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Grand Haven has become the first city in the country, perhaps the world, to be completely covered by new wireless Internet technology.
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"We look forward to it being available throughout the county and eventually the state," Grand Haven Mayor Roger Bergman said. "We have created a true 21st-century telecommunications platform and a model for its roll-out everywhere."

Ottawa Wireless Inc. announced last week that it has completed its WiFi (wireless fidelity) network in Grand Haven, giving access to every residence and business within the city limits.

The city signed the local company to a five-year franchise agreement in February, with the expectation that as many as 150 repeater antennas would have to be mounted around Grand Haven to make it work.

"It ended up being considerably less than what we thought it would be," said Ottawa Wireless CEO Tyler van Houwelingen.

As it turned out, only about 60 repeater sites were needed to cover the city's six square miles, van Houwelingen said.

Ottawa Wireless staff "picked up tricks along the way," van Houwelingen said, that helped them avoid interference and overcome anticipated obstacles that allowed increased coverage area and better Internet connections for their customers -- without the need for the additional repeater sites.

"Trees were the most formidable obstacle," he added.

Van Houwelingen said there are now "two high-profile companies" on the fast track to proliferate wireless Internet, but so far no one else has been able to maintain complete coverage of any city.

One of the first wireless customers in Grand Haven was Bergman. He's been on board since the system was being tested starting late last year.

"The network has and will continue to improve the quality of life of residents, augment safety, attract businesses, boost tourism and assist with education," he said.

The main connection to the World Wide Web is at the company's office, located at Ottawa Electric, 1051 Jackson St., which is owned by van Houwelingen's father, Tony van Houwelingen.

An extremely high frequency radio signal is beamed to the main transmitter site high atop the Board of Light and Power stack on Harbor Island, which is then relayed to 5-foot-high vertical antennas (repeaters) mounted mostly on BLP power poles around the city.

Customers pick up the wireless data from small antennas mounted on an outside window to get the claimed Internet connection speed of 256 kilobytes per second.

Bill and Patti Kooi of Grand Haven canceled their dial-up Internet service and signed up with Ottawa Wireless late last week.

"I had dial-up and was frustrated with the constant redialing. Very slow," Patti Kooi said. "I am still getting used to the tricks and minor differences with the wireless. Even though I am still working out some glitches, I think it will be great."

Van Houwelingen said the demand for the service is "robust," with close to 300 customers to date. Customers include the city, local hotels and marinas -- and Yogi Bear Campground in Grand Haven Township, where the wireless signal is beamed nine miles south from the BLP stack on Harbor Island.

There are also three repeater antennas in Spring Lake and Ferrysburg.

"We're starting now for areas even further than that," van Houwelingen said. "There's a lot of opportunities for this."

The cost for always-on broadband wireless service starts at $19.99 for residences, plus a $100 installation set-up fee.

Adding service to roam with a laptop computer anywhere in the city is an additional $5 per month.

Copyright © 2004. The Holland Sentinel.