 article) but this time, it’s going live. The city plans to charge $5 a day (for visitors) and $20 a month (no contract!). Anyone who wants to rent an access point can do Lompoc, California has announced the launch of its citywide Wi-Fi network called LompocConnect. I wrote about Lompoc’s FTTH plus citywide Wi-Fi project last year (see November 2004 article) but this time, it’s going live. The city plans to charge $5 a day (for visitors) and $20 a month (no contract!). Anyone who wants to rent an access point can do so for $5 a month. The city expects to deliver bandwidth in excess of 1 Mbps (symmetrical, that is upload and download speeds are the same). Verizon and Comcast are charging between $30-40 per month in Lompoc for tinyband access (between 256 and 384 Kbps upload). I suspect there’s a lot of air in these prices and as a customer, you have to sign a contract with termination charges.

I am pleased to see that the city has decided to charge very reasonable prices for service. Compare this to the $9.95 I paid at a T-Mobile hotspot at Borders in Houston last week for 24 hours access, except of course I was online for only two hours and not 24. Worse is the Hilton in downtown Austin where I stayed while attending the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Unlike the Omni which is offering guests free Wi-Fi, the Hilton charges $9.95 per day for wired or wireless access. The network is so slow I could paint my fingernails and toenails with the latest Chanel spring nail polish (Ballerina) while waiting for my emails to come in. The hassle of logging in and logging out, remembering passwords, and so on is something a hotel should never put its guests through. Next year, I am staying at the Omni unless the Hilton, which is a wonderful hotel with terrific facilities, offers complimentary Wi-Fi.

I would not mind paying $5 per day but for access nearly everywhere in the city. The $20 monthly charge without a contract is also perfect for long term visitors (for example, if you are staying for two weeks or more) or people who go to Lompoc often on business. Why can’t it be this easy?

Details on LompocConnect

The LompocConnect Network will cost roughly $1.9 million when fully deployed. About half of that cost is allocated to purchasing equipment and the balance is for initial operations expenses including the first year of maintenance and the cost of the Internet bandwidth. You can download the feasibility study (which contains detailed financials from here).

The backhaul from the mesh to the Internet gateway uses Motorola Canopy radios (there are 22 backhaul radios placed throughout the city) to connect to city-owned facilities where fiber is available. Everything ties back to City Hall where the Internet gateway is installed. There are 123 Tropos nodes that have been deployed to serve 5.5 square miles (14 sq km). They are using Pronto Networks for the subscriber management function.

Lompoc plans to use the network for public safety and utility applications, but not during the initial deployment. These public benefit activities were not used to justify the costs of the system in the business model. The model - public access - stands on its own based on subscriber fees.

Although roaming with other city networks has been discussed at length, no decisions have been made as to how roaming might best be accomplished.

Lompoc is somewhat unique because the City is planning to deploy FTTH as well. The Wi-Fi is Phase 1 of a $27 million project. When the FTTH is up and running, the City will offer the Wi-Fi service as a bundled product along with the FTTH service. You’ll be able to get the traditional “triple-play” fiber offerings as well as Wi-Fi from one source.

[Note: Thanks to Mark McKibben of McKibben Consulting, the city’s consultant on this project)