If you're looking for a resource that focuses on wireless connectivity, check out the MuniNetworks.org Wireless Page. Rather than an exhaustive list of every municipal wireless (muni-wireless) project, we've created an introduction to the potential of wireless technologies. Explore commonly held misconceptions about wireless, gain a better understanding of spectrum, and learn how cities have built wireless projects. 

Why Wireless

We invite you to use this resource when considering whether a wireless project is right for your community. Some communities have used wireless service as a temporary solution before building fiber networks while others have used it to improve connectivity in their downtowns or during special events. Wireless service has potential to provide needed Internet access, but it is still not a substitute for high-quality wireline service.

These technologies improve and change rapidly over the past decade, and we will update the page periodically as they continue to evolve. To that end, we have included boxes with links to more information for in-depth reading. In particular, we invite you to read the Moving Forward section, which highlights possibilities for the future of wireless in both rural communities and urban areas. 

If you have additions, corrections, or comments, please let us know at broadband@MuniNetworks.org.

On January 30th, the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing to learn from experts about how to shrink the digital divide and expand Internet access. The committee invited Joanne Hovis, owner of CTC Technology and Energy, to testify.

Make Investment Attractive

Hovis also heads up the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) as CEO. She shared a plan that focused on creating an environment that will encourage infrastructure investment by the private and public sectors. The CLIC website shared the six main components of the plan:

Support public-private partnerships that ease the economic challenges of constructing rural and urban infrastructure;

Incent local efforts to build infrastructure — ones that private service providers can use — by making bonding and other financing strategies more feasible;

Target meaningful infrastructure capital support to rural and urban broadband deserts, not only to attract private capital but also to stimulate private efforts to gain or retain competitive advantage;

Empower local governments to pursue broadband solutions of all types, including use of public assets to attract and shape private investment patterns, so as to leverage taxpayer-funded property and create competitive dynamics that attract incumbent investment;

Require all entities that benefit from public subsidy to make enforceable commitments to build in areas that are historically unserved or underserved; and

Maximize the benefits of competition by requiring that all federal subsidy programs are offered on a competitive and neutral basis for bid by any qualified entity.

Hovis began her testimony by assessing our current approaches to shrinking the digital divide. She examined current belief in D.C. that local processes such as permitting and access hold up infrastructure investment and frankly told them that such a belief is incorrect.

From Hovis’s written testimony: