City officials face obstacles while trying to provide municipal internet and are looking to WiMAX as the solution. In order to serve poor neighborhoods and the community at large, hundreds of cities including Hartford, Philadelphia, Houston, and San Francisco have attempted to build a free or inexpensive Wi-Fi system.

The motivation to provide universal Internet access lies in a simple fact — poorer urban residents often cannot afford the average $50 a month fee charged by cable companies and other providers. In Hartford, only 25 percent of the city’s households have an Internet connection, compared to 75 percent in surrounding suburbs. Connecticut Post

While Wi-Fi has been working great in most downtown areas where antennas and computers are in close proximity but the Wi-Fi signal is not strong enough to cover a wide area or penetrate through brick apartment buildings. Wi-Fi systems have not been delivering on its promised performance. Hartford officials have been forced to put its municipal internet project on hold and hope WiMAX will serve as an alternative.

According to Jack McCoy, chief information officer for Manchester and a member of the newly created Connecticut Broadband Coordinating Council, “WiMAX could run a citywide network. The concern is it could run into opposition from cable companies and other providers.”

Some businesses in Texas will have more opportunities to sign up with WiMAX services as Airband Communications, Inc. announced that it will be expanding its reach and service by 50 percent in the Houston area. This expansion includes upgrading existing infrastructure and positioning new base stations around Northwest Freeway, Arena Towers, West Chase and Sugarland. Each base station covers a radius of three to five miles, thus allowing Airband to service more businesses in those areas. The company has been providing WiMAX services for Houston since 2001.

But this may very well not be the last time Airband comes up in WiMAX news. According to an article posted in Centre Daily, Airband is upgrading its Houston market as part of a larger project. With clients already located in Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, LA, Philadelphia,Phoneix and elsewhere, Airband is developing a strategy to provide services nationwide. As Airband expands its footprint, we may soon hear of businesses in other major cities gaining WiMAX as an option for their data and VoIP services.