Good article about the SuperNode rollout with the students of Monroe
College--and a nice plug: "McMullen says after so many months and
years of the city not having a wireless plan, that NYCWireless is
"they only game in
town that works."
---
From [http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3618706|wi-fiplanet.com]:
Wireless for NYC has Class
by Eric Griffiths
Even as big vendors like Nokia step in to sponsor park hotspots, a
small college class continues to do its part in spreading Wi-Fi while
giving students some marketable skills.
Unlike a lot of big cities like San Francisco and Philadelphia, New
York City is taking a measured approach to installing Wi-Fi. Reports
this week in Newsday and the New York Times re-confirmed plans to
install public use wireless LANs limited to city parks. Ten parks will
go live by the end of the summer including areas of Central Park
installed and run for the NYC Parks Department by Wi- Fi Salon with
the help of Nokia (as sponsor).
Certainly the future of installing wireless services, whether Wi- Fi,
WiMax, or something we don't even know about yet, seems bright. Those
future deployments may happen courtesy of people who are today
students in classes like Monroe College's Wireless Technology course.
Students who aren't afraid of a little hard work.
John McMullen is a professor in the school's Computer Information
Systems (CIS) department; he teaches the wireless technology class in
question. He decided that the theory required by the New York State
Regents wasn't enough. His upper-level class is actively working to
install Wi-Fi hotspots. The goal is to put service into areas not well
served with broadband right now. Recently his class helped put in
access points in Madison Square Park, a coffee shop in Harlem, Subway
restaurants in the Bronx, and even a daycare center in Brooklyn.
Most of these deployments are done working with the community group
NYCWireless . Students aren't just installing hardware wherever they
think is appropriate. They also have to sell the venue owners on
whether itÂ’s worthwhile.
"Student's cold call and have to explain things," says McMullen. "If
it's a restaurant or coffee shop, they'd spell out how the point would
be to lure customers in. Immediate concern for many is how you get
them out. You can have a policy for restricted access for half and
hour, say. The point is, students must convince them of the benefit."
His students helped NYCWireless and Solar One (the city's first "Green
Energy, Arts, and Education Center" with goal of inspiring
environmentally friendly citizens) with the deployment of a solar-
powered hotspot in Stuyvesant Cove Park on the East River. It opened
for use in March this year.
McMullen says the work they do "going out and selling and getting your
hands dirty" prepares students for graduate school, but maybe even
more so for real-world work. He says the installation at Coogan's
Restaurant near NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University
Medical Center was typical, in that they had to go from the basement,
drill holes, come up through a column with Ethernet wire, mount the
router in a very high spot, etc. "It's something they often don't get
to do in college."
Even if putting in wireless routers is fun, it's not everything, as
the course theory does cover the gamut from Wi-Fi to WiMax to cellular
connections and potential tech of the future. The class is
interspersed with expert speakers, such as a PhD. researcher from
Columbia University who happens to be a NYCWireless board member that
can tell students about the culturally different ways wireless is used
between the United States and Japan, for instance. Other speakers
might cover using open source firmware on routers.
"Hopefully it'll cause students to push on," says McMullen, who's
obviously concerned about the future employability of his students in
a tight job market. "They need a skill they can market, but they must
constantly look at what's next, what will change. Everything is
standards. As we go to 802.11, 80.15, 802.16, it's all spelled out.
But they need something they can sell today."
McMullen says after so many months and years of the city not having a
wireless plan, that NYCWireless is "they only game in town that
works," but that may soon change if Wi-Fi Salon gets its act together.
It has had a contract with the city since late 2004 to deploy park
hotspots but only delivered on one, in Battery Park. The NYTimes says
18 locations in 10 city parks will be lit up by August. Parks will
include Battery, Central, Riverside (plus Union and Washington
Squares) in Manhattan, and others in the Queens and the Bronx. Eight
alone will be in Central Park it's not a full park coverage network.
The city is no longer looking to make money off any of these ventures
as it did at first.
Private companies like Telkonet think they can deliver commercial
service at least in Manhattan via building-based hotzones.
--
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