[JYO] Wireless Broadband Internet access for Leesburg Airport Terminal?

One of the projects I am working on is to make High Speed Wireless Internet 
Access available in and around the Leesburg Airport Terminal. All of this is 
still in a "draft format" but I wanted to verbalize it to the folks on the 
list.

More and more places are offering wireless Internet.  Starbucks will offer it 
(for a small fee) and some offer it for free (like this airport --> <A 
HREF="http://www.triflight.com/?CONTEXT=art&cat=8&art=221&BISKIT=461676867";>
Tri-Cities Regional Airport - Airport Information - Wireless Technology</A> ).

I have demonstrated wireless Internet to both the Leesburg Airport Director 
and the Town of Leesburg IT folks. I have mentioned it to other Pilots, the 
Airport Commission and the Mayor.

Originally, the plan was to hook into the Loudoun County Network via the 
Town's Internet connection. For security reasons it was decided that this 
would not work.  Adelphia cable came and tested the cable in the lobby the 
other day and said it was capable of two-way high speed Internet.

The town IT department thinks it can support the initial installation and 
startup equipment costs (about $500). In addition, they think that they can 
support the monthly recurring costs (about $100.00/month including taxes, 
etc.) starting in July , 2003.

This means if everything gets approved and falls into place, the roadblock 
would be about $1000 (10 months x  $100.00 per month). Maybe someone out 
there would like to donate these funds and/or sponsor this project?

We had to assure Adelphia that this service would not be resold or extend 
beyond the Terminal and immediate area. The service is also designed to have 
no more than 7 users on at any one time. (They wanted to be sure than a 
commercial entity did not hook up 50 users and "hog" all the bandwidth).

It would basically be for anyone at the Airport that wants to surf the net, 
check weather forecasts, check e-mail, look up NOTAMS, and Temporary Flight 
Restrictions, look at Radar depiction's, Flight Plan, check in with the 
office, etc. etc. etc. This is not intended to replace any service provided 
by the on field Flight Service Station but could certainly augment it.

The 2-way cable would be hooked to a Cable modem and then a wireless Cable 
Router/Access Point. Using 802.11b, people with wireless computers/laptops 
could easily use the service. Many laptops now come with wireless built in.  
Those folks that don't have wireless on their computer can either buy an 
802.11b compliant wireless card or borrow one of the ones we will make 
available for temporary use (the plan was to buy two and you would exchange a 
Drivers License for the card, instructions and install software).

As I get feedback, support, and hopefully commitment for the missing $1000.00 
I will request that the Airport Commission act on and approve this project at 
the next meeting. If that happens, we could be up and running by the end of 
September.

Thanks,

Ed Levine

Other related posts: