$20,000 a good start for community Wi-Fi

BYLINE: BENJAMIN KEPPLE New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER -- When state economic development officials unveiled a grant program that would provide up to $10,000 in matching funds for new wireless broadband projects around New Hampshire, it was described as a modest effort to expand high-speed access to the Internet.

As it turns out, though, a total investment of $20,000 goes farther than one might think, according to those in the computer industry. However, they see sustaining the projects being the main cost driver as opposed to money spent on software or hardware.

"That's pretty generous," said Carol Miller, vice president of Berlin-based North Country Internet Access, an Internet service provider, of the $10,000 matching grant.

"You certainly could put in a wireless (network) for $10,000 and still have operating capital," Miller said. "That'll go a long way for towns that don't have anything."

For that price, the Wi-Fi network would have a short range, however, and geographically large communities would not be served by a single system. Much wider coverage can run into considerably high costs.

Miller, who serves as a member of the Telecommunications Advisory Board, the advisory panel that economic development officials have charged with screening applications for the grants, said the key costs surrounding any broadband project would involve securing bandwidth -- that is, the network's data-transfer capacity -- and space to place networking equipment.

Basic costs

Monthly costs from an Internet server provider would be an issue.

"It's not so much the cost of the equipment. That's a one-time fee," Miller said. But the ISP charge could run in the area of $600 per month.

A server -- the access point through which users would log onto a wireless Internet network -- might cost between $600 and $1,000, Miller said. The cost of routers, which manage network traffic, can run from around $100 to several thousands of dollars each. "It's all based on the total package," said Miller.

Distance

One new technology -- known as WiMax -- can cover distances as great as six miles out from a base station, depending on terrain, according to Timothy Lang, president of The Network Managers & Trainers Inc. in Tilton. However, that technology also requires an FCC permit, due to its use of radio signals to transmit data, and so far its availability has been limited to major cities.

Wi-Fi networks have a shorter range. According to Miller, a Wi-Fi network using non-line of sight technology -- which lets signals go through buildings and other objects -- can have a range of up to three miles from a central location's base server. Base stations and subscriber stations would be networked via servers and routers which would deliver the 'Net to a batch of users.

Miller's company already offers wireless broadband service in Berlin using that type of system.

Lang said annual connectivity costs for a broadband wireless network would run around $6,000 at the low end, depending on how well one negotiated with an ISP.

"Costing for 'the backbone' from an (ISP) would range from $400-$500 a month from a cable carrier for a business-grade Internet backbone, to $500-$1000 for telecommunication company backbones," Lang wrote in an e-mail.

Widespread coverage

One challenge which will face network planners is how to ensure the network covers as wide an area as possible.

John Leslie, a Milford computer consultant, said New Hampshire's granite hills and high-reaching trees impacted coverage in rural areas.

Really good coverage over a wide area, he said, would require a significant investment -- and considerably more than $20,000.

"You need to have lots of antennas in a mesh configuration, which I'm not aware of anybody doing yet," Leslie said.

A mesh configuration lets each point in a network communicate with the network as a whole, provided each point can communicate with at least one other point.

Still, Miller said, the fledgling program announced by the state would help economic development efforts in more rural parts of the Granite State.

"It says a lot about the state and their ability to spur economic development, and especially in the four corners that need it," Miller said.