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CARRIE JOHNSONPeople with laptops and PDAs will soon be able to go online using free wireless access.
ST. PETERSBURG - In Don Shea's vision of downtown, the people lounging on park benches or relaxing in outdoor cafes are using laptops. And they're connecting instantly, free of charge, to the Internet.
Shea, president of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, has been working for almost two years to make downtown a hot zone for wireless Internet access.
Now he said he's only a month away from making it a reality. He is in final discussions with sponsors and is planning to launch a pilot site within the next 30 days.
"It would be really exciting for the city," Shea said. "And it has the potential to be so much more."
In his concept, people sitting outdoors within the Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, zone could log-in and surf for free as long as they have a compatible device, such as a notebook computer or personal digital assistant with wireless capabilities.
Shea said local businesses would have the option of joining the network and providing wireless services inside their buildings.
For now, a confidentiality agreement with several of the sponsors prevents Shea from divulging too many details, but he said the zone initially will cover one or two blocks in the heart of downtown. The system would have the capability to expand from there.
The technology would be used at first to make the downtown area more tech-friendly, but the ultimate goal is to include the entire city, Shea said.
"Wi-Fi used to be cutting edge," he said. "Now it's almost a necessity."
Wi-Fi has been popping up around the Tampa Bay area in coffee shops, hotels, bookstores, airports and marinas. It works with transmitters that beam radio signals on unregulated frequencies short distances to mobile devices such as notebook computers, cellular phones and personal digital assistants.
But while thousands of access points, known as hot spots, have been activated around the country in recent years, questions have been growing about the potential to attract users and make money.
Monthly service fees can range anywhere from $30 to $70.
That won't be a factor in St. Petersburg, Shea said. The system is being established in connection with a nonprofit organization known as St. Pete SmarTown, which plans to offer free, wireless, broadband access to all users.
Ken Parker, vice-president of SmarTown, said the backing of sponsors and advertising from local businesses will offset the cost of creating the network. .
Those businesses also would have the ability to make changes to their ads on a minute-by-minute basis, Parker said. For example, once users log on in the Wi-Fi zone, they will be asked if they want to receive local content. If they agree, the network could send them information about a sale at BayWalk or notification of an event happening two blocks from where they are standing.
"The Internet has always been global," Parker said. "This is a local network." If the network is successfully launched, St. Petersburg would join a growing roster of wireless cities.
Chaska, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis, offers citywide wireless Internet access for $16 a month. About 13 square miles are included in the network.
Philadelphia is launching an ambitious plan to offer wireless service throughout the city, about 135 square miles in all. City officials estimate it will take about $10-million to install the system, with an annual operating cost of about $1.5-million.
One different twist: SmarTown is eventually planning to make the wireless system compatible with an emergency broadband frequency, which means the system could be used by law enforcement agencies to communicate, Shea said.
That could make St. Petersburg attractive to a lot of agencies who want to develop technology that could be used by law enforcement. They could come to St. Petersburg to test it out.
"That means we'll have the potential to generate a lot of jobs," Shea said. "And that's what makes this a really exciting plan."
Carrie Johnson can be reached at 727 892-2273 or cjohnson@sptimes.com