Minn. City to Become Internet ‘Hot Spot’
Chaska, MN, is lighting up the entire city, predicting 2,000 of its 18,000 residents will sign up for its new high-speed wireless service.
The city’s newer wireless network also is intended as a public safety tool. Computers now found in police squads will be adapted for Wi-Fi use, for instance.
But the network is primarily intended for home users, which makes Chaska and its technology partner, California-based Tropos Networks, consumer-Wi-Fi trendsetters.
Tropos specializes in adapting the short-range Wi-Fi technology for long-range use. This is accomplished with radiolike devices installed atop light poles and other vantage points. The devices don’t require hard-wired access to the Internet, only power, which means they can be deployed quickly and affordably.
In Chaska, 64 of the wireless-networking devices are scattered over a 4-square-mile test area. About 200 will be deployed over 12 to 13 square miles by mid-June to create a citywide network, Mayer said.
This is all well and good, said one industry expert, but Wi-Fi isn’t necessarily the best technology for a citywide wireless network.