What defines a community? 

Shared interest in progress and a connection to residents of some town, village or city in Illinois.

Libraries, park districts, chambers of commerce, towns, villages, cities and other municipal and community organizations are all eligible to apply.

 

Am I just supposed to provide Internet access, or are there other requirements (like a community center, free service to X users, etc.)?

There are no requirements beyond answering the 15 questions contained in the application. We want to help networks that serve some public interest -- like education, safety, economic development, quality of life, etc.

 

Is this a highly competitive grant? 

Yes. We expect at least 15 applications for which we anticipate awarding between 3 and 6 grants.

 

Can you provide examples of items included in previously successful grants?

Previously successful applicants made clear how the network would work, how it would be sustained, and who would benefit from it.

Applications that can clearly describe the network's potential usefulness will command extra attention from the review committee.

 

Are we talking a wifi hotspot or are we talking fixed wireless broadband?

Both ideas are eligible. Obviously, a $10K grant would not cover the entire cost of a huge fixed wireless network, but we are hoping that communities will find multiple sources to fund the network.

 

Can this be used in a rural area where highspeed Internet is not available or just for a specific relatively small public area?

Yes.

 

Can it be utilized in schools where the school is paying a high price for bandwidth?

Yes.

 

 

A total of four $20,000 "Main Street Wireless Grants" were awarded between 2005 and 2006: Mt. Vernon and Quincy in 2005; Belleville and Carbondale in 2006.

 

Mt. Vernon Main Street contracted with Slingshot Wireless to mount 4 Tropos wireless broadband nodes on Ameren light poles. Local entrepreneur John Scrivner, president of MtVernon.net, negotiated a pole attachment agreement with Ameren and a right of use contract with the city. His company maintains the wireless broadband cloud, which blankets roughly 200, mostly small business and government offices. A captive portal sends all network connections to a “home page” (http://downtownmtvernon.com/) designed to promote Main Street events and businesses. Daily, weekly and monthly Internet access is available for a fee, while access to the “home page” and two local newspapers -- the Register News and the Morning-Sentinel -- is free.

 

CONTACT:

John Scrivner

john@mvn.net

 

Quincy Main Street contracted with local tech consultant Eric Thomas, president of ETC Computerland to offer free wireless Internet service through 9 blocks in Washington Park. Free service extends to the heart of the central business district as well. One wireless broadband node is mounted on a storage building, and plans are underway to expand the free service to Clat Adams Park and to the Mississippi Riverfront. This will require placing nodes on the Riverhouse Restaurant and the Austin & Associates buildings.

 

CONTACT:

Eric Thomas

ethomas@etccomputerland.com

 

Belleville Main Street contracted with Norcom 2000, a local Internet Service Provider to deploy a 30-square block free wireless network. The wireless network blankets roughly 80 stores and offices. Wireless broadband nodes are mounted on Meckfessel's Tire shop, the Community Kindness Resale Shop and Norcom 2000’s headquarters.

 

CONTACT:

Harry Norton

norton@norcom2000.com

 

Carbondale Main Street contracted with local entrepreneur James Throgmorton to deploy a wireless broadband network downtown. Local tech consultant James Throgmorton worked with SIU-Carbondale to extend existing wireless broadband coverage beyond the campus community. Elaine Ramseyer, manager of the Longbranch coffee house said her patrons can now surf the Internet while having a cup of java.

 

CONTACT:

James Throgmorton

james@agendatodo.com

 

Consultants & vendors offering technical assistance

 

(If you would like to be added to this listing, please email ryan[dot]croke[at]illinois[dot]gov )

 

Brad Housewright

VP Midwest Region

RidgeviewTel

P.O. Box 189

Goreville, IL. 62939

Mobile 303-842-9974

bhousewright@ridgeviewtel.com

http://ridgeviewtel.com

 

RidgeviewTel is a full-service wireless broadband operation. RidgeviewTel provides; surveying, architecture, design and deployment, scheduling, installing, on-going customer service, billing and network operations management and monitoring. RidgeviewTel has a complete outsourcing business model to make it easy for applicants to partner with us and achieve their goals.

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Irshad Ansari

President/CEO

NI Solutions, Inc.

13672 Brookstone Dr

Carmel, IN 46032

PH#   317.843.0687

Cell# 317.373.4846

 

We have been working with the following Municipalities in Illinois. , Princeton, Rock Falls, Galva, Oglesby, Marshall, and Highland. I will be happy to give references and would love to help Clients. Please give me a call if you have any questions.

