While many bemoan the lack of a major highway in the Ellenville area as a reason for the community's stalled growth, progress to bring a superhighway to Ellenville has begun.

The information superhighway, that is.

On behalf of the VISION Group (Visualizing and Implementing Supporting Initiatives and Opportunities Now), Ellenville Regional Hospital President Steve Kelley and Phil Coombe of Coombe & Bender Financial Services have approached representatives at the companies Webjogger Internet Services and American WIFI with the hopes of bringing easy access wireless internet to Ellenville's downtown area - and possibly beyond.

This idea comes at a time when free Wi-Fi internet access is a hot topic across the globe. Wi-Fi is basically a method of broadcasting an internet signal within a certain area, allowing high-speed connections without having to plug a wire into an internet device, like a laptop or a cell phone, just as long as the device has all the equipment necessary to make a wireless connection. Most cell phones sold today come equipped with the capacity for wireless internet access, as do many newly manufactured laptop computers.

In a September article, Associated Press reporter Rob Lever wrote, “Ambitious plans for big Wi-Fi networks to provide free or low-cost wireless Internet access are being abandoned or scaled back by US cities as the economics of the deals turn out to be more challenging than expected.”

However, such a bleak outlook has been restricted to bigger cities, like San Francisco and Chicago, and other cities like Philadelphia, the article reports, are meeting with much more success in providing residents with low-cost internet access via Wi-Fi networks.

Part of the VISION Group's inspiration for Ellenville's Wi-Fi dreams comes from nearby success-story Tivoli, whose Wi-Fi network has been up and running for over a year. Tivoli's system was set up by American WIFI. Their network allows users one hour of free access per day, as well as the ability to have unlimited access for a low monthly fee.

ERH president Steve Kelley says that a Wi-Fi plan for the Ellenville area would be the first in a series of steps to try and revitalize the community.

“This would make us technologically advanced so that virtually anyone in the community who wanted the internet could have it,” says Kelley, who believes that such a project would be part of a broader vision to attract young professionals who are interested in outdoor activities, like hiking, rock-climbing, fishing, etc. Kelley's thinking is that once people see all the area has to offer, hopefully they'll be interested in settling here and will able to telecommute from home via an easily accessible wireless network.

“We need to figure out how we can recruit people back to this area, recognizing that we're not going to have another 600 jobs created in the Schrade building, and 450 jobs in the Hydro building. We just lost 1,000 jobs in the last two and a half years - that's not coming back here in the same way. So we have to be creative and adapt, and figure out how we as a community can not just survive, but to prosper in the future. We're going to have to come up with a different paradigm - we're not a manufacturing community anymore.” Kelley and the rest of the VISION Group believe that such a wireless network would be a fast and inexpensive first step toward that paradigm shift.

Webjogger's Mario Pommier stresses the preliminary nature of all Wi-Fi plans regarding Ellenville.

“At this point, we've just had this one conversation, and we're trying to move forward. There is a project, there's something in the works, but it's still in the study phase,” says Pommier. “The right way to do this is to look at the lay of the land, do a site survey, see what we could do, and then come back and say, 'Alright, with the available technology that's out there, here's what you could actually achieve. It could be really good, it could be really exciting stuff…but first we have to go there and basically study.”

Regarding the stalled attempts at wireless networks in bigger cities, Pommier says the issue comes from the fact that the cities themselves are so big, and that they “wanted to go too big. They wanted to go for something that was too much.”

American WIFI's Andy Halpern, who, working with Webjogger's Pommier, brought Wi-Fi to Tivoli, similarly emphasizes the fact that such a project is entirely unofficial at this time, and that they are, “in talks with certain individuals within Ellenville to discuss the possibility and feasibility to bring wireless communications to the Ellenville area. At this particular time there is nothing set in stone, and it is strictly preliminary.”

Halpern did say that he felt Ellenville would be a good choice for a Wi-Fi network because it is, “currently an underserved area, and it is a beautiful area to live. I feel this would be a very good way to help bring more businesses into the Ellenville area and keep them from leaving.”

Halpern went on to talk about the ideal nature of small downtown areas like Ellenville's, saying, “because of the fact that they are small, there isn't seven or eight other telecommunications providers all within a one-square-mile area. You don't have umpteen-million different signals to have to contend with, and the smaller towns are not concrete jungles.” Halpern believes that this service could provide many benefits to the area's residents, not least of which being the potential distance learning opportunities for the area's youth.

Regarding concerns about Wi-Fi's difficulties penetrating buildings, Halpern points to Tivoli's set-up, saying that because of the high concentration of transmitters in such a small area, people sitting inside who want access are often able to connect without any trouble. However, should that not be the case, businesses would also be able to purchase a transmitter for their building with a one-time fee, eliminating any such problems, and allowing access to consumers.

However, Tivoli's Wi-Fi story wouldn't be complete without mention of the lawsuit brought against the village by Peter and Mona Herman, who, according to an April 7 Daily Freeman article by Patricia Doxsey, “are suing the village to force the removal of the antenna from the water tower, which…is about 650 feet from the Hermans' property line.”

The article describes the suit, saying, “The Hermans, who are representing themselves in the lawsuit, claim the microwave signals emitted from the antenna will endanger the health of village residents and that the village's agreement with the wireless Internet provider violates village and state laws, deed restrictions on the use of parkland and the couple's property rights.” The article also reports that village government had so far spent $41,305.82 on its defense, more than doubling the $20,000 budgeted for legal fees, consequently costing the village's taxpayers money.

Halpern, however, believes the suit is without merit, saying, “You have more radio waves coming out of your cell phone than you do out of one of my transmitters,” and that “Everything I do, everything I provide, is all FCC approved and meets every single state, federal, city, local ordinance that there is. These signals…have been studied, and restudied, and restudied for the last fifty years. They are safe. It's one [unhappy] person, so far, out of a population of 2,000.”

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