The main problem we have with doing this is getting a second power feed into the poles. All of our utilities are underground. And, all light poles are decorative black things without any visible wires (it all comes in underground). To make it worse, all lights are on a central switch which means that there is no power to the poles until the lights come on. Thus, the reason for a separate power feed so wireless could run independently of the lights. Also, light power typically loops into a pole and then back out to the next pole in the run, thus filling up the access holes with twice as many wires as would be desired (by us anyway), and leaving little room to get another power wire in (and also maybe back out) plus a small fiber cable.
Underground utilities look good but can cause problems with needing additional wiring added for nice stuff such as you mentioned. John Watters Network Engineer, Office of Information Technology The University of Alabama A115 Gordon Palmer Hall Box 870346 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 Phone 205-348-3992 john.watt...@ua.edu -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Hector J Rios Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 2:45 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Utility Poles Has anyone on the list floated around the idea of establishing a standard to provide fiber and adequate power to light poles in your campus? How cool would it be to have these resources available so they could be used not only to serve WiFi, but a myriad of other things like security cameras, public safety, digital signage, and the ton of promises that the IoT is promising. I'm wondering if this is a cost effective thing to do? As a strategic plan, it seems to also make sense. I know all campuses are different. We are just lucky that we own our poles, so we have no issues with obtaining permission. Thoughts? Hector Rios Louisiana State University ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