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Stuart Chapman, President

Municipal Services Associates, Inc.

3 Golf Center, #311

Hoffman Estates, Illinois 60169

847-882-7773 (office)

847-867-6117 (cell phone)

847-310-9275 (fax)

msaschapman@cs.com (e-mail)

 

Municipal Services Associates, Inc. would be glad to assist any Illinois community looking to undertake the first steps toward building a community wireless network. We can provide assistance in the following ways:

 

1.    Providing an inventory of existing wired and wireless telecommunications resources locally and in surrounding areas and  onducting wireless communications needs assessments for governmental, private sector, and public uses.

2.    Assisting a municipality in developing a realistic business plan for a wireless broadband network. This is particularly important in the wake of disappointing investment returns from wireless networks supported only by advertising revenues and developing a cost-benefit analysis for a municipal wireless broadband network.3

3.    Preparing an RFQ or RFP for wireless network developers and/or equipment vendors and assisting a community in interviewing RFP respondents based on their proposal responses.

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Scott Piehn

Computer Dynamics

451 W. South St

Freeport, IL 61032

Voice = 815-233-2641

FAX  = 815-233-6225

email = spiehn@computerdyn.com

 

We are a Wireless Internet Service Provider serving Carroll and Jo-Davies Counties currently.  We look at these community projects as enhancing our service not as competition.  We have much of the infrastructure currently in place that can be tapped into allowing costs to be less.

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Jeff Mabry

Director of Wireless Technology

270.217.7679

jmabry@slingshotwireless.com

www.slingshotwireless.com

 

SlingShot Wireless Communications, LLC

PO Box 360

6295 East IL HWY 15

Woodlawn, IL 62898

866.333.3127

 

SlingShot offers a wide range of wireless services for a variety of clients including industrial and commercial organizations, telephone companies, cellular providers, economic developers and municipalities.  Key service offerings include:

1)       Microwave Point to Point: SlingShot is well experienced in engineering, deployment and optimization of microwave point-to-point links.  SlingShot's start was formed around such line of site technology.

2)       Fixed Wireless Broadband: Point-to-multipoint fixed wireless broadband is no stranger to SlingShot.  SlingShot has built such networks from concept to completion, along with offering maintenance services, for clients across the country.

3)       Mesh Wireless Broadband:  In campus and downtown areas, SlingShot has the capability of designing and deploying mesh wireless broadband for public safety, business and personal consumers in the area.

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Al Brown

President and CEO

SmartWAVE Technologies LLC

5078 Bristol Industrial Way, Suite 200

Buford, Georgia 30518

678.730.1950 x104 (o)

404.312.6971 (m)

 

We are a hardware/software independent provider of wireless networks and applications.  This being said, we can help communities make an unbiased evaluation/selection of the appropriate technologies platforms that best meet their application needs and environment.  Our experience in wireless network planning and design includes some of the most notable wireless projects, including the Google Network in Mountain View, the first and only quadruple play (voice, video, data, mobility) network in Tucson, among many others.  These networks have used Mesh, Point to Point, and/or Point to Multi-Point solutions, based on the specific application requirements. Our firm employs a full-service wireless engineering organization with the appropriate toolsets to provide propagation modeling, spectrum analysis and site survey services.  All of these services are required to develop a network architecture and bill of materials for a large outdoor deployment.  More information can be viewed at www.smartwave.us.

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Bruce W. Cooper

Director - Government Relations & Administration

NOW Wireless, LLC

(618) 494-5068

 

We work with communities to build wireless zones.  We have extensive experience that dates back to the 80’s and cellular.  We can provide assistance and can send along community comments from those people with which we have already done work. 

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Acorn Active Media Foundation

Contact Info: acornactivemedia.com/contact

 

The Acorn Active Media Foundation engages in software, website, and technical development in support of the global justice movement.  Acorn's staff are internationally recognized experts in the field of community wireless telecommunications.  As a not-for-profit organization, Acorn is an independent consultant -- we'll give you honest assessments of the options available, we'll help you get set up, we'll strategize to help prevent path-depencencies and obsolescence of your networks in the coming years.

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Ethos Wireless

Contact info: ethoswireless.com/feedback

 

Ethos Wireless is a telecommunications consulting firm focusing on the community benefits of wireless technology. We follow three core principles: accessibility, accountability, affordability. We prioritize the needs of the community in our assessments and work directly with municipal representatives as well as local residents to deliver proposals and networking options tailored to each community's particular needs.

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