Oxford Township is one step closer to free wireless internet service as officials last week voted 6-0 to approve the Wireless Oakland intergovernmental and license agreement with the county.
‘I think it’s definitely the wave of the future,? said Treasurer Joe Ferrari.
The township became the 53rd community in the county to sign a Wireless Oakland agreement. Addison approved the agreement in October while Oxford Village signed on in July.
Deputy County Executive Phil Bertolini explained Wireless Oakland’s three goals to township officials.
Blanketing all 910 square miles of Oakland County, both urban and rural areas, with wireless internet service, a portion of which would be ‘free to every resident, business and visitor? in the county is the first goal.
Downtown Wixom, one of Wireless Oakland’s pilot communities, used more than 42,000 minutes of free internet service in the first two weeks after the network was operational there.
Goal number two is to put low-cost or no-cost personal computers and technology training ‘in the hands of the population that needs it most,? Bertolini said.
That population includes low-income families and individuals and people with only a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) degree.
The idea is to ‘get them using the technology to prepare them for? the jobs of today and tomorrow, Bertolini explained.
Developing a Telecommunication and Technology Planning Toolkit is the third goal. This will support continued high tech investments in local government and promote the integration of those investments with local community character and quality of life.
Wireless Oakland is designed to ‘attract and retain high tech businesses? and make the county a place ‘where our young people can come and use the technology they’re used to.?
However, none of this is going to happen right away.
‘We are about 8 to 10 months behind on the project,? Bertolini told officials. ‘We’re still shooting for the end of 2007. That’s our goal to have the entire county up and ready to go.?
But realistically, he said the county knows it will probably be the first part of 2008 before the project’s completed.
Supervisor Bill Dunn inquired as to how fast this free internet service will be.
At 128 kilobits per second (kbps) for uploads and downloads, Bertolini said the free wireless internet will be three to four times faster than dial-up connections.
The free portion of the network won’t be able to go much faster because the higher speeds will be left for the private sector to sell and compete with DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and cable modem providers.
Because private, not public, money is being used to build this network, private industry needs services to sell so it can realize a return on its investment, Bertolini explained.
Private industry will also get a return on its investment by selling advertising to Wireless Oakland’s ‘captive portal.?
Described by Bertolini as a ‘doorway to the internet,? the captive portal would force everyone using Wireless Oakland’s free service to view a special web page before surfing the web normally.
The captive portal would contain privately sold web links as opposed to pop-up ads.
Bertolini noted the county has secured a government section on the captive portal so people using the internet can gain easy access to local government services.