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Grand Rapids’s wireless Internet pick could cover entire city
By Larry Hendrick | December 7, 2006
Friend Dave (B2Blog) sent a news story about the city of Grand Rapids moving forward on their Muni WiFi project. They have selected their provider of choice and it looks like they propose the use of WiMax technology.
Readers of this website know that WiMax will revolutionize the Internet business, but not before any devices are approved by the FCC (the highlight in the news story is mine).
If anyone knows of any approved units for USA use, please let me know (not the units approved for Europe). I really want to find what units they are proposing to use in this deployment. Searches on the FCC site have not yielded any approvals for WiMax that I can find.
MLive.com: Search
Called WiMAX, the new technology boasts better penetration in buildings and neighborhoods than Wi-Fi, the wireless system used in most businesses and cities today, said city officials, who chose Clearwire from nine proposals submitted earlier this year.
“If this works, there won’t be a blank spot in the city. We’ll be entirely under a wireless cloud,” said Mayor George Heartwell, who called for the development of a citywide wireless network two years ago.
Heartwell said the new technology will be a drawing card for businesses and young professionals who want to live and work in the city.
If there’s a drawback, WiMAX technology still is under development and will require hardware upgrades for computers already equipped for Wi-Fi.
“It’s brand-new technology,” said Assistant City Manager Greg Sundstrom, who headed the contract negotiations. City commissioners are expected to act on the three-year contract Tuesday.
Topics: WiFi |