New Orleans to get free city-wide WiFi

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has announced an unprecedented project wherein the entire city will be blanketed by free WiFi within a year. Due to the almost complete devastation of the city's infrastructure, the free Internet access is one attempt to turn the city's stagnant economy into one of growth and independence. Like in most large-scale networks, the New Orleans routers will be placed on top of street lights and provide citizens and businesses with 512 kbps download speeds until the city's state of emergency has been lifted. In accordance with state laws that restrict government-owned Internet providers, speeds will drop to a paltry 128 kbps once the city has returned to some level of normalcy.

[Andy B @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Not bad, I wouldn't mind free city-wide wifi. Maybe this will encourage growth.

[Chadwick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

[sarcasm]This is a great idea[/sarcasm]

[Andre @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Isn't it great to know that the grammar police is always around to make the internet a better place.

Whats with the state-laws restricting bandwidth? did the ISP's lobbyists do this?

[Gregory Pierce @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Okay let me get this straight. Currently large sections of New Orleans still don't have power, many still don't have water and phone. Anything outside of downtown New Orleans is still struggling to get reliable trash pickup. The people in most of New Orleans (orleans parish) have lost their computers in the storm. So .... who exactly is going to be connected to this network? Is it going to stretch into Algiers and Metarie?

Get the damn street lights working first, then start talking about WiFi.

[Chadwick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Is this what the money I donated is going towards?

[ET @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

If they are gonna go to all that trouble to install wifi, why cripple the speed like that? BTW, why did you choose that pic for this story? NO is no longer underwater...

[grundysf @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Wow! the people who lost there homes, families, and jobs will be so excited to hear that now they can have wifi.

[Andrew B @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Thanks to VOIP, this could help ease any continued damage to the telephone infrastructure. Although I'm not sure why the mayor sees fit to make this a priority, this is the one place in the country where it makes sense.

[CowMix @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Now all those stolen laptops can be used properly...

[Mr. B @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

I was pretty surprised to learn of this today. As a NOLA resident, I would have expected to know about this far in advance. Sounds like a good thing to me, although I don't suspect this will mean too much for a couple years.

[REP @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

This major is a joke. As long as you�re mopping the crap up in New Orleans, you might as well mop this guy's ass up. Oh wait I forgot this IS New Orleans. The constituency here is just as dumb as Washington D.C. where they have a crack addict for a mayor.

[alex @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

They need to invest in learning how to follow disaster plans that they have already tabletopped. Idiots.

[Kat @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

I don't see why everyone thinks this is such a stupid idea. It's a way for them to effectively recover their economy. It opens up ways for businesses, primarily small business owners and people who ran their own businesses a way to get back into operation. It also allows people to expand beyond what might have been previously available.
Also the system was donated by three seperate tech companies. If it's a viable way to help refresh and update their economic structure and it was free, what's the problem?

[naiserie @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

for the sake of clarification...the crack addict politician in DC is no longer mayor. he is a city councilman. and besides, "the bitch set [him] up". makes all the difference in the world when you think abou it.

[Stephen VanDyke @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

"I need 512 kbps, man..."

[Reality @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Instead of blowing money on city-wide wifi, they should consider creating jobs (clean-up, construction) with the money and attempt to help people restore their lives. Sure free wifi rocks.. but not when you have no computer, no house, no job, etc. and only a disease-riden, body littered, pathetic hospitals and social services.

[mike blakely @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

As a Tulane student who owns a k-jam, all I can say is FU*K YEAH!

[torkhum @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

people dont have homes and they are providing internet? that is funny.
if you wish to get free gmail... visit my site and use the contact link to send me an email... i will respond promptly... i have plenty email invitations to give away....

[Matt Tyndall @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

I can see the use for this tho. This doesnt need to be a priority but it could help. Like stated before VoIP is ideal for this situation especilaly if you have to communicate to family who might be worried about u. This also creats jobs for people. People who build the infrastructur and then those who maintain it. Also this can help schooling also. Many people just left including teachers and arent comming back this is a good way to fast track some of the education that was lost. And hey its just kool in general but like i said before does not needto be a main thing on the to-do list

[Silver @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

#17, read #14's post.

