Where’s the Wi-Fi?
Some cities want to accommodate demand for free service.
Free Wi-Fi isn’t just for coffeehouses any more.
Some cities, including Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, now offer wireless hot spots at parks and City Hall, allowing thousands of visitors to search the Web for free.
Sunrise wants to take it to the next level, but the cost and technological challenges have sunk similar plans in other cities, and some experts say the dream of Wi-Fi everywhere is better left to private business.
“Everywhere we go people seem to want Wi-Fi access,” Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan said. “This is part of our continuing effort to focus on education and recognizing that education doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse doors.”
The initiative would help bridge the digital divide by providing high-speed Internet access to people everywhere, Ryan said.
“For some of the community, highspeed access to Wi-Fi is not always affordable,” he said. “As it relates to families with students, you see a lot of cities looking at this to see if it’s something they can provide.”
Delray Beach has recently made free Wi-Fi available at several parks.
“That Wi-Fi is very important to us,” said Mark Sauer, founder of an afterschool program for at-risk students. “Most of these kids don’t have Wi-Fi at home. And if they do have Wi-Fi, they don’t have a reliable computer or laptop. This is a huge deal.”
Hallandale Beach also provides free wireless connections at City Hall and several parks.
“It’s good business,” city spokesman
Peter Dobens said. “Right now, everything is going Internet. That’s why our Teen Zone has a big computer center atO.B. Johnson Park.”
But not all cities have found success on the technological frontline.
Seven years ago, Hollywood spent $3.8 million on a network that never worked. Some residents complained that the city’s network blocked access from their own providers. The city never recovered its investment but is still trying to negotiate a settlement with the provider.
Visitors to CityHall, downtown and three community centers can still access freeWi-Fi, but for now, Hollywood has given up on the idea of expanding itswireless network.
“The challengewas having it be a seamless network with no dead spots,” Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey said. “It’s easier to provide in a building. It’s a different beast when you’re talking about access points outdoors.”
In 2006, Miami Beach had high hopes of being one of the nation’s first cities to go wireless citywide. But the $5million
network launched in 2009 after a three-year delaywas spotty at best. The system was scrapped in 2015.
Miami Beach nowoffers freeWi-Fi only at certain spots, including CityHall, Flamingo Park and two youth centers.
Sunrise officials arewell aware of the multimilliondollar mistakes.
“We need to get more information sowe don’t fall into the same trap,” said Sunrise CityManager Richard Salamon. “San Francisco andHollywood have spent millions of dollars and the system didn’twork. We don’twant to be that city. Wewant to be the city that does it the rightway.”
Most cities have stayed out of the business of offering a citywidewireless network because of the high costs, experts say.
“It’s quite expensive,” said EdKrafcik, a spokesman for Soofa Company, an electronics manufacturer in Boston. “If people have their own carriers and an unlimited data plan, how likely are they going to jump onto a publicWi-Fi network when they have their own?”
High-tech, solar-powered park benches that provide freeWi-Fi have been installed in parks in WashingtonD.C., as part of a pilot program. The data plan costs $600 to $2,000 per year for each bench, Krafcik said.
“We’ve looked at those,” said Salamon, the city manager in Sunrise. “They aren’t cheap, but they’re a lot less expensive than building a wireless network in a park.”
Most cities are letting the private sector pay the high price for wireless infrastructure.
Comcast has 13 million Wi-Fi hot spots nationwide and an estimated 2 million in Florida, company spokeswoman Mindy Kramer said.
“TheWi-Fi network is somethingwe look at as growing and continuing to reach more and more people in more and more places,” she said.“Wi-Fi is almost expected now— outside, everywhere. That’s what our customers are asking for and that’s why we continue to build hot spots.”
“This is part of our continuing effort to focus on education and recognizing that education doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse doors.” Mike Ryan, Sunrise mayor