Comments on: Free wireless in Brighton http://rochesterturning.com/2008/08/08/free-wireless-in-brighton/ turning the tide upstate Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:23:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: sconsetmonkey http://rochesterturning.com/2008/08/08/free-wireless-in-brighton/#comment-175620 sconsetmonkey Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:17:45 +0000 http://rochesterturning.com/?p=5548#comment-175620 Yes, I was watching at home on the thinkin' box and it just didn't do it justice, so I decided to swing by to get the full flavor of the event. Yes, I was watching at home on the thinkin’ box and it just didn’t do it justice, so I decided to swing by to get the full flavor of the event.

]]> By: stlo7 http://rochesterturning.com/2008/08/08/free-wireless-in-brighton/#comment-175616 stlo7 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:54:35 +0000 http://rochesterturning.com/?p=5548#comment-175616 Where you at the meeting tonight? Where you at the meeting tonight?

]]> By: sconsetmonkey http://rochesterturning.com/2008/08/08/free-wireless-in-brighton/#comment-175573 sconsetmonkey Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:37:50 +0000 http://rochesterturning.com/?p=5548#comment-175573 LIVE! From Brighton Town Hall. Whoops, no WiFi. LIVE! From Brighton Town Hall.

Whoops, no WiFi.

]]> By: Phillip Dampier http://rochesterturning.com/2008/08/08/free-wireless-in-brighton/#comment-174795 Phillip Dampier Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:58:17 +0000 http://rochesterturning.com/?p=5548#comment-174795 The wireless service in Brighton has actually decreased in planned coverage. The original plan was to extend service outwards from 12 Corners down Monroe and Elmwood Avenues. The 12 Corners business district was to be within the "free access" loop, with the extended spokes being part of the $30 a month access area ($10 if you are a Frontier DSL customer). The plan has been dramatically reduced in scope. The antennas installed further down Elmwood have been removed, and one of the antennas on the traffic light pole at Elmwood & Winton has been repositioned to direct more fee-based access towards the middle and high school. The 12 Corners district is now entirely fee-based access - only the town hall and library zone and Buckland Park (entirely pointless) zones are now free of charge. So now the wi-fi from Frontier network for Brighton leaves only expensive and limited access hotspots in a very small portion of the town. If Sandra was smart, she'd not give it much prominence, because it represents an end run by the County GOP and Frontier around Brighton's own consideration of a wi-fi network, and after it actually was completed, only covers a miniscule portion of the town, spreading signal across commercial locations and empty sports fields. I'm sure the latte drinkers and folks kicking around a ball at Buckland Park will find it useful (?). That hardly addresses the issue that communities have raised about expensive broadband access to residences. The information have-nots are not going to find a solution with a Frontier wi-fi network that covers the Clinton-Westfall corridor, the Monroe Avenue commercial district between the Pittsford town line and the city boundary, and the 12 Corners business district. Brighton should accelerate considering of its own wi-fi network that is directed at serving residential areas of the town, perhaps starting with the relatively high-density, and lower income rental properties clustered in different sections of the town. A $30 monthly access fee is the equivalent of what Frontier charges on a promotional plan for full speed DSL service, so the price should near half that rate. The wireless service in Brighton has actually decreased in planned coverage. The original plan was to extend service outwards from 12 Corners down Monroe and Elmwood Avenues. The 12 Corners business district was to be within the “free access” loop, with the extended spokes being part of the $30 a month access area ($10 if you are a Frontier DSL customer).

The plan has been dramatically reduced in scope. The antennas installed further down Elmwood have been removed, and one of the antennas on the traffic light pole at Elmwood & Winton has been repositioned to direct more fee-based access towards the middle and high school. The 12 Corners district is now entirely fee-based access - only the town hall and library zone and Buckland Park (entirely pointless) zones are now free of charge.

So now the wi-fi from Frontier network for Brighton leaves only expensive and limited access hotspots in a very small portion of the town. If Sandra was smart, she’d not give it much prominence, because it represents an end run by the County GOP and Frontier around Brighton’s own consideration of a wi-fi network, and after it actually was completed, only covers a miniscule portion of the town, spreading signal across commercial locations and empty sports fields. I’m sure the latte drinkers and folks kicking around a ball at Buckland Park will find it useful (?).

That hardly addresses the issue that communities have raised about expensive broadband access to residences. The information have-nots are not going to find a solution with a Frontier wi-fi network that covers the Clinton-Westfall corridor, the Monroe Avenue commercial district between the Pittsford town line and the city boundary, and the 12 Corners business district.

Brighton should accelerate considering of its own wi-fi network that is directed at serving residential areas of the town, perhaps starting with the relatively high-density, and lower income rental properties clustered in different sections of the town. A $30 monthly access fee is the equivalent of what Frontier charges on a promotional plan for full speed DSL service, so the price should near half that rate.

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