I think it is something that can definitely taken advantage of by businesses. Whether it should be a priority getting it off the ground is the question to me.

[Robert @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

From the original article:

"Most of the equipment was donated by three companies: Intel Corp., Tropos Networks and Pronto Networks. "

Who's N.O. to turn down free equipment? Yea, it'll cost some money to operate, but I imagine the major cost is in the hardware infrastructure.

People haven't returned in numbers because the jobs aren't there. Free internet and access to VOIP will certainly help businesses down there get back on their feet and bring jobs back.

And you guessed it - bring the people home to fill the jobs.

Of course, work still needs to be done for electricity, water, sewer, trash, etc. But I don't think haivng free WiFi installed isn't going to be a major hinderance to getting the other public services online (pun intended).

[John Stracke @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Free WiFi won't be much of a stimulus if it's capped at 128kbps. This is a boondoggle to make the mayor feel like he's running a Real City.

(Oh, and the crackhead mayor of DC--you mean Marion Barry, right? True, he's not mayor any more; but that's not because of the drug charges: he was reelected *after* he got out of prison.)

[Resource @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Great, now all the poor ass black (and white) people who managed not to get flooded out and probably don't have computers will have another way to be excluded from everything.

This is at least good for businesses though.

Not to turn tech political, but the way Bush is handling this, they'll be at 512 kbps for a while.

[Johnny @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

thats a bit more stupid than the Hono electronic candle.

[New Orleans Native @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

As someone who just happens to live in New Orleans it simply amazes me how stupid so many of you are BUT how bold you are about sharing your opinions about something you know nothing about.

The equipment was donated to the city and they (frankly) didn't know what to do with it... Do they let citizens use it free? Do they charge a token amount? Do they let business owners use it free?

They made the right choice. Let everyone use it for free. This is probably the best single thing that has happened for the the business community in New Orleans in the last month.

And you clueless morons dismiss it.

Please, if you don't know WTF you are talking about, just shut the hell up.

Yes, thousands of computers got flooded... What apprears to be lost on all the know-it-alls is that people did the most remarkable thing when they lost their computers -- THEY BOUGHT NEW ONES. Shocking I know.

Everyone (except one) I know who lost a desktop replaced it with a laptop. New Orleans right now today probably has the highest laptop ownership per capita of any city in the world.

Now you may continue with your unbrideled display of ignorace and hatred.

[Mr. B @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Oh, one more thing. Why the fu** does this story feature a picture of flooding in New Orleans!? The city hasn't been underwater for quite sometime. The Big Easy is coming back to life, slowly but surely. This is one small step.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Sounds good on paper, Nagin. But it's taken over 1+ years to get anything acceptable out of the Tropos wi-fi in Chaska, MN. And there's more than just hardware costs. Seriously, they've been tweaking this thing forever and some users (me included) could not get download speed above dialup much less an always-on connection. One of the recommended solutions was to mount some sort of antenna out of my home office window. You betcha.

[victor dorp @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Im thinking of moving there just for the free wifi! (No just kidding, there is free wifi just about any city you go to now.)

I know government cant provide high speed, free wifi due to that law, but is there anything against a citizen doing it? A wealthy guy could just donate great wifi to some area. I would do that, just to screw all the corporations. Buy a few homes around the city, and pipe a massive signal out off.

[js @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

To the New Orleans native, you're the idiot. You assume that it doesn't cost you a single penny to maintain a city-wide, FREE WiFi? How about the electricity costs needed to send radio waves all over the city?

That money can be spent on something better.... let's say, to educate people to use the school buses that was parked on the parking lot before the hurricane struck.

