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Mass Innovations, from The Beacon, April 2013
In January, the town of Amherst introduced what is believed to be the state’s largest and fastest public Wi-Fi district, covering a mile-long corridor in the downtown.
The new district, which local officials regard as a means of making the business center more economically vibrant, offers connection speeds significantly faster than standard broadband Internet service.
“This is a fundamentally important way to position downtown Amherst as a place to live, work and grow your business,” said Town Manager John Musante. “We want to be leaders in that.”
The wireless network, which replaces a smaller, much slower and less reliable system that was established in 2007, was built out entirely by town staff.
The commercial products that the town tested didn’t meet Amherst’s needs, such as ensuring that the wireless signal would be capable of penetrating the walls of buildings, according to Amherst IT Director Kris Pacunas. Even companies that specialize in outdoor Wi-Fi were unable to develop a workable solution, he said.
“We decided to create our own access points,” he said. “We used eight companies’ worth of parts. After testing what we put together, we were really shocked by the results. We thought something was wrong.”
Laptops and larger computers are able to connect at a speed of up to about 80 megabits per second, with smartphones and tablet computers connecting at up to about 40 megabits per second. Other wireless networks are more typically around 5 megabits per second, Pacunas said.
Retail businesses, such as a doughnut shop that opened recently, are using the free Wi-Fi to process credit card payments, eliminating the need for businesses to purchase individual, conventional Internet access.
“Their customers are happier, they’re staying longer,” Pacunas said. “They can … walk from one end of the town common into a coffee shop and get a coffee, and keep walking, and still be on the same signal.”
The wireless signal, he added, has proven strong enough to penetrate not only a building’s exterior but interior chambers as well, making it possible that an entire office building could benefit from the free service.
The Wi-Fi district also encompasses Amherst’s public housing. Following a rebooting on Feb. 28 that required an interruption of service, “my phone almost blew up on my desk” with complaints from the public housing residents, Pacunas said. He described the complaints as evidence of the value of the Wi-Fi service to townspeople.
For more information, contact Kris Pacunas at (413) 259-3222.