Manchester Public Forum Success

More than 200 interested Washtenaw County residents came out for the first Wireless Washtenaw Public Forum on Monday, March 26th at the Manchester High School Auditorium. The audience had the opportunity to hear some of the history, as well as the latest update on this project to bring no or lower cost Internet access to all of Washtenaw County.

Washtenaw County Commissioners Jessica Ping Mills and Mark Ouimet welcomed the crowd. In 2005, the County’s Board of Commissioners gave the initial go-ahead to the Wireless Washtenaw team that has created the present model of private-public collaboration. Dan Skratek, project manager from 20/20 Communications , the local private sector partner for Wireless Washtenaw, gave a detailed update on the project.

Skratek, and 20/20 Communications President Bob Wolff told the audience that the firm, with help from Siemens USA, is working aggressively to deploy the network as soon as possible in the rural community. The vast majority of rural residents in the County can access the Internet using only the slower-speed dial-up connections.

20/20 Communications has completed the pilot phase of the project and is in the process of preparing for county-wide deployment. The project team is in the process of securing the additional assets needed to expand the network, which includes discussions with the Michigan Department of Transportation, Detroit Edison, local municipalities and private residents, among others. 20/20 Communications envisions expanding the network sometime in May or June of 2007

According to Skratek, it may take longer to gain the necessary approvals in some communities than others. In all likelihood, the network will be a patchwork design during the first several months as certain geographic areas go live first due to the presence of existing infrastructure and an expedited permitting process.

The next phase also includes completing a radio frequency survey of Washtenaw County, final design of the network and testing a billing system with current pilot participants. All of the speakers reiterated that the project continues to be on track for successful deployment of wireless Internet access throughout Washtenaw County by the end of 2007.

Any interested resident may sign-up for Wireless Washtenaw Weekly Updates from 20/20 Communications.