[Chris Drake @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Interesting comments. As the person responsible for building the network, it is fun to see all the comments from the proverbial peanut gallery. I totally understand some of the thoughts from the outside world. Let me give some thoughts... Understand that the Mayor and all of the City are fighting this battle on many fronts. Today alone the Mayor went from meetings with Feds, to the tourism center announcement, to our WiFi announcement, to a tour of the recovered areas, to a Christmas Tree lighting, to a Town Hall meeting. Yes, New Orleans East, the 9th Ward and Lakeview have a long road in front of them and a lot of uncertainty. But the areas of the City where commerce (and some damn fine restaurants) have returned desperately need communications as a key element of the continued recovery. The CBD, French Quarter, Warehouse District, Uptown, Algiers, etc. were all largely unscathed and are in full-blown operation, have full power, gas, water, sewer, trash and other services. But businesses need communications and data to run. This gives them that. 512Kbps is not perfect, but it is great for people who have nothing. There are thousands of laptops in the City and people who need the connection. And all of this overlooks the MAIN purpose for the network we are building. That is to serve the needs of the City itself. We have Police, Fire, EMS, Safety and Permits and other City officials doing way more than their normal work load. Allowing them to access video in the field, file reports remotely, dispatch, etc. via this network is a tremendous force multiplier that we desperately need. Intel, Tropos and Pronto have donated hardware and engineers/expertise. Motorola has donated time from their engineers. And our guys have ramped up our skills and now deploy up to 15 nodes a day, all while still meeting our normal (if you can call building a 150 person Emergency Operations Center with computers, Internet and Voice over WiFi in 4 days normal) IT obligations. FEMA will pay for much of the network going forward (capital costs) as part of the permitting and inspecitons process and it will actually lower the cost of that project for all of us because we need fewer inspectors that way.

This is an exciting time and an exciting model for Muni WiFi. We do hope to have the law modified or overturned and be able to offer better service as the network builds out. But it is working great and we have over 200 registered users by the end of the first day today.

Thanks for reading, and everyone come to New Orleans for some good food and a good time. And enjoy the free WiFi. We tested Skype calls today, and it rocks. :-) See you all at Mardi Gras 2006.

Chris Drake
Mayor's Office of Technology
City of New Orleans

[Sean Foushee @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Typical New Orleans, more handouts instead of real solutions like clean up and infrastructure.

BTW free wi-fi isn't 'free', someone has to pay for it and if that where FEMA money or Red Cross donations are heading I say its time to remove Mayor Nagin now and handover the city to someone who isn't a complete idiot.

[Sean Foushee @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

This is to the person claiming to be:

Chris Drake
Mayor's Office of Technology
City of New Orleans

Chris, if you are "the man" in charge of putting this together can you please deliver this message from me to Mayor Nagin and those at FEMA who so generously have given our money to help you build free wi-fi for your city.

F-U

I want my donations back. This isn't part of helping NO get back on their feet, what the hell man! You have citizens of those areas hit hardest living in my town who need help not god damn wifi, so tell those you report to get a damn clue and use the money WE gave you to help the people rebuild not UPGRADE the damn city. Let AT&T and SWBell work on the networks in the area, thats their business, why don't you work on setting up the vital emergency lines then tell Moto et al if they want to setup WiFi and charge businesses for their use fine, but don't use my damn tax money so you can make god damn skype calls for f-ing free.

Next hurricane you can forget monetary donations from me, I'll just donate my time, cloths and food because thats what people need right now, not VoIP.

[Beej @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

You're missing the point. All that money you donated DID give people clothes and food. It's time to start moving forward again. With NO getting back together, this is the BEST time to introduce MuniWiFi. Chris says this is going to be in place so that emergency dispatch can connect better, etc., and also points out that this is paid for by FEMA. Which is a government orgainization. Did you donate to FEMA? If so...I bet your money helped a victim get back on their feet. Don't feel so bad for helping people out.

[M. Weinstein @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

The hatred and intolerance in here is pathetic. They *are* uneducated by a system that failed them and a city populace that left in "white flight," taking the city's tax-base with it. If scared whites would stop running every time the crime rate goes up a little this wouldn't happen.

Wi-Fi should be use to communicate and heal some of the wounds in that community that keeps people segregated in 2005.

[ptrix @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Some quotes from, "New Orleans mayor gets an earful" (Nov. 29, 2005, at: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/29/neworleans.townhall/index.html)

" 'I am in the cold,' said a woman who identified herself as the owner of a bed and breakfast. 'I can't cook. I can't do business. I can't take advantage of all the business people who are coming here.' "

"Before Katrina, Entergy New Orleans had 190,000 electrical power customers and 145,000 gas customers. The company filed for bankruptcy protection shortly after the hurricane hit. Power is now available to 115,000 of those customers and gas is available to 76,000, the utility said on its Web site."

