Wi-Fi might not be bye-bye
Just as we thought the issue of Wi-Fi and Toledo was dead, placed aside until some future date…It appears…Mayor to retool Toledo Wi-Fi plan, eliminate taxpayer funding. Evidently Dr. Scott who was reached at home thinks she knows more about Wi-Fi than Tom Dawson at BuckeyeCablesystem:
Tom Dawson, a spokesman for Buckeye CableSystem, which also responded to the January request for proposals, said the Wi-Fi technology that was being pushed by the administration is likely to become obsolete and is not an equally good solution to public safety and personal computing needs.
He said outdoor Wi-Fi doesn’t penetrate well indoors, and that the Wi-Fi signal doesn’t “hand off” well from one access point to the next, as cell phones do.“There are a lot of problems with the proposal as they had it,” Mr. Dawson said.
“We’d be happy to look at whatever technology is right for which use,” Mr. Dawson said. “If it’s a viable project, we’d be happy to participate.”
Mrs. Scott said there are inexpensive devices that solve both of the problems to which Mr. Dawson alluded.
Having to buy devices no longer makes it “free” and that doesn’t deal with the issue of that type of service becoming obsolete. Maybe during this “retooling” they’ll figure out a way to make it happen in a manner that won’t be obsolete within a relatively quick time and will not require people to purchase additional devices beyond what you would need to make use of some of the free Wi-Fi already available in the Toledo area.
Dr. Scott quit/retired or was fired and she is still consulted when the administration has a new lead person on Wi-Fi Dr. Davies.
Neither of which have responded to questions I posed to them regarding hardware numbers.
Ms. Scott is refering to Wi-Fi extenders or antenna’s to improve indoor reception.
The Wi-Fi plan has more holes in it than a block of swiss cheese.
June 30th, 2007 at 3:17 am