Wi-fi downtown?

Tuesday night Information Technology Director Tom LaBarge presented a $45,000 plan to provide wi-fi to South White Street, town hall, the three downtown police stations and the Renaissance Centre. He asked for the town commissioners to give him approval to move ahead with the plan “when he can find the funding.”

Back in March, LaBarge said, the commissioners directed him to determine if it is possible to provide wi-fi on South White Street, but he found that it would save money to deploy wireless using and expanding the town’s existing internet system. He will use line-of-sight routers either on light poles or the sides of buildings. Aside from the initial investment, the cost will be a service contract of $900 a month for a 100×100 portal.

LaBarge also said his plan does not cover the residential areas in the larger Renaissance Area. It will be available for anyone in the South White Street area.

Commissioner Margaret Stinnett said business owners downtown may want to use the system for their businesses, though many already have internet access with other providers. “They will find themselves knocked off every so often,” LaBarge said.

The commissioners wanted to know if the system will be sturdy enough for all the potential traffic during the Christmas parade or Meet in the Street, and LaBarge said it could handle up to 500 users or more.

As for the funding, Stinnett suggested part or all could come from the tax on property in the downtown tax district. “That’s a possibility,” LaBarge said.

LaBarge is also leading a town effort to explore providing high-speed fiber optic cable internet in town, Jason Cannon, the town’s economic development director, said Wednesday morning. Currently that effort is centered on determining and mapping all the current fiber cable in town, and the town has contracted with CTC to do that search. CTC is scheduled to report to the town board on its efforts this fall.

No company has stepped forward to provide the town with high speed internet since RST Fiber, a company headquartered in Shelby, folded and went out of business. There were high hopes for the service when Daniel Limerick, RST’s president and CEO, outlined plans in May, 2014, but difficulties such as a four-month delay in getting permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cross the Neuse River were part of the reason for the company’s collapse.

The town, which welcomed RST and worked with it, officially ended the relationship in July of 2015. RST did lay cable in one or maybe two subdivisions and in other areas, and those lines may have already been purchased by another provider.