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January 24, 2008
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Let’s try again A new private venture is bringing free wireless Internet to downtown Manchester, perhaps providing a model for other communities. It’s the second effort to bring wireless ’net to the Queen City. The project, called DynWifi, was initiated by local technology company Dynamic Network Services Incorporated, or DynDNS, which provides extensive Internet-related services but doesn’t provide Internet service for businesses other than the wireless access initiative. DynDNS has piloted the program for the past couple of months with success, covering a small patch of the downtown area. Currently, the source of the Internet for this network is DynDNS’s office, on the top floor of a building at the northern end of Elm Street. From a window facing downtown, repeaters bounce a signal up to 750 feet, where it catches another wireless repeater and so forth. DynDNS purchased a bunch of signal repeaters preprogrammed for the downtown wireless project. There is a loss of service as the signal continues from repeater to repeater, but each repeater houses an Ethernet outlet that allows a person or business to add their own Internet connection into the repeater to boost the signal. The repeater maintains a separate network for the wireless Internet users so it won’t interfere with the contributing persons’ or businesses’ networks. DynDNS now hopes that other downtown business will get the repeaters, made by Meraki, for a $50 refundable deposit. “It allows anyone to be a part of the solution,” said Gray Chynoweth of DynDNS. “All you need is a plug.” The repeater, a small white rectangular box with a rotating antenna, is simple to use — you just plug it in, and if it is within range of another repeater with Internet access, it will broadcast wireless signal for local users as well as bouncing the signal to the next repeater. There is no set-up needed. The Bridge Café on Elm Street is one of the test sites with a repeater. “It’s a great help for a business like ours,” said George Bezanson, a co-owner of the café. “People are really excited that we have it.” This is not the first time that people have tried to bring wireless Internet downtown. In 2003, a project called ManchesterWireless.org worked to bring wireless Internet to the city (see “City Unplugged,” 7/17/03), but the project never caught on. The organizers of the project hoped that users would open up their own Internet with a repeater to help create a citywide Internet backbone. “The signal is no longer in operation,” said Michael Skelton of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, which had a repeater on the top of its building. “The equipment is still in place, but the system is no longer functioning.” Users of that system, when they were able to log on, had an hour of free service before they had to pay for it. The new system will be free at all times. The Meraki mesh repeater is also being used in San Francisco — there are 1,000 repeaters in use with 30 Internet boosters around the city, providing service to many, though not all, areas of the city. Meraki is providing both the Internet service and repeaters at no charge in a trial project. The mesh repeater grew out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Roofnet project, which covered more than 1.5 square miles of Cambridge, Mass. DynDNS has no intention to make money from the deal; they hope to break even. They want to make Manchester a technological hub, which in the long run will draw more technological people to the area. They also hope to show that the private business model of providing wireless in the city is a viable one and can easily be repeated elsewhere.
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