Public access wireless Internet may soon be coming to Baltimore.
The city plans to send out a request for information in the next week searching for experts to advise the city on its proposal to create a “digitally inclusive city,” said Mario Armstrong, the city?s technology advocate.
“We don?t believe this is something the taxpayers should have to pay for,” Armstrong said. “The city is interested in doing a wholistic and comprehensive wireless service.”
He declined to release details of the city?s formal request for information, but the proposal could open the door for easier Internet access for low-income families in addition to serving wealthier tourists, residents and businesses. Armstrong said the city hopes to fund the program privately.
The city of Annapolis already has launched a free public access wireless network in its downtown district. Annapolis Wireless Internet has agreed to build the network and funded it with advertising dollars. The company has plans to expand the network to other parts of the city later this summer.
Around the same time, a Baltimore wireless company may also be ready to test its own free wireless system.
Paul Dowling, chief executive officer of Believe Wireless, said his company has plans “on a slightly different scale.”
Even though his company is willing to experiment with the idea of free wireless, Dowling said the costs may be prohibitive.
“It can cost upward of $67,000 per square mile just to provide the equipment,” he said. “That doesn?t even include the Internet access.”
Believe Wireless, a 4-year-old company founded in Towson, helps businesses and residents go cord-free by creating contained wireless networks inside buildings.
Downtown Baltimore is ripe with wireless hot spots. The Inner Harbor was wired for access years ago as part of a pilot program, but the connection is no longer in use, Armstrong said.
But giving visitors, residents and business people the freedom to check e-mail or just surf the Internet outdoors is catching on, according to Michael Evitts, a spokesman for Baltimore?s Downtown Partnership.
“I think universal wireless access is going to happen,” he said.
“But it?s a question of how do you fund it? Do you have wireless pockets in the city or do you have fees for service?”
Evitts said the Downtown Partnership may incorporate wireless capability in its renovation of Center Plaza. The 14-monthproject will turn an empty structure into a mini park.
