Free Wifi in NYC? Maybe, maybe not. We have partnered with the folks at Wireless Harlem with the goal of bridging the digital divide. As we see in the video below, with the proper scalable hardware, planning, community involvement and yes,funding--"free" and or affordable WiFi can become a reality.
Steve Amarante
www.Sky-Packets.com
Better Living Through WiFi
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sky- Packets helps the Town Of Babylon Long Island Deploys New MR58 by Meraki, Inc
We of course where happy to be a part of one of Meraki's first MR 58 Deployment and grateful to both the Town of Babylon and it's constituents. Below is a reprint of the Press release posted by Meraki today:
Meraki Launches High-Performance Three-Radio 802.11n Access Point
New Rugged Device Designed to Provide Robust Wireless Connectivity Across Large Areas Quickly and Cost Effectively
SAN FRANCISCO — February 24, 2009 – Meraki, an award-winning hosted networking company, today launched the MR58, a powerful, next-generation three-radio 802.11n device. The weatherproof MR58 provides five times the capacity and speed of standard 802.11b/g wireless devices, delivers high bandwidth across multiple hops, supports long distance links, and is ideal for high-bandwidth content like voice and video. The rugged MR58 includes the premium networking features of Meraki’s cloud-based Hosted Services, such as centralized configuration, monitoring and security.
The Meraki MR58 provides wireless access for large outdoor networks across campuses, apartment complexes, hotels and resorts, and other large outdoor areas like cities and public spaces. It is less than half the cost of traditional wireless networks and can be deployed in a fraction of the time. In addition, the MR58 is well suited for indoor areas with high-bandwidth needs such as classrooms, convention centers, stadiums, student housing and manufacturing facilities.
“The Meraki MR58 is the ideal solution for those looking to build fast, strong and secure networks that cover large areas,” said Hans Robertson, vice president of product management at Meraki. “Also, unlike any other product in its class, the MR58 is actually easy to use and quick to deploy.”
Meraki’s technology is unlike any other wireless access technology currently available, and it significantly changes the economics of Internet connectivity. With powerful hardware and integrated hosted services, Meraki provides enterprise-level networking services to customers of any size. Meraki’s patented networking systems and technologies enable the rapid creation of better WiFi networks at lower cost. Today there are thousands of Meraki networks with millions of users across more than 130 countries.
Meraki MR58 Deployed at Babylon, NY
The Town of Babylon, NY is providing free wireless Internet service in all of its 38 town parks and beaches using Meraki MR58s. Authorized Meraki reseller and local network specialist Sky-Packets (a division of Corporate Biznis, Inc.) is leading the deployment, which will be completed in time for the summer season. The wireless network will serve 220,000 residents and their guests. Town Supervisor Steve Bellone said the first locations to receive Meraki MR58s are Tanner Park and Venetian Shores Park in Lindenhurst.
“Wireless coverage is a cost-effective amenity we can offer our community to make our public spaces even more valuable. In these economic times, we knew we had a real responsibility to our residents to make sure that we were getting the best system at the best price. Sky-Packets and Meraki were able to bring us a top-notch wireless network at less than half the cost of competitors’ solutions. Meraki’s hosted services make it simple enough for us to manage the network on our own,” Bellone said.
Pricing and additional details
The Meraki MR58 is sold in packages starting at $1,499. The unit is rugged and weatherproof for tough indoor and outdoor environments ranging from -4°F to 122°F (-20°C to 50°C) and can be mounted in a wide range of locations, including walls and poles. For additional information on the Meraki MR58, visit www.meraki.com/MR58.
About Meraki
Meraki is an award-winning provider of WiFi networking solutions. Meraki’s patented networking systems and cloud-based management services are fundamentally improving the quality, speed of deployment, and economics of providing high-speed wireless Internet access. Today there are thousands of Meraki-based networks with millions of users across more than 130 countries throughout the world. Meraki is located in San Francisco, California, and is funded in part by Sequoia Capital and Google. For more information, go to www.meraki.com.
Steve Amarante
Sky-Packets
Better living Through WiFi
www.sky-packets.com
Meraki Launches High-Performance Three-Radio 802.11n Access Point
New Rugged Device Designed to Provide Robust Wireless Connectivity Across Large Areas Quickly and Cost Effectively
SAN FRANCISCO — February 24, 2009 – Meraki, an award-winning hosted networking company, today launched the MR58, a powerful, next-generation three-radio 802.11n device. The weatherproof MR58 provides five times the capacity and speed of standard 802.11b/g wireless devices, delivers high bandwidth across multiple hops, supports long distance links, and is ideal for high-bandwidth content like voice and video. The rugged MR58 includes the premium networking features of Meraki’s cloud-based Hosted Services, such as centralized configuration, monitoring and security.
The Meraki MR58 provides wireless access for large outdoor networks across campuses, apartment complexes, hotels and resorts, and other large outdoor areas like cities and public spaces. It is less than half the cost of traditional wireless networks and can be deployed in a fraction of the time. In addition, the MR58 is well suited for indoor areas with high-bandwidth needs such as classrooms, convention centers, stadiums, student housing and manufacturing facilities.
“The Meraki MR58 is the ideal solution for those looking to build fast, strong and secure networks that cover large areas,” said Hans Robertson, vice president of product management at Meraki. “Also, unlike any other product in its class, the MR58 is actually easy to use and quick to deploy.”
Meraki’s technology is unlike any other wireless access technology currently available, and it significantly changes the economics of Internet connectivity. With powerful hardware and integrated hosted services, Meraki provides enterprise-level networking services to customers of any size. Meraki’s patented networking systems and technologies enable the rapid creation of better WiFi networks at lower cost. Today there are thousands of Meraki networks with millions of users across more than 130 countries.
Meraki MR58 Deployed at Babylon, NY
The Town of Babylon, NY is providing free wireless Internet service in all of its 38 town parks and beaches using Meraki MR58s. Authorized Meraki reseller and local network specialist Sky-Packets (a division of Corporate Biznis, Inc.) is leading the deployment, which will be completed in time for the summer season. The wireless network will serve 220,000 residents and their guests. Town Supervisor Steve Bellone said the first locations to receive Meraki MR58s are Tanner Park and Venetian Shores Park in Lindenhurst.
“Wireless coverage is a cost-effective amenity we can offer our community to make our public spaces even more valuable. In these economic times, we knew we had a real responsibility to our residents to make sure that we were getting the best system at the best price. Sky-Packets and Meraki were able to bring us a top-notch wireless network at less than half the cost of competitors’ solutions. Meraki’s hosted services make it simple enough for us to manage the network on our own,” Bellone said.
Pricing and additional details
The Meraki MR58 is sold in packages starting at $1,499. The unit is rugged and weatherproof for tough indoor and outdoor environments ranging from -4°F to 122°F (-20°C to 50°C) and can be mounted in a wide range of locations, including walls and poles. For additional information on the Meraki MR58, visit www.meraki.com/MR58.
About Meraki
Meraki is an award-winning provider of WiFi networking solutions. Meraki’s patented networking systems and cloud-based management services are fundamentally improving the quality, speed of deployment, and economics of providing high-speed wireless Internet access. Today there are thousands of Meraki-based networks with millions of users across more than 130 countries throughout the world. Meraki is located in San Francisco, California, and is funded in part by Sequoia Capital and Google. For more information, go to www.meraki.com.
Steve Amarante
Sky-Packets
Better living Through WiFi
www.sky-packets.com
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Beyond just "Internet", Muni WiFi Can Help Reduce Water Cost by Steve Amarante
Often Muni WiFi is looked as a means to address the "Digital Divide" or perhaps as a means to improve communications among Muni-Employees. But in North Ridgeville, Ohio (pop. 28,000; 23 square miles)the municipalities is upgrading the water meters in homes and buildings to Wi-Fi enabled meters that allow the city to monitor how much water people are using. North Ridgeville plans to install 11,500 water meters. The project is said to costs between 2.5 - 3 million dollars. The city says that the new system will allow them to find leaks and cut down on tampering of meters. Residents will know in real time how much water they are consuming and take appropriate steps towards conservation. It would make sense to open up the network to the public(assuming the security protocol and bandwidth is there to share....)
Read more how Ridgeville is revamping its water meters.
