Oakland County is starting an ambitious plan to use private sector companies to offer free county-wide wireless Internet access to all residents by the end of 2006.
Scott Oppmann and Tammy Shepherd of Wireless Oakland were the speakers at the April 7 Orion Area Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon, held at Indianwood Country Club in Lake Orion.
Oppmann is Wireless Oakland’s manager of application services, working with 82 departments in 60 Oakland County communities.
He said preliminary work on Wireless Oakland started in December, and was announced in February.
Oppmann said Wireless Oakland’s goals are to blanket Oakland County with wireless Internet service, with a portion of the service to be free.
The project also hopes to break down the digital divide by offering ‘no cost? or ‘low cost? personal computers, wireless technology and training to underserved populations in the county.
Wireless Oakland will also enhance the commercial and residential character of the county by embracing technology in county and local planning practices.
‘People with an income less than $30,000 a year are less likely to have access to a computer,? Oppmann said, explaining that people 65 and older were also part of that ‘digital divide.?
‘We’re also going to help local government with technology planning…If people want to put fiber optics in the right of way, we’ll help them with what process they should go through,? he said.
Oakland County already has a fiber optics system in place, so no right-of-ways will need to be disturbed for Wireless Oakland to get off the ground.
They will need to place wireless adapters, about the size of a 9×11 sheet of paper but thicker, on public assets such as traffic poles, electric poles, privately managed towers, tornado siren poles, government buildings and school buildings.
‘The goal is to blanket the county,? Oppmann said. ‘We will also enhance the county’s ability to attract and retain high technology companies, as well as enhancing residential character.?
Wireless Oakland will also assist the county’s growing mobile work force who are providing county services in rural parts of the county.
‘Oakland County will not own or operate the wireless network,? Oppmann said. ‘We will leverage public assets already funded by county taxpayers and provide incentive for the private sector to implement and partner with technology providers to offer the service.?
An advisory committee of both public and private sector participants will be selected to oversee this new public corporation of Wireless Oakland.
‘Private companies will petition us to provide services,? Oppmann said. ‘In return, we ask for free access to the Internet.?
Oppmann said making sure the wireless coverage is ‘seamless? in the county, covering all rural as well as urban areas is important.
‘They will have to include (rural areas) in their petition…otherwise everyone would gravitate to the urban areas,? he added.
Oppmann said for-fee services could then be layered on top of the free wireless access.
‘This has to be consumer-based technology,? he added. ‘We don’t want people to have to buy a special piece of hardware to use it.?
According to Oppmann, Wireless Oakland will not be competing with high-speed Internet providers like Comcast or SBC.
‘This will not replace your home high speed connections,? he said. ‘But you’ll have choices as consumers.?
A ‘splash screen? that will come up on the computer screen of anyone accessing Wireless Oakland can also offer Internet advertising opportunities.
‘The Internet advertising market is a $6 billion industry,? Oppmann said.
Shepherd, who works for the county’s Emergency Operations Center, said Wireless Oakland would not be paying for the public assets (infrastructure) investment portion of the project.
‘That’s physical infrastructure,? she said. ‘There are eight types of assets…We’ve already invested in the 400-miles of fiber optic network that connects the local governments.?
Other assets include: 23 government-owned towers, 120 privately managed towers, 200 tornado siren poles, 350 public schools, 325 buildings and structures and 1400 traffic signals.
‘We hope we don’t have to construct anymore towers for this type of technology,? Shepherd said. ‘We can use the traffic signal poles to attach this device to, but some are owned by Detroit Edison, some by the local government and some by the county.?
Shepherd said Wireless Oakland was working with DTE to get use of the poles they have in the county.
‘We’ll be selecting vendors for this project in July or so, and have a demonstration project in September,? she added.
‘After that we’ll move forward with pilot projects and hope to have full implementation by the end of 2006.?
Shepherd said any community wanting to be part of the pilot projects needed the full commitment of its chief elected official.
‘That’s important for whatever community to come on first,? she added.
For more information about Wireless Oakland, visit www.co.oakland.mi.us/wireless on the Internet.
Oppmann and Shepherd can answer question via email. Write to wirelessoakland@co.oakland.mi.us.