ELY- The Ely Telecommunications Advisory Board (TAB) is proposing to install fiber-based wifi into Whiteside Park.
The hard-wired connection is expected to improve internet access for the city’s webcams and for vendors during festivals. After talking about it for the last two meetings, the TAB will forward a quote to the Ely City Council and ask for approval for the work.
According to TAB member Todd Crego, the quote is from CTC, the provider of the fiber loop downtown.
CTC offered to do the $6,400 fiber installation for no cost with a five-year contract. The cost to the city will be $100/month for 100 megabytes during the off-season and $500/month for one gigabyte during the on-season. The city will be responsible for the equipment to moderate the connection speed to users.
The city would charge festival vendors a small per-booth fee to use the wifi, according to Crego. The hard-wired wifi would also allow the city to host the Whiteside Park webcam. At the previous TAB meeting, Ely Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski reported the city is using a resident’s service for the webcam and continue to have router and service issues.
The city owns two webcams which both receive heavy internet traffic. The Sheridan St. webcam is currently working but the Whiteside Park webcam is down.