Take me back to the press release
World history is replete with false claims. Controversies are many -- everything from "Were the Wright Brothers really first?" to "Who was really first to invent the artificial pacemaker?"
As the Internet continues in its baby steps of evolution, completely transforming the way we live as it goes, its path is recorded in history with a series of firsts. For example, who sent the first email?
The answer? Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson in 1971.Grand Haven, Michigan will go down in the history books as the first city in the United States to offer city-wide WiFi. Zamora, Spain was the first city in the world to do this, but, as a result of the efforts of Ottawa Wireless, Grand Haven wins bragging rights for the United States.
Others may beg to differ. There are many pretenders to the throne. Influential publications have erroneously given the trophy to several cities that have said "We are first!" when in fact their deployments were either vapor -- i.e. we plan to do this, we hope to do this -- or in-process or simply not really "citywide".
You see, if your town is 10 square miles in area, and you WiFi-enable five square blocks of your downtown, you can't really claim that you are first.
It's a good start perhaps, but as every small child learns from the story of the Tortoise and the Hare story, a good start isn't good enough. You have to actually cross the finish line first, and that's what Grand Haven, Michigan has managed to do in the citywide WiFi coverage race.
The WiFi coverage maps tell the full story.
Here's the Grand Haven coverage map as of July 29, 2004. Note that the entire town has WiFi access.
Here's the Half Moon Bay, California coverage map as of July 29, 2004. Great effort, but not quite there. They've covered "five blocks of downtown's Main Street" but is it citywide? Nope. If you live on Correas Street, you are out of range and out of luck.
Here's the Spokane, Washington coverage map as of July 29, 2004. A big map, isn't it? But is the coverage area as big as the city? Unfortunately, for those who live on 4th Street, it isn't. Can they truly claim to be citywide? I don't think so.
How about Rio Rancho, New Mexico? Here's another big map. Probably takes a long while to download this image for the folks who live on Sultan Street. You see there's a good chance they are still accessing the Internet via dial-up connections because, to be sure, the Rio Rancho deployment is not citywide.
We could do this all day. Got a city that you think beat Grand Haven to the finish line?
Let us know and we'll debunk the claim for you. Simply email us at info@walkersands.com or, cut us, the middlemen, out of the picture and go direct to the expert: Ottawa Wireless founder and CEO Tyler van Houwelingen. You can reach Tyler directly at 616-842-2763.
Thanks for giving this a read.
All the best,