| HotZone A report prepared by Michael Taney for Joel Schwartz, Office of Economic Devleopment, Town of St. Johnsbury |
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Users would include both tourists and residents using basic internet applications such as email and web browsing. The service would not be intended for business-grade use, such as office email servers or web servers.
Users would access the network with wi-fi technology commonly found in laptop computers, hand-held devices, and peripheral computer equipment sold at Radio Shack, Staples, and other such vendors.
The internet provider Verge Wireless defines HotZone as
an area in a city, town, or neighborhood, that allows a user to access the Internet at speeds 5 times or more faster then a dial-up modem(56K) using any type of Wi-Fi enabled device. Hot Zones generally consist of 3 or more Access Points or Wi-Fi Cells to cover the area. Users can move from one part of an area to another without having to use multiple Wi-Fi providers or accounts
Wi-Fi, is short for wireless fidelity, and refers to "any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance" - ISP glossary at internet.com
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central location at the Welcome Center with one Mesh unit on the roof and a DSL line coming in to connect to the internet;
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2 units on the roof of Railroad Street block (same side as Citizens) placed at either end of the block (might get by with one unit in the middle of the block);
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1 unit on the corner of Eastern & Railroad on the roof of Costa's apartments;
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1 unit midway on Eastern Avenue (the Catamount, for instance);
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1 unit on the information booth at Main street
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1 unit on the roof of the Town offices
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1 or 2 units on the roof of the block of buildings across from the town office
It's possible that fewer units could be used, but it's hard to know without some kind of testing. If the town would invest in one unit we could perform a site survey around the proposed area using that one unit and a laptop equipped for wi-fi. Then, that one Mesh unit could be used to create a hotspot at the Welcome Center. Kingdom Connection's wireless service
A 900 Mhz fixed-wireless network is in place from Kingdom Connection with plans for St. Johnsbury. Currently the network is available to anyone who can connect to KingCon's Burke Mountain antenna. You can see a map of the available area at their website with explanations of their plans for STJ.
While there's sure to be some competition, KingCon's fixed-wireless business model and technology is quite different from the proposed STJ HotZone.
The KinCon network requires the user to buy a specific brand of equipment (WaveRider) and in many cases requires an external antenna installed somewhere on the user's house. All this translates into long-term commitment.
KingCon's plan for STJ includes access points on the Crowe Hill antenna and an antenna on Rocky Ridge Road. While this signal will certainly be available from rooftops in our proposed area, it will not flood the area with signal as in the intended HotZone. Also, the 900 Mhz end-user equipment is not anywhere near as available as the wifi technology. This 900 Mhz network will not interefere technically with the proposed HotZone, which will use the 2.4 Ghz spectrum.
Compare all of this to the proposed STJ HotZone which will be available to users on a casual basis, will not require any special arrangements, extra equipment, or long-term commitment.
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