MuniWireless

An article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the Minneapolis municipal wireless network says that the provider, US Internet, has 14,000 subscribers but the city is not using the network as intensively as they had planned. The city pays USI $1.25 million per year for its use of the network but so far, it uses only $50,000 worth of service. The unused portion rolls over to the next year. The initial muni uses for the network are public safety (police…

We are all wondering how Minneapolis’s Wi-Fi network is doing. Are people using it? What’s the user experience?

Julio Ojeda-Zapata used US Internet’s service in various locations with a MacBook Air and an iPod Touch, and gives it good marks. He says: I was in! On my laptop, the wireless network worked dependably. Over lunch at a Thai restaurant on Washington Avenue, I was able to fire off e-mails to my editors, “tweet” on the Twitter microblogging service and make Internet-based…

It’s a bit behind schedule and somewhat over budget but, by the end of the month, Minneapolis‘ muni Wi-Fi network will be a reality. And, by all reports, folks there think it’s worth the wait. The network merited its share of attention last year following the collapse of an interstate highway bridge in the city, performing data communications services for first responders after the city’s cellular service failed to deliver.

The city’s choice of private partners seems to be the “secret…

All zones of Minneapolis’s municipal Wi-Fi network will be delivering wireless Internet access by March 11. The roll-out comes nearly four months after it was originally anticipated and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says  “some significant dead areas within those zones will remain for a while” due to problems accessing 124 light poles needed to mount and power the antennas. Spokespersons for the city’s provider, US Internet, said the company is continuing to negotiate pole use issues with Xcel Energy.

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In an editorial entitled “Minneapolis Wi-Fi is quieting the critics: Wireless network avoids problems that hamper other cities,” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune delivered high praise for the city’s Wi-Fi network, qualified only by the admission that success will become apparent after the network’s completion, expected in March. The paper reported that users in areas where the network is complete have reported “mixed but improving performance ”

Editorial writers acknowledged their own initial misgivings about the project, saying “There were concerns about the…

Novarum’s newest comparisons of muni network performance won’t officially be out until next month but Belair Networks and USI Wireless, respectively the hardware supplier and service provider for Minneapolis’ storied high speed network, are claiming the top performance among city networks. Novarum officials confirmed that the claim is premature. Still, good things appear to be happening in Minneapolis.

Belair and USI apparently jumped the gun with this announcement. It seems Belair contracted with Novarum to performance-test the Minneapolis network and those…