Monday, October 21, 2002

Norwegian Cruise Line installs WiFi on its ships [Reiter's Wireless Data Web Log] Norwegian Cruise Line installs WiFi on its ships Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has installed WiFi on the Norwegian Sun and will install WiFi on the rest of its ships by the end of 2002, according to an October 11 press release I just found (shame on me for being late!).  I've written previously that I think WiFi on cruise ships makes sense and, apparently, so does NCL. The company is working with Maritime Telecommunications Network and PCTEL to install the 802.11b (which -- typo -- the press release on the Web calls "802.11p").  According to the release, 802.11 is available by the pool, lounges, meeting rooms, atriums and foyers.  Laptops may be rented for $35 a day, PC Cards may be rented for $10 a day and online charges are "as low as" [low?] $.40 per minute.  Access may be purchased per-minute or in 33-, 100- and 250-minute increments. Satellite time isn't cheap and, alas, data rates typically aren't very fast.  But when you're on a ship, you're pretty much a communications hostage. comments? [] 10:40:17 PM     Smart City: one to watch Smart City Telecom offers free WiFi in Walt Disney town Celebration, Fla. to DSL customers Residents of Celebration, Fla. -- a planned community created by the Walt Disney organization -- may use free 802.11b service around the town if they subscribe to the local phone company's new DSL service.  Smart City Telecom (SCT), the phone company for Celebration, Lake Buena Vista and Walt Disney World, has installed access points in several locations around the city.  The service is free for subscribers to the Home-n-Roam and Work-n-Roam DSL service. The official launch will be Monday, October 21, at an evening reception in Celebration.  Phone service and convention telecom I know a fair amount about this because I am a consultant to the entire Smart City organization to help them with their 802.11 development efforts.  Smart City Networks (a sister company of Smart City Telecom) is the largest company in the U.S. providing telecommunications infrastructure to convention centers.  Smart City Networks installed the WiFi network at the Orange County Convention Center so that the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association could have it for its annual Wireless 2002 conference in Orlando in March.  The company also has installed WiFi in California in the Anaheim and San Diego convention centers, and more is on the way. Smart City's got a bunch of, well, smart people working for them.  (I realize my opinions are suspect since I'm a consultant for the company.  But as readers of the Weblog know, I'm a damn obnoxious guy and not shy about my opinions.  If I thought Smart City executives were dolts or even of average [shudder] business acumen, I wouldn't have brought it up the subject.) Getting it Smart City executives "get" WiFi and believe in stimulating its growth.  They move fast.  From idea to commercial launch has been months -- not years -- in Celebration.  But since Smart City also believes in generating income for the company, they aren't giving it away to everyone in the town -- just the residents who subscribe to DSL. In addition to the free WiFi, SCT also is providing a powerful modem to DSL customers.  It's the 2Wire gateway/router.  The device not only includes an 802.11b access point and firewall, but it also includes HomePNA capability to establish a home network by using phone RJ-11 jacks. I know of free community networks.  I know of phone companies offering routers/APs.  I know of paid WiFi networks.  But I don't know of any venture in the United States where a phone company is wiring a town so it can offer free WiFi to its customers and providing them with a topnotch router/gateway.  This is a work-in-progress.  It's a first step.  Smart City is working with the town to create this WiFi community effort. [Reiter's Wireless Data Web Log] comments? [] 8:37:39 PM     Measuring Social Capital in a Networked Housing Estate Measuring Social Capital in a Networked Housing Estate by Denise Meredyth, Liza Hopkins, Scott Ewing and Julian Thomas This paper describes the construction of 'Reach for the Clouds', an inventive scheme to build a resident-maintained 'networked community' in Atherton Gardens, an ethnically-diverse, low-income, high rise public housing estate in Melbourne, Australia. The project was developed by the InfoXchange, a not-for-profit Internet service provider with a 'social entrepreneurial' orientation. It involves a consortium of government and community groups and draws on a combination of voluntary labour, commercial enterprise, government funding and donations of equipment by local businesses. The long term goal of the project is for it to become self-funding, and owned and operated by Atherton Gardens' residents. This requires both training and skills development as well as the creation of an enterprise base to fund the operating and capital costs of the network. Contents Introduction The Reach for the Clouds initiative Technology for social justice Effects, causes and indices Social capital, bridging and bonding Conclusion Measuring Social Capital in a Networked Housing Estate [First Monday] [thomas n. burg | randg[per thou]nge]  [Blogging Alone] comments? [] 5:28:33 PM

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