Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Later For T-Mobile, Nextel, Cingular and Over Priced Coffee Joints- FREE Wi-Fi is Here!

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 16:21:01 -0400

Later For T-Mobile, Nextel, Cingular and Over Priced Coffee Joints- FREE Wi-Fi is Here!

-------- Original Message --------
From: Anthony Townsend <[email-masked]>
Subject:  802.11 Planet - "Wi-Fi 'Hotspots' Go Live in Downtown NYC"

These will launch officially later in the week, but they are now open 
for pre-launch use.

Also, there is an error in this article - Emenity did not create the 
Bryant Park Wireless Network, but rather NYCwireless did relying on 
volunteers Terry Schmidt, Marcos Lara, Sandeep Hingorani, and myself.

--------------

http://www.80211-planet.com/columns/article.php/2198211
802.11 Planet

Wi-Fi 'Hotspots' Go Live in Downtown NYC
By Ryan Naraine

New York City's Downtown Alliance has turned to modern technology -- 
Wi-Fi 'hotspots' --  to lure business to one of the oldest business 
districts.

On Friday (May 1), the Alliance is expected to launch three public 
802.11-compliant public network nodes to give away high-speed wireless 
Internet access and four more will go live later in May.

The first public 'hotspot' (define) will be set up at City Hall Park, 
Bowling Green Park, Rector Park later this week.  Later this month, 
nodes will be available in Liberty Plaza Park, Vietnam Veteran's 
Memorial Part at 55 Water Street and at South Street Seaport.

Jordan Silbert, Director of Rebuilding Initiatives for the Downtown 
Alliance, told internetnews.com plans are in place for a seventh 
location within the Alliance's coverage area -- roughly from City Hall 
to the Battery, from the East River to West Street.

The 'hotspots' are being built and maintained by wireless networks 
consulting firm Emenity, which is a spin-off of the non-profit NYC 
Wireless community group.  NYC Wireless was among the pioneers of open 
wireless 'hotspots' in public spaces throughout the New York region.

Emenity spokesman Anthony Townsend told internetnews.com the rollout of 
the 'hotspots' downtown would create a Wi-Fi enabled zone "anywhere 
within a five-minute walk in Lower Manhattan.

Emenity, which also built a Wi-Fi 'hotspot' in Bryant Park on 42nd 
Street, said a single access point (define) would be used alongside a 
dedicated server at each location.  Technically, the 'hotspot' can 
allow up to 254 simultaneous connection but if usage trends upwards, he 
said the company would add access points and bandwidth to avoid 
overload.

"We're expecting dozens of users in the interim, rather than hundreds 
so I don't anticipate a problem with usage," Townsend said.

For the Downtown Alliance, which is spending about $50,000 to set up 
the 'hotspots' and less than $20,000 a year to keep them running, the 
returns are immeasurable, Silbert explained.

"They (Emenity) gave us a fantastic deal on this and the benefits are 
huge for our district. First of all, it's going to be a wonderful area 
amenity for downtown residents, workers and visitors," he said.

More importantly, Silbert public networks will be an "innovative way of 
generating business for area retailers and activity for area 
attractions."

Once the networks are up and running, anyone with a wireless-enabled 
laptop or device can sit in one of the area parks and access the signal 
to log on for an unlimited time.

"It's been tough in lower Manhattan in the last 18 months.  We're 
looking at using cutting edge technology to help generate interest for 
the area. This is a powerful demonstration that lower Manhattan is at 
the cutting edge and is open for business.  It's important to remind 
people that we have the most robust powerful infrastructure anywhere, 
especially after the destruction of September 11," he added.

Last year, the Alliance installed an 802.11b (define) WLAN in a base 
station at 25 Broadway to power the Bowling Green Park 'hotspot and 
Silbert said the success of that test led to the decision to expand the 
networks throughout the Alliance's coverage area.

He said the locations were strategically chosen to allow "anyone to 
walk to a 'hotspot' within five minutes from any point below Chambers 
Street."

For Emenity, the Downtown Alliance deal adds a big-name client to its 
roster for wireless network consulting services.  The six-employee firm 
is avoiding the subscription-based Wi-Fi services -- adopted by 
Starbucks and cafes nationwide -- in favor of free public networks that 
"differentiate real estate space," Townsend explained.

"We're promoting a different kind of business model for Wi-Fi.  Instead 
of subscriptions from subscribers, we see value in providing easy to 
use wireless networks," he said.  For the client, the value lies in 
modernizing real estate space to offer high-speed wireless access.

In terms of what it costs to put free Wi-Fi in a building lobby, it's a 
trivial amount of money. But it does differentiate the building as a 
place to do business," Townsend said.

To install, run and manage a Wi-Fi 'hotspot' (a single access point and 
including bandwidth), Emenity charges less than $20,000 a year, 
Townsend said, noting that the company was looking at a wider variety 
of spaces beyond the coffee shops and hotel lobbies.

"We're at the beginning of a very large transformation of the way 
people use use computers. Using a laptop or a PDA in a mobile 
environment is a lot different from using the desktop PC.  With Wi-Fi, 
it's about communication. It's about finding bits of information on the 
road and not about doing research and staying online for a very long 
time," he explained.

While the Downtown Alliance's public Wi-Fi networks is being hypes as 
the "largest free wireless zone" in the country, it's certainly not the 
first. On the West Coast, the Bay Area Wireless Users Group (BAWUG) has 
been busy promoting wireless use for the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

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---

From: "Dan Jones" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 19:06:51 -0400

There's also plenty of NYCWireless hotspots up and running in the East
Village and rest of Manhattan already. I use them quite frequently.

Dan Jones
Senior Editor, Unstrung

-----Original Message-----
From: Marcel [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 4:21 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Later For T-Mobile, Nextel, Cingular and Over Priced
Coffee Joints- FREE Wi-Fi is Here!

Later For T-Mobile, Nextel, Cingular and Over Priced Coffee Joints- FREE
Wi-Fi is Here!

-------- Original Message --------
From: Anthony Townsend <[email-masked]>
Subject:  802.11 Planet - "Wi-Fi 'Hotspots' Go Live in Downtown NYC"

--------------

 

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---

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 20:24:57 -0400

Dan,

Thanks for the article correction. It's great press!
Has this been expanded to other states?

---

From: "Bulldog" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 13:59:50 -0000

The information whore is at it again.  See the FILES section for the 
upload. It will eventually be integrated into a database and sortable 
by click or query on www.enyo.org

Send me other, non-published, public WiFi spots.

Message to Nextel: you better bite off on Flarion or something 
similar.  Your $400 snail modem and $55 a month ain't gonna cut it.

Sprint is $179 modem, $100 a month.  Recurring it to high, but its 3G.

My sole objective is to prove Andy Seybold correct.  There is no Wi-
Fi business model.  I just bought the antenna the guy at vpizza.org 
recommended.  Gonna pump my signal a mile down the road to Starbucks.

So sense in paying for WiFi...

~Dawg

--- In [email-masked], Marcel <Marcelrf@B...> wrote:
> > From: Marcel [mailto:Marcelrf@B...]
> > From: Anthony Townsend <anthony@n...>

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