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When Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley
announced recently that a coalition of downtown
companies would be offering free wireless Internet service at
the Inner Harbor, N.J. Sewell started seeing more people wandering about, staring down at their open laptop computers.
"It's hit or miss," said Sewell, a Baltimore City police officer stationed there. "One guy was sitting right where that lady was and he got nothing. Then, he moved near the water -- and he got connected."
Sewell's police station is in an ideal location to receive the signal. He stands watch next to the Maryland Science Center, which donated its roof for a 6-foot transmission tower. Anyone with the right wireless Internet -- or Wi-Fi -- card for their computer can, in theory, check e-mail, look up stock quotes or browse the news while eating a crab cake or drinking a beer.
The data travel to the top of the Science Center, at 601 Light St., where it is transmitted to the top of the Legg Mason Inc. Building, farther west at 100 Light St., before reaching the Charles Street headquarters of Accelacom, which is donating the connection to the Internet.
Giving anyone wireless access to the Internet by setting up Wi-Fi access zones -- so called "hotspots" -- is a growing trend. A number of cafés offer the service -- and such national chains as Starbucks Corp. and McDonalds Corp. are making the technology available to customers, either for free or for a small charge.
Some cities even have grassroots networks, including New York and St. Louis, which help people find the easiest connection. At least 20,000 Wi-Fi zones are located around the world, according to IDC, a research firm based in Framingham, Mass.
In Baltimore, the free pilot program -- "Baltimore UnWired" -- began Sept. 30 at the Inner Harbor. It seeks to create a 1,000-foot zone of free Internet service to help the city attract more technology-savvy people and companies. The network is open to all so city officials and the firms involved can gauge how people use it.
Mario Armstrong, coordinator of technology programs for O'Malley's administration, said about five to seven people log in each day and stay connected for an average of about 30 minutes.
The city contributes no money to the program. Its $10,000 start-up cost was paid by the firms involved in the project, including Accelacom -- founded two years ago and now employing a staff of 12 who sell wireless communications systems. Other firms involved include Legal Technology Solutions, a networks-integration company; Mission Media, a Web-design firm; and TLI Digital, a technology consultancy.
Testing it
To test Baltimore UnWired, SunSpot set out one Friday with a laptop. We used a wireless card with an external antenna for the best effect.
The good news is that the free wireless signal is much easier to find in the Inner Harbor than a free lunch. While even happy hour food was scarce, a signal could be found along the promenade in front of the Science Center. Anyone may connect if they have the small laptop card designed to speak the 802.11b -- or Wi-Fi -- standard.
But the signal is not very ubiquitous or always easy to capture. There is only one outdoor antenna, and it's pointed to send a signal north along the Inner Harbor promenade toward Calvert Street. An indoor antenna covers the café inside the Science Center.
The outdoor antenna also is tightly focused on the promenade. While some of the signal spreads, it's clear that the service is available only in the innermost corner of the harbor, where the three-deck Bay Lady cruise boat docks and Phillips Harborplace restaurant serves customers.
Large portions of what many consider the Inner Harbor are out of range of the antenna, however. The area toward Rash Field just east of the Science Center, the Rusty Scupper restaurant on Key Highway and Federal Hill are on the wrong side of the transmission tower. The National Aquarium also is out of range, while the Power Plant Live! signal is blocked by the Aquarium.
No usable signal could be found in any of these locations.
Finding a signal
But service even was spotty in the area covered by the antenna. Some locations were excellent, others marginal -- and others effectively worthless.
Part of the problem lies in the limitations of Wi-Fi technology. As anyone with a cellular telephone knows, radio signals can be strange and spooky. While the radio waves in the 2.4-gigahertz range used by the Inner Harbor's network can penetrate glass and thin interior walls, they lose strength in the process. When this loss is coupled with the distance from the antenna, the service can disappear.
The problem is that objects like the U.S.S. Constellation, docked at 301 E. Pratt St., or the USS Torsk that is part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, create shadows in the coverage. The end of the pier next to the Constellation offered a great signal and free 120-volt electricity from the lampposts, but the signal disappeared as we moved toward The Cheesecake Factory restaurant on Pratt Street. The Constellation blocked the radio waves.