"Residents also complained about a lack of debris and trash removal, inadequate or no response from police to calls, and price gouging by some landlords."

" 'There are still way too many areas in the city that are dark at night,' the mayor said."

" 'I'm still not totally convinced our police force is at the level of stabilization to handle' around-the-clock security, he [Mayor Nagin] said."

/end

For Christ's sake, that article was written on the same day that the announcement of "Free WiFi" was made! What are your goddamn priorities here? Corporate interests, or the citizens in need? Or am I wasting my time by even asking that? It's bloody ridiculous that the best that the Mayor's Office can manage at this point, is to provide free internet access for businesses, while there are still people who are struggling to survive. It breaks my heart that the gap between the "Haves" and the "Have Nots" is so wide, that they will cater to the extraneous luxeries (wireless internet) of the few, before tending to the still-outstanding necessities (reliable citywide sanitation, potable water, electricity, natural gas, and security) of the many.

I am honestly dumbfounded as to how that municipal representative from the 'Mayor's Office of Technology' can feel as though he's performed some kind of miracle for the city. I'm in total agreement with #33. Fu�k You! Next time, (and given the geography of the reigon, there WILL be a next time), you bastards won't be getting a red cent out of my pocket until you can demonstrate that you can put it to appropriate use, in a timely fashion, for those most in need.

- Ptrix

[dori@n @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

"Thanks for reading, and everyone come to New Orleans for some good food and a good time. And enjoy the free WiFi. We tested Skype calls today, and it rocks. :-) See you all at Mardi Gras 2006."

Yeah, sure. I'll be there, as long as you let me bring the Marines with me for security.

[Sean Foushee @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Beej, you bet your rear I 'donate' to FEMA, its called a 1040 and I 'donate' heavily each year.

Look, I just saw a news report on the levees in New Orleans, the report said they are being rebuilt to withstand a category 3 hurricane, which is EXACTLY where they were before Katrina. The report claims that they can be made to withstand heavier winds and storms, but that would take FEDERAL MONEY.

Hmmm, sounds like the same old crap in New Orleans:

Engineers: "You should update the levees to withstand heavier storms"

City of NO: "No thanks, we like free WiFi"

Again, don't count on money from me, my family or my company anytime in the future for ANY catastrophe that befalls New Orleans. I hope the free WiFi comes with rafts.

[Wes Garner @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Note: If they don't boost the economy, the city will quickly go bankrupt. What do you think the people will think when all the businesses have left, and thanks to Bush: there isn't any money for the people in need. Spending a very little amount of money to put in a wireless network in the city will put a lot more into the economy than the money used.

[iceanfire @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Sean Foushee, you seem to be taking out your anger on the people of new orleans for no reason. Just because their mayor is doing stupid things doesn't mean that the people support his actions. I don't think the people really voted for the 'free wireless' ... i think they have bigger problems to worry about. So go ahead and blame the mayor but please keep giving to new orleans (there are ways you can do this that would prevent the govt from using the money towards free wifi.. for example : you could give to red cross). So please don't misplace your anger.

[Reality @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

#21, #14. Wi-fi=instant economic development? Um, no. Not without electricity, re-build and/or repaired builderings, and people. The equipment may have been donated, but there are still labor costs to setup and maintain. There are the costs of the internet access itself, power costs, and hardware maintainance. It's not "free" to the city of New Orleans. Businesses have to have, say, roofs and some cleanup before wifi is going to be of any use. A few years down the road wifi could be useful when the city is undergoing rebuilding and people have computers/eletricity/homes/offices/etc. again.. but this is pre-emptive.. and considering the state of the city, it is certainly not something to spend a lot of effort on for months down the road until you take care of the more grumsome tasks of remodeling. Ideal to think that wifi will make NO a magical place, but it won't.. there's still billions needed in structural repairs and corpse identification. The mayor, etc. sure look idiotic right about now.

[John Stracke @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

It probably does make sense if the city is building the network for its own use; if they actually need the data coverage, then it's probably cheaper to maintain the WiFi switches than to pay for somebody else's service.

