Free wireless access will be available in downtown areas and in certain mill village parks outside and perhaps in limited indoor areas. A further engineering study will determine Internet speed and exact wireless coverage.
“The idea is that in those particular areas that were targeted, you’ll have some sort of Internet access available at no cost,“ said Marc Regier, information services director for the city. “If somebody wants to get online while sitting out at the park or something like that, they can hop in down there. There will be some sort of Internet...but exactly what service speeds and other wireless details have yet to be determined.“
Though once reported as a free city-wide service, assistant city manager Jeff Shacker says this first phase is a “backbone“ structure to to build upon and that wireless connection for the whole city could happen.
“I think ultimately, it could prove feasible to turn the entire city on (to wireless),“ said Shacker. “And I think more the network is used by the public and our own employees, the more desire there’s going to be to build the network out. It’s just it can’t all be accomplished at one time. It’s just going to have to be phased.“
The city is funding the project with the $500,000 in grant money it won from South Carolina Department of Commerce in December 2006.
But, Shacker says, the service was never intended to replace an individual’s or businesses’ Internet service.
“It was just designed to provide some outdoor coverage and be yet another tool we could use to market the downtown and to also benefit low and moderate income citizens,“ he said.
The funding, known as a Community Development Block Grant is “HUD money“ or Housing and Urban Development funds. The Department of Commerce doles it out to cities on a competitive basis, said Shacker.
Newberry went “head to head with other cities“ competing for the money and Shacker thinks Newberry’s wireless project won out over cities’ more typical infrastructure projects because of its unique nature.
“I think it did give us a leg up,“ said Shacker.
But with the gift comes spending guidelines.
The HUD money must in some way benefit low and moderate income households or “LMI“ areas.
For Newberry, many LMI areas are near the city’s mill villages. So the Oakland, West End and Mollohon areas will likely be first on the wireless list.
So while it may not be the inside sit-at-your-desk wireless ease some expected, Shacker assures it’s still good.
The structure could one day allow utility workers to read electric and water meters without leaving their office and opens the door for efficient energy use through a process called demand-side load management where homes’ water and electrical use is managed during high-use hours.
Also, the wireless system could support a fiber optic network connected to homes and business, and then likely draw e-commerce businesses with its Internet connectivity and power.
“We think that’s going to be key infrastructure,“ said Shacker.
But the payoff is already here for police, firefighters and utility service workers, says Shacker, who says they’ll have a stronger support system to communicate and more areas to access data.
“Right now I think (police) are tied to City Hall and Lindsay Furniture and I think one other hotspot (to access data),“ said Shacker. “So whenever they’re in the footprint of this proposed system, they’ll be able to access the Internet and our data network.“
And the city hasn’t forgotten the tourists.
“There’s a tremendous amount of internal benefit, a tremendous amount of public relation and tourism benefit, being able to turn Newberry on downtown,“ said Shacker.
“It’s one more tool we can use to bring visitors to our city. And the fact that it would support the Opera House, that patrons would know that service is available when they’re there (or) at the Conference Center, is huge,“ he said.
“You could also have a bus full of people coming in for something at the Opera House and they’re all standing around outside after eating and they can hop on and do their e-mail or anything like that,“ said Regier.
But like with any public Internet access, Regier advises avoiding sending sensitive e-mails or payments.
“Using your judgement I think is the best thing when dealing with any sort of public terminal,“ said Regier, who previously worked for three years as the Information Technology Director at Newberry College.
“Most computers nowadays, if you go on them and say you’re connecting to a network, a lot of time it will tell you if you’re connecting to an open access,” he said.
“Devices are becoming smarter and smarter and they’re allowing people to use less and less of their own judgement...but as with anything else, you should really understand the positives and the negatives of using something like that before you jump on it.“
But, just browsing the Internet shouldn’t be a problem, Regier said.
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