Longmont goes commercial today! from bunker
on yahoo bd:
City goes wireless Tuesday
Subscriptions will be needed to use network; 75% of city covered
By Trevor Hughes
The Daily Times-Call
LONGMONT — The citywide wireless network is set to go live Tuesday, switching from a free service to a subscription-based one.
Cost for the service provided by Kite Networks will start at $19.95 a month for individual users. About 75 percent of the city is covered by the network right now, the company says.
Thousands of people in Longmont have already tried the network, which has been up and running for free for about a month. The network will permit anyone with the proper equipment to connect to the Internet without wires, and will serve as a competing service to Comcast, Earthlink or Qwest.
People who want to use the network in their homes will likely have to buy a $70 signal amplifier, although outdoor users who connect with laptops won’t need them.
“We can’t wait until Tuesday,” Kite spokesman Alan Crancer said. “We feel that the community is very excited.”
Right now, anyone who connects to the KiteNetFree wireless signal is taken to a company splash page, and users can then navigate away from that page to the Internet. Once the subscription service begins, users will have to pay for access via a credit card.
Crancer said small businesses interested in signing up for the service should contact Kite for price quotes.
Kite had hoped to have the entire network ready for launch by this time, but the winter’s heavy snows delayed installation of some equipment.
City government plans to become one of the biggest users of the network once officials deem it reliable. They are considering testing a variety of applications for the network, from allowing police cars to connect to central databases to wireless cameras to monitor graffiti.
The city spent no money to install the network, which is wholly owned by Kite.
AI
