Mountain View Power is considering setting up a wireless network (Wi-Fi) service in Olds.
During a meeting this past week, the Olds Institute (OI) board, which oversees Mountain View Power, agreed to fund a $12,000 study to look into that idea. That report is expected to be completed and in directors' hands by this January.
A portion of the dividends from Mountain View Power will be used to help cover costs of that study.
If the board likes what it sees and approves the project, Mountain View Power could be offering Wi-Fi service to at least some Olds residents some time in 2015, OI executive director Mitch Thomson says. It's expected to take about three years to provide the service throughout the community.
Thomson projects the overall cost of providing the service could be in the $200,000 range.
Thomson stresses the study is the first step.
“It is to develop the plan that the Mountain View Power committee would use to figure out how to deploy it, in what areas of the community and build the business plan around it,” he says.
Thomson says contrary to what some people might think, this move would not duplicate or compete with anything that O-NET, a TV/phone/Internet service provider, also overseen by OI, provides in Olds.
“Not at all,” Thomson says. “We see it as a complementary service and another thing that will help make the community different.
“The concept is that we would create a basic Wi-Fi network in the community so people could have basic coverage, which would allow them to surf the Internet, use their GIS mapping – basically get rid of their data packages.
“But we also have the ability to make it more robust and stronger – like the O-NET is much stronger than other places. And in doing that, there could be a different cost, because you have to have more tel – more antennas and closer connections to get a stronger signal, so the cost can fluctuate a little bit.”
Thomson says OI officials are confident Mountain View Power could deliver this service and still not be treading on the toes of O-NET or local businesses.
“In this instance, it would be a metered type of a situation, so it wouldn't take anything away from an O-NET or a business that was offering a free service. But when people are out and about in the community, they would have basic access,” he says.
“Those who are subscribers of say, the O-NET service would also have the ability to allow them to log in with their password and it would be like they never left their home network – maybe not quite as robust, there are those types of options as well, but there are no lapses.”
Thomson says several OI officials got the idea to deliver the service after attending a seminar about six months ago.
“The people who track technology were saying that the copper lines that are in the ground would basically be not useful in the next seven to 10 years. And in the next five years, there was going to be a huge amount of off-loading from our cellular providers to wireless situations. The cellphones can't keep up with the data that people are now using,” Thomson says.
“What ended up happening is a few of us were nattering about the future, knowing that we have this huge amount of technology infrastructure,” he adds.
“In order to support the community in growth and our lifestyle, if there was a way to build a Wi-Fi network that was supported by the O-NET infrastructure, we would be just that much further ahead when these challenges started to arrive.”
Thomson says the infrastructure to set this up already exists, thanks to O-NET.
“In this instance, all Wi-Fi and mobile devices use a fibre optic backbone. So the backbone is already created in the community. This development would pay to create those signals in the open air to transmit it. So that's the type of thing that this would look after – that type of infrastructure that isn't in place,” he says.
Thomson says Mountain View Power officials look at the project as a way to give back to the community that has supported them.
“We've been selling power for (more than three) years and funds have been allocated to things like physician attraction and a number of other programs,” Thomson says. “But they felt they wanted to do something tangible that people would be able to touch, feel or see in some way.”
However, it's not the only community project OI/Mountain View Power might help support.
“At this point, there were a couple of ideas that were suggested. There are things like spray parks that are being discussed in the community,” he says.
Thomson stresses it's not like Mountain View Power or the OI are made of money and can just throw it around. They have to be careful, to ensure their survival.
“People are thinking we have a ton of money and we don't,” Thomson says. “We still need to use a good portion of these funds to ensure that we're sustainable and not abusing the tax base or something like that because we are a not-for-profit, and we survive on grants and support too.”
