No Wires, No Plugs: Just Access By WiFi

City Promoting E-Connectivity

Alexandria is going wireless.

The city is close to a signing a 21st-century agreement to build a citywide wireless network. Anyone with a laptop computer equipped for wireless access will be able to connect to the Internet from virtually anywhere in the city with the purchase of a $21-per-month account. The wireless connection will be free in two dozen designated zones -- which include King Street in Old Town, major parks and Landmark Mall.

Currently, Alexandria residents typically pay up to $53 a month for Internet connections through other services, city officials said.

The Alexandria City Council last week unanimously approved a proposal to allow EarthLink Inc. to build the network. Under the plan, expected to win final approval after a public hearing Dec. 16, the Atlanta-based Internet service provider will construct and maintain the network at no cost to the city.

City and EarthLink officials said they believe the awarding of a franchise to EarthLink will make Alexandria the first city in Virginia and the Washington region with a citywide wireless network available to the public. Many cities provide wireless access in designated "hot spots," but only a handful offer it citywide, said Bill Tolpegin, EarthLink's vice president for development and planning.

"This helps put Alexandria as one of the cities on the forefront of this technology wave," Tolpegin said.

Alexandria officials were receptive in part because they have wireless experience. The city began a one-year pilot program last year that provided free wireless Internet access in an eight-block stretch of Old Town from Washington Street to the Potomac River along King Street.

Craig T. Fifer, Alexandria's e-government manager, said the project was "an extremely successful pilot."

"We got tremendous positive feedback from the public."

One woman, he said, reported that she had written most of her doctoral thesis on her laptop sitting outside in Old Town.

Starting next summer, those who buy into the service will have the wireless option in about 99 percent of the city, excluding only signal-poor areas such as narrow alleys, Fifer said.

The free wireless zones will include a stretch of Mount Vernon Avenue and Metro stations. Computers equipped for wireless access, as most new ones are, communicate with the Internet with no need for wire tethers tied into cable or telephone lines. Wireless access is also known as wireless fidelity, or WiFi.