"It's hit or miss," said Sewell, a Baltimore City police officer stationed there. "One guy was sitting right where that lady was and he got nothing. Then, he moved near the water -- and he got connected."
Sewell's police station is in an ideal location to receive the signal. He stands watch next to the Maryland Science Center, which donated its roof for a 6-foot transmission tower. Anyone with the right wireless Internet -- or Wi-Fi -- card for their computer can, in theory, check e-mail, look up stock quotes or browse the news while eating a crab cake or drinking a beer.
The data travel to the top of the Science Center, at 601 Light St., where it is transmitted to the top of the Legg Mason Inc. Building, farther west at 100 Light St., before reaching the Charles Street headquarters of Accelacom, which is donating the connection to the Internet.
Giving anyone wireless access to the Internet by setting up Wi-Fi access zones -- so called "hotspots" -- is a growing trend. A number of cafés offer the service -- and such national chains as Starbucks Corp. and McDonalds Corp. are making the technology available to customers, either for free or for a small charge.
Some cities even have grassroots networks, including New York and St. Louis, which help people find the easiest connection. At least 20,000 Wi-Fi zones are located around the world, according to IDC, a research firm based in Framingham, Mass.
In Baltimore, the free pilot program -- "Baltimore UnWired" -- began Sept. 30 at the Inner Harbor. It seeks to create a 1,000-foot zone of free Internet service to help the city attract more technology-savvy people and companies. The network is open to all so city officials and the firms involved can gauge how people use it.
Mario Armstrong, coordinator of technology programs for O'Malley's administration, said about five to seven people log in each day and stay connected for an average of about 30 minutes.
The city contributes no money to the program. Its $10,000 start-up cost was paid by the firms involved in the project, including Accelacom -- founded two years ago and now employing a staff of 12 who sell wireless communications systems. Other firms involved include Legal Technology Solutions, a networks-integration company; Mission Media, a Web-design firm; and TLI Digital, a technology consultancy.
Testing it
To test Baltimore UnWired, SunSpot set out one Friday with a laptop. We used a wireless card with an external antenna for the best effect.
The good news is that the free wireless signal is much easier to find in the Inner Harbor than a free lunch. While even happy hour food was scarce, a signal could be found along the promenade in front of the Science Center. Anyone may connect if they have the small laptop card designed to speak the 802.11b -- or Wi-Fi -- standard.
But the signal is not very ubiquitous or always easy to capture. There is only one outdoor antenna, and it's pointed to send a signal north along the Inner Harbor promenade toward Calvert Street. An indoor antenna covers the café inside the Science Center.
The outdoor antenna also is tightly focused on the promenade. While some of the signal spreads, it's clear that the service is available only in the innermost corner of the harbor, where the three-deck Bay Lady cruise boat docks and Phillips Harborplace restaurant serves customers.
Large portions of what many consider the Inner Harbor are out of range of the antenna, however. The area toward Rash Field just east of the Science Center, the Rusty Scupper restaurant on Key Highway and Federal Hill are on the wrong side of the transmission tower. The National Aquarium also is out of range, while the Power Plant Live! signal is blocked by the Aquarium.
No usable signal could be found in any of these locations.
Finding a signal
But service even was spotty in the area covered by the antenna. Some locations were excellent, others marginal -- and others effectively worthless.
Part of the problem lies in the limitations of Wi-Fi technology. As anyone with a cellular telephone knows, radio signals can be strange and spooky. While the radio waves in the 2.4-gigahertz range used by the Inner Harbor's network can penetrate glass and thin interior walls, they lose strength in the process. When this loss is coupled with the distance from the antenna, the service can disappear.
The problem is that objects like the U.S.S. Constellation, docked at 301 E. Pratt St., or the USS Torsk that is part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, create shadows in the coverage. The end of the pier next to the Constellation offered a great signal and free 120-volt electricity from the lampposts, but the signal disappeared as we moved toward The Cheesecake Factory restaurant on Pratt Street. The Constellation blocked the radio waves.
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