And data coverage makes some sense, especially now: it lets a worker in the field get to their office systems to handle paperwork on the spot, instead of having to come back later (costing time and money). For example, a contractor rebuilding a house could get his permit faster, which means it's faster and cheaper to get NO rebooted.

[motech @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

that picture is incredible,
someone email me a highres version!
motech a t mac dot cm

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

My question is why rebuild anything. Its pretty clear that nature reclaimed parts of New Orleans. Wouldn't it be a whole lot cheaper to levy off JUST the historical stuff, and bulldoze the rest.

The people who lived in the low-lieing, government-subsidized housing 9th ward etc. are collecting their government checks from the government now just fine from Baton Rouge-Texas-Wherever. Besides, if you did'nt have the means to evacuate properly the first time, why the hell would you want to come back. I'd rather be poor on dry land, than poor on a piece of land that will be underwater again in a few years.

[Viney @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

You people love to bitch just for the sake of bitching. Christ, just because they're providing free wifi, doesn't mean they've abandoned all other relief efforts. This is just one small step in the process of rebuilding, but sure as hell isn't freakin priority number one like you're all making it out to be. It's not like all of a sudden a bunch of wifi boxes showed up on their doorsteps and everybody stopped what they were doing to install them. With more and more communities looking into providing city wide wifi access, what better time to install it than when you've gotta rebuild the whole damn city.

And how would this not make the rebuilding effort easier anyways? Either way, networking the city is going to be a priority to get buisinesses up and running and further simplify other relief efforts. It'd take even more time and money to make sure everyone has a wired connection early in the process for the whole city.

[Celloptions @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Does everyone understand that EVDO is running in New Orleans? This is another crazy Municipal wireless waste of money.

[Celloptions @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Does everyone understand that EVDO is running in New Orleans? This is another crazy Municipal wireless waste of money.

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

WiFi does not care about black people.

-Steve "Kanye" Ballmer

[OddManOut @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

So when these companies offered these donations Nagin should have just refused ?

As 'Viney' said pretty well already, if this effort ISN'T in fact taking away from the other efforts in a significant fashion then why is it bad ?

I too am doubtful that this will have a GIGANTIC effect on NO's recovery, but given that much (though obivously not all) of it is being DONATED by larger corporations I doubt it will significantly hurt the larger effort.

But at the same time I certainly agree with those generous (but aparently disgruntled) souls posting here who stress the need to prioritize. Peoples food/clothes/shelter are definitely more important than the ability to blog. No argument there. But even if New Orleans hadn't been devastated, there would be people around the world and even strewn about the US who (for whatever reason(s)) are in just as much need as the peeps in NO are now. But I have never noticed people mention THAT fact whenever Engadget has reported a city getting free wifi before...at least not with nearly as much venom. Any other time when a city has rolled out free wifi it meant money (probably even tax money) went to web surfing instead of to needy people...the fact that those people aren't splashed on the news for hours every day for weeks on end doesn't change that.

Bah...if anything this allocation of resources is as I said before probably not any worse on a humanitarian level than any other citywide roll out, and in this case it *might* ultimately have more of a benevolent effect than the others...

And of couse, all of the above is IMHO...

[Chris Drake @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

EVDO is $80/month and, in our tests, not very fast or reliable in much of the City right now. We did the numbers on the financials for what it will cost to build/operate the network. By the time you put EVDO cards in 400 police cars, 200 fire vehicles, 40 EMS, and about 1,000 inspectors laptops, we pay for the network VERY quickly. Plus citizens get to use it, and lots of people who cannot necessarily afford $80/month. By serving the New Orleans Library network alone we are justifying much of the network. None of the libraries have wired Internet back yet and ask them if they want to run on EVDO. We just got them back online - a key component to getting schools back open. No, I think you need a better argument than "EVDO is running in New Orleans"...

Chris Drake
Mayor's Office of Technology
City of New Orleans

[Celloptions @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM]

Chris:
Your pricing assumptions are way off. Fed, State, and local Govt get special GSA pricing. EVDO offers MOBILITY, and is very reliable. Philly Police is using EVDO instead of the Muni WiFi network. I wonder why???