Metro Wireless Defined

Most people today recognize and understand what wireless broadband is and in many cases it is used everyday. You may have a wireless router in your home, connect to a hotspot in a local cafe or an airport.

These are the most common types of wireless connections that people are used to and understand. However there is another type of wireless that is less know which is called fixed wireless. This technology is primarily used in areas that are underserved by DSL or cable companies. People connect to the wireless network with a wireless radio, that in most cases, is attached to the home or business and then an ethernet cable is run inside the building to connect to a PC or a wireless router. This is similar to satellite in the installation, but that is where the similarity ends. The radio connects to an access point that is at a tower location in close proximity to the neighborhood.
The advantage of fixed wireless is that companies can quickly deploy a network in an area that is more economically viable then DSL or cable. The internet speeds, or throughput can be as fast as DSL or cable and in some cases exceed them.
One of the draw backs however, is that you can only get a limited amount of subscribers on a single access point before you start experiencing network degregation. When this happens throughput drops and customers can experience slower speeds. To combat this problem, more access points can be installed to expand the network. However, there are a limited amount of channels to choose from and pretty soon you have maxed out the network and the amount of subscribers you can add to it. If there are too many access points in a given area you start seeing interference "noise" from all of the access points and radios talking to each other. When that happens there are collisions from all of the data trying to talk to the access point wanting to get out on the internet. Again, what the customer experiences is slow speeds, or no internet at all.

Don't get me wrong, I primarly use fixed wireless for my networks and they perform exceptionally well. Fixed wireless again is primarily used for low population, rural areas that are underserved by DSL or cable and is a great solution. Fixed wireless does not work well in areas where you want to serve the needs of 100's of customers in a dense population. This is where Metro Wireless comes in.

To define Metro Wireless down to its most basic form, I would say that the goal would be to saturate an area with a wireless signal. To accomplish this many access points have to be installed in a given area. Depending on the size of a city this could be in the 100's. The problem that was discussed earlier is interference from all of the devices talking to each other.

Fixed wireless and Metro Wireless are very similar in that people connect to the network with a wireless card, or a wireless device. Metro Wireless however uses a technology call "mesh". This is where all of the access points talk to each other. One access point creates an internet cloud and every access point that is added expands that cloud. The more access points the bigger the network and in turn the more subscribers you can support on the network. If an access point fails traffic is not interrupted because the nearest access point picks up that traffic and passes it along the network and back out to the internet.

The access points are placed several hundred feet from each other, they share load on the network and decide the best route for the data to pass through it. Multiple SSID's or network names can be implemented on the access points so that the general public, fire and rescue, business and the city can have their own private network to connect to. Each SSID or network name can redirect the customer to individual splash pages. For instance, general subscribers could be directed to information about how to subscribe, or be allowed to surf in a limited capacity to local news, city information such as utilities, local businesses and tourist info.
Fire and rescue could be redirected to their splash page where they could connect to their database to retrieve information, documents, or upload reports and video.

The mesh architecture uses far less resources to route traffic through the network then a typical fixed wireless network and in turn there is more available bandwidth for the end-user. The network can scale itself to a point that will allow the potential of thousands of connections on a single network. It can even prioritize traffic to allow more sensitive connections like voice over IP (VOIP), or wireless voice over IP (WVOIP).

In the past the availabilty to bring many different services over a wireless network were non-existant. We are moving into a new era where people are demanding more and better services then before. When city, fire and rescue, utilities, businesses, tourists and the general public have these options available to them on a single network these demands can be fullfilled and expanded upon.

My goal is to gather the neccessary resources and capital to bring Durango into the new internet world. Dozens of cities are implementing their own Metro WiFi networks as we speak. Why should Durango not be one of them.

Is Durango ready for MetroWiFi?

I guess the question should be, does Durango need MetroWiFi, the short answer I believe is yes. When you look at Durango as a city, what comes to mind to most people is that it is a tourist driven town. It in itself offers many tourist attractions as well as a hub for skiing, hiking, fishing and camping to name a few. In our fast paced world it has become a neccessity to be able to communicate with the office and check email while at the same time being the tourist. While there are some hotels and hotspots that offer pay or free wireless access, it is not widely available and not available whenever and wherever it is needed. MetroWiFi could and does fill this need.

This by itself does not constitute a valid point to raise enough capital that would blanket the city limits of Durango with MetroWiFi. Up until now no one could create a good business model to make it feasible. Even if you offered it to the residents that have DSL and cable available to them, the model would still fall short of the return on investment.

Imagine the local Durango police department being able to connect to a secure VPN connection that allows them to instantly access suspect photos, vehicle registration, outstanding warrants, and drivers licenses with their mobile laptop in their vehicle. The officers can take photos of a suspect or the scene of an accident and send them over the secure connection back to the police department.

The fire department could have building plans available before and during a fire. They could determine if there are hazardous materials in the building. Communication between the fire department, police, emergency management personel and the utilities would be improved. Video, photos and WiFi enabled phones could be used as well to better prepare each department for each individual situation over the WiFi network.

With the MetroWiFi you now have the capability of enabling the water and electric meters to communicate over the WiFi network. The utility departments could have access to information on meters on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly rate. This would allow for more accurate reading and whether there might be a potential water leak at a customers residence or place of business. When someone moves, you could instantly read the meter via the wireless network rather then sending a city worker to take a reading and delaying the billing process. Time and funds would be saved by not having to manually read meters which can be inaccurate and potentially hazardous when considering that many times a meter reader has to physically read it. They have to possibly hop the fence or be confronted with a dog. When automatic meter reading is used over the WiFi network it also frees up the man hours needed to manually read them.

Building inspectors are mobile and would benefit from a MetroWiFi network. They can access old records in the database over the secure connection. They can also issue permits over the network which will save time when they no longer have to go back to the office to file them.

Local businesses as well can benefit, they can replace expensive leased line T-1 connections, implement VOIP services and have employees that are mobile and more productive.

We cannot fail to mention the benefit it will have to the general public. The citizens of Durango can access the city network anytime any place. They can have a connection in their home which also allows them authorization to go mobile with their laptop or other wireless devices they use. They can go to the park of a local diner and access the internet over the same connection they enjoy at home. Also, a discounted connection can be offered to people that cannot afford highspeed internet.

When you can combine all these services into one network offering it becomes considerably more apealling. Your return on investment becomes more concrete and the benefit to the community is substantial. The goal is to have these services available to the masses, not just the people that can afford it, while at the same time creating a successful business model.

In the next post I will explain how the MetroWiFi works
If you have any questions or want to contribute in some way feel free to contact me
here!