MuniWireless

Once a municipality decides it’s time to start the wheels in motion for a wireless network, the single most important next step is determining the network’s business model – specifically:

Much of the decision-making around those questions starts with the municipality’s strategic goals for the network. A city or county that wants to deploy an ambitious WiFi cloud…

One important driver for public broadband networks is the ability to support a broad range of mobile devices. Municipalities typically see two major benefits in catering to such activity. The first is to allow citizens to use their own mobile devices, either in hotspot areas or freely roaming around a city. The second is that public workers can perform work such as building inspection, completing forms and reports onsite, and avoiding both the need to return to their offices and…

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2.4 gigahertz The portion of the radio spectrum in the United States typically used by service providers for highspeed wireless communications such as wireless networks, cordless phones, surveillance equipment and others.

3G Short-hand name for the third generation of mobile communications. 3G networks are designed to transmit video and data at high speeds across cellular networks.

4.9 gigahertz The portion of the radio spectrum in the United States allocated specifically for use by public safety organizations, such as police,…

Applications are the lifeblood of any municipal wireless deployment. Often, a municipality will start with a single application – such as public safety, automated meter reading or public access – and use that as the foundation to build and fund the first phase of the network. Once the initial application proves to be successful, the municipality can gradually add other applications that utilize the same basic network infrastructure.

To date, the applications most prevalent on municipal wireless networks are for municipal…

Municipally operated bus, subway and train systems increasingly are adopting wireless networks for use by both consumers (riders) and transit system workers. In 2007, the Trinity Railway Express – serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, including Dallas/Fort Worth Airport – struck a first-of-its-kind deal with Nortel, Colubris and 4G Metro to provide wireless access on its trains. And Caltrain is looking to enter into a similar deal to provide access on trains on their San Jose-San Francisco line.

For railway operators,…