Wireless plan gives ‘Surf City’ a new meaning

Boeing engineers team with city on a proposal to make all downtown Huntington Beach an Internet hotspot. A team of Boeing engineers is working on a proposal to outfit downtown Huntington Beach with a wireless Internet system that would stretch from the end of the pier to Orange Avenue.

Councilman Don Hansen has teamed up with the engineers to help secure funding for the network, which could be online as early as the summer. When operational, the system could allow anyone with a wireless device to access the Internet within two-blocks of Main Street -- whether they’re walking along the sand, shopping for a surfboard or eating at an outdoor café.

“I would love to be able to log in to work while sitting on the beach,” said Bronwyn Perkins of the Young Engineers of Boeing, the group that has volunteered time to install the system. Perkins said his group would take on the wireless endeavor as a community service project and would be working with the city of Huntington Beach and private companies to raise capital for the equipment.

Municipal wireless networks are complex engineering feats, but Bronwyn said Surf City’s network would be similar to existing systems in Fullerton and downtown Long Beach. A broadband Internet connection would be linked to about 150 wireless transmitters, or nodes, strategically placed throughout the city -- places like the downtown parking structure, street lights, lifeguard towers and high buildings. The signal would allow downloads ranging from 1.5 to 3 megabits per second.

Anyone with a wireless device -- such as a Palm Pilot or laptop computer -- could pick up the signal, log into the network and be connected to the Internet.

Dozens of Surf City businesses have begun to use wireless technology on a smaller scale. The Longboard, Java Jungle and the UPS store all offer wireless Internet to customers, but the signal can be picked up only inside the businesses or a few feet outside.

City Hall has also jumped onboard and gone wireless. New Information Services Director Jack Marshall recently installed a wireless router at City Hall; now anyone in the council chambers can surf the Web, check scores or type e-mails while attending council meetings.

“We had a similar system in place at my last job in Ventura, and it was very successful,” he said. “This technology gives people the chance to get more information when they need it.”

Marshall said he envisioned journalists being able to electronically file their articles without having to leave the council chambers, or activists researching an important topic before making a public comment.

“If you disagreed with something that was said, you could go online and check the facts for yourself,” activist and Internet organizer Mark Bixby said.

Whereas City Hall’s wireless system is designed for those doing business with the city, Hansen said he’d like to create a network for those doing business in the city, such as attendees at the many conferences held at the city’s two beachfront resorts. Both hotels now offer wireless Internet to guests.

The citywide wireless network could attract more business visitors and encourage people to work downtown instead of being tied to their desks.

Hansen estimated an initial equipment investment for the wireless network would run about $400,000. Depending on the capacity of the system, maintenance and bandwidth would run between “the hundreds of dollars to the thousands of dollars” per month, he estimated. Hansen said he would work with the council to find potential revenue sources for the project. Orange County cities like Fullerton have used redevelopment dollars to pay for municipal wireless networks.

Councilman Keith Bohr said he too would support a wireless system in downtown Huntington Beach similar to those in other cities.

“There’s nothing wrong with copying what’s been done before,” he said. “A lot of this stuff is cheap now. We don’t need to be on the cutting edge. There is so much available technology to go wireless. Staying in the middle would be just fine.”