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By the end of the month Laurie hopes to be providing its citizens access to the world wide web.
The city has spent just under $15,000 with Five X Sunrise to cover wireless internet access up to 1.2 miles from the city water tower.
Mayor Chuck Chorpening says the money will give the city a good start to providing the service.
"We are buying the antennas that go on the top of the water tower and the equipment that goes down below," Chorpening said. "We're buying the server and then it will all be housed down at the base of our water tower."
Five X Sunrise will also provide billing services to the city.
Public Works Director Ed Young says the company is already in the area.
"It's the same company that they have for Sunrise Beach out on the lake, so [we have] the compatible equipment so we can have assurances that it is going to work as well as it should so we don't come in here and get something where the equipment might fight with one another and cause problems," Young said.
The city added about a $1,000 to its overall cost by going with four antennas on the water tower instead of three. Young says it will guarantee better coverage.
"We were concerned that with proper positioning you might get pretty good coverage, but there's going to be some gaps in the area," he said. "If we try to spread the 90 degree antennas that they tell me will cover 120 degrees under ideal conditions, if we stretch those out and then we then short change some of the coverage areas, [that's where] a fourth antenna would certify that we're going to get 100% coverage around the water tower."
Young says parts of town out east will be picked up in phase two of the city’s plan. That would cover areas on O Road like the golf course, senior center, and movie theatre. |
