Report on Free Wi-Fi Sent to Council

The City Council has received a report in response to a petition from Ald. Aram Ayalon (D-3) on the potential for the city providing free Wi-Fi for low income neighborhoods in the city.

The report, from city’s Support Services Department says that the city already provides free Wi-Fi access in two areas of the city, in Central Park in downtown and at Walnut Hill Park, which, the report says, the city provides for park, “visitors to prop up attendance and the quality of the visit.”

The report says that, “The City pays for internet access to a local ISP and shares that access using Wireless Access Points at a cost of approximately $250 per month for these two areas. Using a similar model, the greatest cost would be to infrastructure.”

On November 14, 2018, Ayalon introduced a City Council petition for the city to explore providing similar coverage in low income areas of the city, calling for a, “Listing of cost of adding cables to provide free Wi-Fi in low income areas within the City (North Oak, Arch Street area, etc.).”

When he introduced his petition to the Council, Ayalon said that, as an educator, he is very concerned about low income kids’ access to the internet.

“It is a national issue of unequal access to the internet,” Ayalon said.

Ayalon, who is a professor at the CCSU School of Education and Professional Studies, says that he concerned that many kids in the city do not have access to the internet to complete school work as other kids, in households with broadband internet access, can.

“Wi-Fi is available to those who can afford it,” Ayalon said in November, “but many people do not have access to it.”

The Support Services Department report said that, “Extending the reach of Wi-Fi can be accomplished by running fiber from utility pole to utility pole and hanging a radio capable of emitting a wireless signal.”

While report said that the exact cost of the infrastructure to extend coverage would need an analysis to determine, it cited unit costs of certain items, including hardened switches, “roughly on every other utility pole serving the area,” a firewall, a outdoor access points and fiber optic cabling.

The report cites costs for these components as $2,500 per hardened switch, $3,000 for each access point, $25 per linear foot of fiber cable installed and $10,000 for a firewall.

The report also suggests an alternative option, “to help the underserved is to subsidize the cost of internet access through the carriers already in place at a cost of approximately $40-50 per household per month.”

Ayalon’s petition also required city departments to explore, “cooperating with other municipalities with significant low income population to jointly provide free Wi-Fi.”

The report said that there are, “no active joint community initiatives at the municipal level,” but cited state technology grant money that the city used for, “connecting Schools, the Library, Police Station and City Hall.”

In response to another part of Ayalon’s petition requesting, “Information regarding the exploration of grants and state support in providing free Wi-Fi to low income communities,” the report said that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s, “BroadBandUSA serves as a strategic advisor to state and local government, industry and non-profits to expand broadband capacity and promote digital inclusion.”

In a separate City Council petition, Ayalon had asked for a report on, “the cost to provide Wi-Fi to all Fire Stations within the City of New Britain.”

The Support Services Department reported in response to that petition said that, “Wi-Fi device Hot Spots for Fire Department official business may be added at a cost of approximately $2,000 per fire house.”

That report added that, “Wi-Fi device Hot Spots for both Fire Department official business as well as personal use by fire personnel may be added at an approximate cost of $3,000 plus the $100 monthly Comcast fee per fire house.”

The two Support Services Department reports are on the agenda of the December 12, 2018 City Council meeting.

A City Council petition is a procedure in New Britain by which an individual member or more than one member of the Council is empowered to require consideration of action from or a report by a city department or commission. Council members frequently use this process to formally propose that the city take action on a particular concern.