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Mpls Wi-Fi to Require Special Modem?
The Strib is reporting that US Internet will require users to buy or rent a "special modem" to use the Minneapolis city-wide WiFi service. Bad reporting or bad tech?
28 Reader Comments
I'm betting on bad reporting.
Wouldn't this be essentially the same as having to get a modem from your current cable provider?
What troubles me is having to have this "special modem" for accessing the wi-fi outdoors or in a park. Am I supposed to haul it around with me and run it off batteries if I want to sit by the lake and be on the Internet? More importantly, is it going to be Mac compatible and will there be a tech support person who can talk Mac users through any problems?
$20 high-speed wireless sounds nice, but for me there are still way too many unanswered questions. Or maybe the information is somewhere out there that I can't find?
Anonymous, I think Bill's point is that Wi-Fi usually refers to a standard wireless networking protocol. If they are using true wi-fi (i.e. 802.11b or 802.11g), then you should be able to connect to the network with off the shelf wi-fi cards from most computer stores or that are usually built right into most new laptops sold today. It seems odd that you'd be required to buy or rent a "special modem." My bet (and hope) is also that it is bad reporting. Creating a proprietary wireless network requiring the purchase of additional equipment or payment of additional fees would seem to defeat the purpose of making this as accessible to as wide of a population base as possible.
Kwatt highlights another important point about using proprietary/special vs standard wireless equipment. If they use standard wi-fi, it is pretty much guaranteed to work with wireless cards for Mac, Windows, even handhelds like Palms and Pocket PC's.
My understanding (from the report on the city website) is that the modem is for "CPE," which stands for "customer premises equipment." Which leads me to believe the modem is only for people who order the service for their homes, and is a necessary part of the wireless technology just like a cable modem is necessary for getting cable internet. I'm no tech wizard, though, so maybe I'm wrong. It looks to me like the wi-fi would work with a laptop and your standard wireless card in a park or other public space where there's free access. I seem to remember paying something like $50 for my cable modem along with the ridiculous $45/month for the service!
I've emailed my city council member as well as contacted a friend who works at City Hall who is familiar with this. She's talked with another council member about it and is contacting people in charge of Minneapolis Wireless. I should get some solid information in an hour or so.
The US internet proposal relied on 802.16d (aka Wi-MAX) and yes that requires special hardware but it's hardly proprietary. I'm have my eye on this juicy piece of hardware in particular.
But who cares. My excitement for an interesting project by the city to provide broadband access to all has quickly soured under the weight of all these proposals on how how to best use the technology to surveil and monitor the citizens of the city.
They already have the cameras on a few interchanges connected to the the prototype wireless networks currently in place on both the wimax and the 4.9 ghz public safety signal and they did a demo a few weeks ago showing the benefits of getting live video from surveillance cameras in "bars" and "gas stations" directly to squad car laptops to see robberies in progress.
Other highlights of planned usage of bandwidth by the city include parking monitoring and enforcement and the ever popular "graffiti management." I have little doubt that it will quickly need to become "a safe web" for children or whatever so that all traffic to and from access points can be tracked to user and access denied to "questionable content."
All for the kids you know. I'd love to be wrong for a change.
My guess is that there is special software to handle security (i.e., identifying paying subscribers). This software would work with your average wireless card, but not all cards will be compatible. And ordering the "special modem" through the city's ISP would be just one of the available options for getting compatible hardware.
Nothing is free.
Art and sex are always better when they are free.
"Don't believe the florist when he tells you that the roses are free"
-Dean Ween
Will the new Wi-fi do anything about MNSpam?
BTW my friend Faith Farrell won the spam cooking contest and is on her way to the Spam hall of fame! I may have to drive down to Austin for the induction ceremony! If you see her about congratulate her.
I have many many questions. What if you live *close* to MPLS, like the sw-Edina border? Are you up for crappy wireless signal? none at all?
And can you hack in? Or is it like a Starbucks where you pay to access their signal?
And what about the rest of the metro area?
And why were "poor people" mentioned twice in the article? Do poor people really care about wifi when it's doubtful there is even a wireless device in the home?
Can the wireless signal be converted to a wired signal, and a cat5, for a computer with no wireless card?
And...that's all for now. I think.
Here's an earlier press release that should answer a lot of your questions, cheers.
You'll have to pay for access: $20 for people, $30 for businesses (1MB/sec). WiMax is forthcoming (60MB/sec) and will cost more, once the WiMax standard is... er, standardized.
Part of the reasoning for this project is to close the "digital divide" between people who have internet access, and those who don't. Part of the fees paid by users will be used to bring more people online.
I blame the real estate agents.
Even if you live close to the border, I doubt they'll offer it to non-Minneapolis residents. But maybe they won't care about your zip code, so long as you pay. As for the rest of the metro, other cities are weighing their own wireless internet options, but I couldn't tell you which ones off the top of my head. I know there have been rumblings of such a project here in Eagan in the past, but I have no idea where that ever went.
Wireless to wired--the short answer is yes, you can connect a non wi-fi device to a wi-fi network with an adapter. I suspect whatever "special" equipment the ISP offers would take care of that, but as an example, I have a networked hard drive (wired ethernet) at home that has no wi-fi built in, but it's connected to my wi-fi network using a $40 adapter that plugs into the ethernet jack.
I have a networked hard drive (wired ethernet) at home that has no wi-fi built in, but it's connected to my wi-fi network using a $40 adapter that plugs into the ethernet jack.
Sexy!
G'damn right! Come and get it, ladies!
FYI, the committee hearing on the wi-fi contract is happening right now on channel 79.
From someone at city hall who did some legwork for me on this issue: "If you have a wireless card, it will be compatible. For home use, if you have a wireless card you're good to go. If you have nothing, you will need to buy a modem."
I also reviewed some PDFs that were exchanged between US Internet and the City and they never fully explain it... just that US Internet can provide wireless equipment to customers on a buy or lease basis.
They are "talking about it in committee right now." (3:35pm)
-Aaron
the term sheet states that US Internet will be using Ruckus for their provisioning. That means the device for sale will most likely look something like:
The specifications and feature set are pretty standard fare.
The real question is, will it make you waffles?
I don't know what it is, but I want one.
Thanks for clearing that up Aaron.
Also glad to know that wireless toilet paper holders are now available.
You know, if you plug a special adapter into the jack on an old toilet paper holder...never mind. ;-)
I think I saw that flying over Hazeltine Nat'l the other day.
the only reason I could think of to need 'special equipment' for a regular wifi connection (not wimax) is if they want to couple service to approved MAC addresses or something, but even that makes no sense because they can just register your current wifi adapter's address. Bizarro bad reporting it seems.
Will i b able to connect to wimax using a wifi card and vice versa( access wifi with wimax card)?
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