Read more how Ridgeville is revamping its water meters.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Is Free Muni WiFi An Expecation From Residents?
A recent survey conducted by Devicescape, The Cloud and Trustive reveals that 84 percent of respondents want citywide WI-Fi and 91 percent expect Wi-Fi when they are traveling (i.e. when they are in airports, bus terminals, train stations and ferries).
Two other interesting figures from the survey: 56% are willing to pay for citywide Wi-Fi access as a utility like water, gas or electricity, although 79 percent believe that Wi-Fi should be free. Here are more interesting results from the survey and my analysis.
(1) Device most often used to connect to Wi-Fi when traveling:
35% iPhone
30% Laptop
20% Nokia phone
6% Windows Mobile for smartphones and other devices
3% Netbook (e.g. Asus EEEPC)
4% Other
1% Blackberry
(2) Where people use their 3G/Wi-Fi device:
66% Home
59% Hotel
56% Bar / restaurant / cafe
54% Airport
53% Work
37% Outdoors
29% Train station
16% While Driving
6% Petrol station
(3) What irritates you most when trying to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot:
50% Complicated login screens
35% Complex payment procedures
37% Difficulty identifying which hotspots I can use
33% Poor quality of service
11% Poor tech support
24% All of the above
Esme Vos of www.muniwireless.com commented:
"It’s not surprising that the respondents hate complicated login screens more than anything else. Look at where they use Wi-Fi: it’s when they’re traveling (see #2 above). So imagine you are waiting in an airport or a train station. You click to join a Wi-Fi network and the first thing you see is a login screen that requires you to spend more time trying to log in than the time it would take you to check email or find an address on a map. This is what people get in many train stations in Europe, not to mention airports everywhere except where the airport has free Wi-Fi.
More than one-third cited the difficulty of finding hotspots to use. This happens when you are confronted with several Wi-Fi networks and you’re trying to figure out which one is the best connection (actually there is a company called WeFi that makes a software client you can download that finds the best Wi-Fi network for you — disclosure: I am on the advisory board of WeFi)"
Other results:
(4) The overwhelming majority of smartphone users (81%) prefer using Wi-Fi over 3G for browsing Web sites, downloading data, Google searches and sending e-mail.
(5) The most widely used application is email (84%), followed by Internet browsing activities such as reading news websites, blogs, using social networking sites (78%). The rest use Chat/IM/Skype (32%) but very few play online games (4%) or watch streaming video (14%).
(6) 86% of respondents want device manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola to build Wi-Fi into their handsets and 82% of respondents want the mobile service provider to provide an overall 3G/Wi-Fi data package. 90% want their mobile service provider to allow them to roam between Wi-Fi and 3G networks.
(7) Skype which was chosen by 85% of the respondents as their preferred VOIP service, followed by Truphone (11%), Jahjah (2%), EQO (1%), and Defi (1%).
Who were the people surveyed?
38% come from the US, 28% from the UK and Europe (except Russia), Asia Pacific (7%), Japan (7%), Russia (4%) with the rest coming from Mexico, Canada, India, the Middle East, China, etc. The vast majority, over 90%, were male.
Age group:
3% 17 and under
15% 18 - 25
24% 26 - 34
32% 35 - 45
26% Above 45
What do they do? 14% are students, 21% own businesses or are consultants, contractors and freelancers. 10% report that their job requires them to travel frequently. 21% are engineers, programmers and other technical workers.
Clearly the demand is there...the question becomes: Is the local leadership (at the Muni level) there to gain the funding where required and build the community support?
Steve Amarante
www.sky-packets.com
Better Living Through WiFi
Two other interesting figures from the survey: 56% are willing to pay for citywide Wi-Fi access as a utility like water, gas or electricity, although 79 percent believe that Wi-Fi should be free. Here are more interesting results from the survey and my analysis.
