Charlie Hewitt is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Providence.

Many cities and towns world wide are addressing the hot topic of municipal wireless networks. Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and others have intentions to provide low cost – even free – public access to the Internet using a WiFi network that blankets the entire city. The city governments promise that the networks will bring affordable service to low income households, foster economic development in the inner city, and increase the efficiency of local government operations.

For the most part, municipal WiFi projects have failed to deliver the expected results. Of the hundreds of cities that set out on the journey several years ago, only a few have networks that are operating today. Many have put their projects on the shelf.

Here in Providence, we considered embarking such a project in the fall of 2004, shortly after Philadelphia announced its plans. We rather quickly concluded that Providence was not ready for this. The risks, both financial and political, were obvious and significant, and we lacked the resources to warrant plunging ahead.

However, we were impressed with the impact that a ubiquitous wireless broadband network might have on municipal government operations, especially public safety. In addition, we needed to find a new way to provide mobile data service to police in cars, because the existing low-speed cellular service, CDPD, was scheduled to terminate sometime in 2006.

We had been researching possible alternatives to CDPD. There were two approaches to consider: 1) leverage the existing network of a wireless service provider like Verizon Wireless; or 2) build and operate a private network. Both approaches had significant disadvantages. As vividly demonstrated during the World Trade Center disaster, the public can easily overwhelm a cellular network just when emergency responders need it the most. On the other hand, a private WiFi network would be expensive to build and operate, and prone to failure due to radio interference.

However, a small, innovative company in Florida, Mesh Networks, suggested a variation on the second approach. Rather than use WiFi, why not use their proprietary protocol which they called MEA (mesh enabled architecture). Originally developed for the US military to support field combat operations, MEA had self-forming, self-healing, robust technology well-suited for public safety applications. The suggestion tempted us, but who would bet the public safety communications of the City of Providence on the strength of an obscure, financially challenged startup? We passed.

Several months later we were still looking for a solution when we learned that Motorola had acquired Mesh Networks. In the public safety communications arena there is no bigger brand than Motorola. We decided to include MEA on the list of viable options.

The whole Mesh Network project, from developing the RFP to initial operational use took about eighteen months. For everyone involved, it was a first-class adventure, much too long to tell here. In the end, in August, 2006, Providence became the first mid-size city in the nation to have a border-to-border, outdoor, wireless broadband data network fully operational and supporting the Providence Police Department. Now, eighteen months later, it is still one of the few successful municipal networks. Providence is regularly cited as a place that got it right.

The Mesh Network has had a major impact on operations within the PPD, enabling the cop in the car to access multi-media information as easily and readily as at a desk in the office. Occasionally the results have been dramatic, as in the quick apprehension of the person who allegedly shot someone near Kennedy Plaza a few days ago. Most of the time, however, the network has simply supported the daily work of the PPD, enabling all kinds of work to be done in the field that used to have to be done in the office.

The greatest value of the network is that it is a force-multiplier. Today it enables cops to spend a lot more time in the field and a lot less time in the office. Over the next several years we hope to extend the use of the network to other city departments that depend on employees working out in the parks, streets and neighborhoods to deliver city services.

So, what about public access? Will the City of Providence follow the lead of other cities and facilitate the development of a ubiquitous, outdoor, low cost WiFi network? At present the City has no plans in this regard, and the experiences of most other cities suggest that this is an area best addressed by private enterprise (either for-profit or non-profit). Such a network probably needs to have a regional footprint because much of its economic value will come from serving mobile workers as they move throughout the local area, not just within the limits of a city or town.