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The Case for a Public Wireless  Network in Sauk County

The MoveTheTower web site is proposing that Sauk County should consider building a state-of-the-art high-speed wireless Internet network to cover the entire county. This standards-based  network  (WiMax - 802.16) should allow every resident access for free or a very low cost. We need a public review of the current county plans, and an independent review of these plans before proceeding.

The technology can be overwhelming for the average citizen. This page will attempt to make the case for a public network by providing links to news articles that are directly relevant to a county like Sauk County. Sauk County is hilly, 840 square miles in area with a population of 50,000.

If you agree that Sauk County should at least consider a public wireless network that every resident can use then you must contact your county supervisor immediately and express your opinion. You can also do more to help promote this idea by letting others know about this web site.

Check back here regularly as we will be updating this page every day or so. You might want to sign up to receive our Online Newsletter.

List of Articles:

• IEEE - What People Are Saying about IEEE 802.16
  • This dated list includes an incomplete but nonselective collection of external references.
     
• April 26, 2004 Business Week No Wires, No Rules
  • New wireless technologies will soon reconfigure the Web using radio spectrum that doesn't cost a dime
  • BT has installed a series of radio towers that beam signals across the countryside to small antennas on the sides of customers' homes. The system is about as fast as traditional broadband but much cheaper to set up.
  • Wi-Fi is just the first step, though. Hard on its heels are four equally innovative technologies -- WiMax, Mobile-Fi, ZigBee, and Ultrawideband -- that will push wireless networking into every facet of life, from cars and homes to office buildings and factories.
     
• Maryland County Introduces Region-Wide Carrier-Class Community Broadband Network
  • today forward-thinking enterprise and quasi-enterprises such as municipal governments are leading a new trend in telecom
  • Allegany County concluded that its economic future depends heavily on the ability to offer business and residential users carrier-class broadband services. Unsatisfied by the spotty and slow pace of private carrier broadband deployments and facing the prospect of investing millions of dollars to deploy fiber, the county sought alternative solutions.
  • "While fiber would have provided more capacity, with the Alvarion solution we were able to deploy the same carrier grade of access services as we could with fiber, but at a fraction of the cost. Since we act as our own carrier, there are no local fees to pay so our ISP partners will enjoy access to the network at wholesale prices.
  • "Like numerous other rural communities throughout North America, the people of Allegany County faced overwhelming financial and logistical challenges when contemplating the deployment of critical broadband services using fiber or other wireline methods," added Amir Rosenzweig, President of Alvarion, Inc. "The vision that Allegany County leaders realized that by employing a wireless solution with the same reliability, security, and quality of service capabilities as wired technologies, they could become their own carrier, and take control of their broadband future. And even better, wireless broadband gave them the ability to do it much faster and at a dramatically lower cost than is possible by any other means."

• March 16, 2004 "Rural Oregon goes Wi-Fi, blazing trails in technology"
  • "This is so new everybody is trying to figure it out," EZ Wireless President Fred Ziari said of wireless fidelity networks, or Wi-Fi, as they're known"
  • "This is a model we think is going to take off around the nation."
  • "broadband wireless network went live...initially as a service available to police officers, firefighters and other first responders to emergencies. Soon, he said, it will be commercially available to any area residents in the market for high-speed Internet service."
  • "Beard often is asked how a sparsely settled farming region came to have the Northwest's biggest and most sophisticated wireless computer network. The question usually takes a pejorative tone, and Beard likes to reply that rural Oregon folks can do a few things, too."
     
• Nov. 30, 2003 - "Houston (County Georgia) could be first wireless county in U.S.
                              Internet would be available anywhere in the county without plugging in"
  • Houston County - 376 square miles, $2,000,000 project.
  • Terry Smithson, education marketing manager for Intel, said the new technology, called 802.16 or WiMax, could make Houston the first completely wireless county in the United States.
  • Smithson said providing the service to all of Houston County would probably require two communications towers, each providing service in a 30-mile radius.
  • Morgan Law, executive director of the Houston County Development Authority, said the service could have an important impact on the county's ability to attract and retain businesses.
     
• December, 2003 - Quick Study: WiMax - ComputerWorld
  • WiMax is the popular name of the 802.16 wireless metropolitan-area network standard that's currently being developed. WiMax, which will have a range of up to 31 miles, is primarily aimed at making broadband network access widely available without the expense of stringing wires (as in cable-access broadband) or the distance limitations of Digital Subscriber Line.
  • The popularity of wireless networking has grown very quickly because of effective standardization.
  • a backbone of base stations is connected to a public network, and each base station supports hundreds of fixed subscriber stations
  • The Washington-based Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association reports that in 2000, there were upwards of 109 million cellular subscribers—compared with 58 million residential wired telephone lines (according to U.S. government data). If we consider that part of the telecommunications industry to be an indicator of what's to come in data networking, it's likely that in a few years, much of the Internet's traffic will be carried over the air via WiMax and its descendants, not over copper wires or optical fiber.
     
• 802.16/WiMAX, Strategic Overview 2004
  • While DSL and cable modem providers are enjoying a duopoly that will remain in tact for the next four years, the winds of change will soon be apparent for broadband providers. According to a new study by Visant Strategies, wireless solutions for broadband will outpace the growth of wireline options beginning in 2009.

• June 2, 2004 - Motorola wireless platform earns security certification
  • By 2006, major technology companies such as AT&T Corp., Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. and Intel Corp. expect solutions based on the 802.16 wireless standard, commonly known as WiMax. Like Canopy, WiMax is meant to be a wireless broadband solution for providing high-speed Internet connections. 
  • “Secure communications are a specialized need for many public and private entities, from government agencies to law enforcement to banking. Certification of our AES algorithm provides assurance to those customers that the Canopy solution meets the government’s rigorous standards,”
     
• September 18, 2003 San Mateo Police now using Internet to solve local crime cases
  • Currently, forty squad cars are hooked up via laptop to 17 Wi-Fi cells spread throughout downtown, covering a 1-square mile radius area from First Avenue to Highway 92 and from El Camino Real to Delaware Street. There are also a few hot spots throughout the city's neighborhoods. And local police say that's just the beginning.
  • The SMPD, which was able to leverage funds from federal and state technology grants, has spent roughly $25,000 on the network so far.
     
• May 10, 2004 Newsweek "Wireless Made Simple"
  • The Next Big Thing - It's one thing to do away with the data cables in your home, but it's quite another thing altogether to do away with the cables coming into your home. That's precisely the premise behind WiMAX technology (also known as 802.16), which will hit the market in 2005 and will function as a sort of long-range Wi-Fi connection, or, more importantly, a wireless alternative to cable modems and DSL. WiMAX can offer wireless connectivity at up to 30 miles from an antenna at speeds of up to 75 mbps (maximum bandwidth is achieved at under 5 miles). For perspective, cable modems bring in data at just over 1 mbps.
  • Initially, look for WiMAX to offer "last mile" services to areas where cable and phone companies don't offer broadband Internet connections--imagine a fixed antenna on the outside of your house picking up the WiMAX signal, while a conventional Wi-Fi network distributes it throughout your home. Although WiMAX will primarily be used for broadband Internet access, it could eventually deliver digital TV as well. Eventually, expect to see cheap WiMAX cards for laptops that allow high-speed wireless broadband almost anywhere.
     

Related Links:

• Sauk County is building the wrong network
• IEEE 802 General Information

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