Can Houston fit into an Internet bubble?

(4/04/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- In your front yard, at the store or at the mall, it's a plan to make the Internet available everywhere in the Houston area.

We first told you about the city's efforts months ago, but is the project too much to take on?

In a small non-profit center on the city's East End, Rice graduate student Joseph Camp has spent two years helping build a small Internet bubble in a nearby neighborhood.

"This project is where the rubber meets the road, and you're actually deploying along side of research," Camp said.

He and the staff at Technology for All is now covering thousands of households with free Wi-Fi, but they're just reaching the Pecan Grove neighborhood. The question is, can the city of Houston cover hundreds of square miles in the same time frame?

"The city has a two year deployment plan so it's very aggressive to get this done," said Jim Forrest of Technology for All.

Aggressive because the city, just like the non-profit, will have to install Wi-Fi transmitters all over town while accounting for variables like weather, the season, even traffic. Those concerns can be put on hold because the city council decided today to delay approving the project with Earthlink for another week. Mayor Bill white is still upbeat.

"We think the company is prepared for it, they certainly budgeted for it and have cash on their balance sheet to do it," said Mayor White.

Even when the building of the bubble begins, take it from someone who's been there, an Internet bubble is not so easy to create.

"I think Earthlink is a very talented company, so they can probably figure it out," Camps said. "But there will be unforeseen challenges that come up."

For example, when the leaves started growing in the spring time, Camp and crew had to move some of their antennas because the signal could not get past the trees.

Before those concerns come up, city council will have to vote on the project and we expect that to happen next Wednesday.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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