PORT TOWNSEND — A wireless network planned to improve public safety also could lead to free wireless hot spots throughout the city, the Port Townsend city manager said.
“We are building a private wireless network for public safety purposes,” David Timmons said.
“But we are building a second network on top of it that we can lease out to a private ISP [Internet Service Provider] that will improve local service,” he added.
The network used by the city and the one made available to the public would be two separate frequencies, Timmons said.
The network is in the design stage. The cost is estimated at about $400,000, Timmons said. A completion date has not been set yet.
The cost will be paid through bond revenue, he said, and the public part of the network could generate revenue for the city.
Additionally, the city plans to convert its phone service to a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) that would allow the disconnection of 80 phone lines.
At an average of $53 per month for each line, this could save the city about $50,000 a year, he said.
Another possibility is that the city could administer Internet service as if it were a utility, though unlike city water customers, Internet users would have the choice of purchasing service from the city or another provider.
The legality of this process is being tested in other areas, and Timmons said he would wait for the results of those cases before making a recommendation to the Port Townsend City Council.
This arrangement would place the city in competition with private companies.
“I’m not sure that offering Internet as a utility is a path that we want to take,” Timmons said.
“Right now, it seems that it would make more sense for us to act as a wholesaler and develop partnerships with other companies.”
These partnerships would not be exclusive, since several different companies could contract for services.
One of these companies or the city could establish a free wireless zone downtown for public use, Timmons said.
The network, which is being installed by Intellicheck Mobilisa of Port Townsend, requires eight nodes to provide comprehensive coverage throughout the city.
One-hundred-foot-tall towers are to be constructed at the Mobilisa offices south of town, Jefferson Healthcare, Port Townsend High School, the Coast Guard Communications tower in Point Wilson, the Northwest Maritime Center and two at the Morgan Hill Reservoir (one existing and another to be constructed).
With these in place, the network not only would provide blanket coverage of the area, it also would allow such functions as video conferences between police cars, Timmons said.
Video conferences also would become a key part of the governing process, he said.
Meetings between the city and the county would be conducted without anyone leaving the office, and city employees in the field wouldn’t have to return to City Hall in order to type their reports, he said.
The city’s current system doesn’t have the bandwidth to support even the simplest teleconferencing.
“Right now, if you start a teleconference, it uses all the bandwidth, and no one else on the system can use the Internet,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
