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09/05/2006Norfolk Open Link Directors Answer Blog Critic
In an August 30 column in Silicon.com, “Searching for wi-fi in Norwich,” U.K. telecom veteran Peter Cochrane, a former CTO and Head of Research for BT, wrote critically about the newly launched Norfolk Open Link network, a project of Norfolk County Council.
“Written in a coffee shop in Norwich and despatched to silicon.com via the UK's first free municipal wi-fi network,” Cochrane wrote. “But the email and contents then became locked into a downed server and I had to resend (just to make sure) three days later. Ho hum, it all works for the vast majority of the time!”
The W2i Broadband Wireless Communities Report invited Norfolk Open Link project directors Ann Carey and Kurt Frary to review Cochrane’s column. They provide a point-by-point response.
 Many thanks to Peter for taking the time to visit Norfolk and check out the new Norfolk Open Link. We’ve reviewed the issues raised by Peter and provided a response for each point. The project has generated a lot of interest both at home and abroad, and the project Web site has been designed to address many of the questions being asked. However, the Project Team are always happy to answer any specific questions or to provide additional information.
Coverage — The project Web site contains a number of maps showing details of the areas of the city covered by the service. These maps will be updated as the areas of coverage change over the life of the project. It should also be noted that the service has been designed as an “outside” network though it will be possible to receive the service within some of the surrounding buildings (including coffee shops!) depending on the quality of the signal and environmental conditions.
Speed — The project is funded by East of England Development Agency (EEDA) using public funds. As such, this has imposed a number of restrictions on the project scale and operation. In order to comply with these requirements, it has been necessary to restrict the performance of the service to less than that offered by commercial services.
60-Minute Session Limit — Because the project has a finite budget and limited ability to increase capacity, it has been considered prudent to introduce some form of demand management in the form of a 60-minute session limit. This will help ensure that as many users as possible can take advantage of the free service. This limit will be reviewed as part of the ongoing service management when we have more data on the actual levels and profile of demand.
Access Points — More than 160 access points were installed, tested and made operational before the service was launched for public use on August 1, with the majority of these access points located on lamp columns. This number will increase to approximately 220 once the full service is deployed by end of September. Because the service has been fully available with only very limited downtime for essential maintenance, any failure to connect will most likely be due to being outside the range of the service area. The project team have adopted a policy of not releasing publicity in advance in order to avoid some of the problems experienced by other Wi-Fi projects in setting expectations which are then not realized.
Usage — In the four weeks that the service has been operational, we have recorded more than 13,000 connections. As expected, the sectors covering the areas around the University, City College and The Forum (main public area in city center) are experiencing the highest levels of use. Sample surveys are indicating that while many of the connections are for Internet browsing, the service is being used by people to connect back to their offices.
Norfolk Open Link is a pilot project and not an operational or commercial service and as such does not raise any income through advertising or charging. Its key aims are to evaluate the impact that mobile technology could have on economic development in Norfolk and on the delivery of public-sector services. However, the Project Team are hopeful that over the next two years a way can found to continue and build on the initial success of Norfolk Open Link.
For more information, please contact Ann Carey and Kurt Frary, Norfolk Open Link Project, Norfolk County Council.
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