(1) Device most often used to connect to Wi-Fi when traveling:
35% iPhone
30% Laptop
20% Nokia phone
6% Windows Mobile for smartphones and other devices
3% Netbook (e.g. Asus EEEPC)
4% Other
1% Blackberry
(2) Where people use their 3G/Wi-Fi device:
66% Home
59% Hotel
56% Bar / restaurant / cafe
54% Airport
53% Work
37% Outdoors
29% Train station
16% While Driving
6% Petrol station
(3) What irritates you most when trying to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot:
50% Complicated login screens
35% Complex payment procedures
37% Difficulty identifying which hotspots I can use
33% Poor quality of service
11% Poor tech support
24% All of the above
Esme Vos of www.muniwireless.com commented:
"It’s not surprising that the respondents hate complicated login screens more than anything else. Look at where they use Wi-Fi: it’s when they’re traveling (see #2 above). So imagine you are waiting in an airport or a train station. You click to join a Wi-Fi network and the first thing you see is a login screen that requires you to spend more time trying to log in than the time it would take you to check email or find an address on a map. This is what people get in many train stations in Europe, not to mention airports everywhere except where the airport has free Wi-Fi.
More than one-third cited the difficulty of finding hotspots to use. This happens when you are confronted with several Wi-Fi networks and you’re trying to figure out which one is the best connection (actually there is a company called WeFi that makes a software client you can download that finds the best Wi-Fi network for you — disclosure: I am on the advisory board of WeFi)"
Other results:
(4) The overwhelming majority of smartphone users (81%) prefer using Wi-Fi over 3G for browsing Web sites, downloading data, Google searches and sending e-mail.
(5) The most widely used application is email (84%), followed by Internet browsing activities such as reading news websites, blogs, using social networking sites (78%). The rest use Chat/IM/Skype (32%) but very few play online games (4%) or watch streaming video (14%).
(6) 86% of respondents want device manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola to build Wi-Fi into their handsets and 82% of respondents want the mobile service provider to provide an overall 3G/Wi-Fi data package. 90% want their mobile service provider to allow them to roam between Wi-Fi and 3G networks.
(7) Skype which was chosen by 85% of the respondents as their preferred VOIP service, followed by Truphone (11%), Jahjah (2%), EQO (1%), and Defi (1%).
Who were the people surveyed?
38% come from the US, 28% from the UK and Europe (except Russia), Asia Pacific (7%), Japan (7%), Russia (4%) with the rest coming from Mexico, Canada, India, the Middle East, China, etc. The vast majority, over 90%, were male.
Age group:
3% 17 and under
15% 18 - 25
24% 26 - 34
32% 35 - 45
26% Above 45
What do they do? 14% are students, 21% own businesses or are consultants, contractors and freelancers. 10% report that their job requires them to travel frequently. 21% are engineers, programmers and other technical workers.
Clearly the demand is there...the question becomes: Is the local leadership (at the Muni level) there to gain the funding where required and build the community support?
Steve Amarante
www.sky-packets.com
Better Living Through WiFi
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Why partner with Meraki?
I ran across this video clip in which Sanjit Biswas, CEO of Meraki, discusses the benefits of deploying Meraki equipment for wireless internet access in low income residents. Why partner with Meraki you ask? Simple. Meraki is changing the economics of internet access...
Steve Amarante
www.Sky-Packets.com
Better Living Through WiFi
Steve Amarante
www.Sky-Packets.com
Better Living Through WiFi
Monday, February 9, 2009
Senate Trims Down Broadband Tax Breaks by Steve Amarante
The Senate last week fine-tuned the language in its proposed economic stimulus package, cutting $1.5 billion from the $9 billion proposed for broadband buildouts and clean-up some of the language to tighten up tax credits for all buildouts.
Under the original language, Telcos might have gotten a $1.6 billion tax break from a 20 percent tax credit for any investment in say 100 Mbps broadband service to any home.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., was the original proponent of the $9 billion broadband investment and proposed an amendment to significantly tighten the rules and increase the amount of tax credit. The new plan would only offer credits for broadband services to rural and unserved areas, with a 40 percent credit for 100 Mbps or better service and 30 percent for slower service of at least 5 Mbps. Wireless data services allowing downloads of 6 Mbps or better also get the 40 percent credit and 30 percent if they manage at least 3 Mbps.
One concerning part is that tax credits for Internet service to low-income areas have been eliminated too. The notion is that some operators were already planning on bringing broadband services to low-income neighborhoods. Read more on the NYT tech blog.
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