Mayor Chat Questions

UPDATE:

Here are the answers posted by Mayor White (with a little help from CIO Richard Lewis). They are in no particular order as the mayor responded to them as he saw them on screen:

Mayor White>>The RFP was written by the city staff, with the best expert consultant who has no interest or availability to assist a bidder. Level playing field.

Mayor White>>Taxpayers won't pay for it. It will be paid for by the group which operates the system and sells wholesale access to ISPs on a non-discriminatory basis.

Mayor White>>IT should make the cost of all services more competitive

Mayor White>>There are a total of 31 firms in the five proposals.

Mayor White>>The vendor list will be made public tomorrow on the city’s website

Mayor White>>Visitors to Houston can go to one of the locations with free access. The RFP requires 5% of the city land area of 640 square miles, parks, libraries, convention center

Mayor White>>The RFP requires the proposers to propose digital inclusion programs particularly for students without access at home. We are working with six school districts to ensure the Digital Houston initiative supports education.

Mayor White>>A private financing will fund this multi-million investment.

Mayor White>>Since there were only five bidders, with the RFP selection process move more quickly. Process should move rather quickly.

Mayor White>>the first phase will likely be complete in early 2007

Mayor White>> Security is always an issue with computers, especially wireless. Firewalls and virus protection are the responsibility of personal PC users. The network operator(s) will be required to have stringent security precautions to protect against malicious attacks, viruses and more

Mayor White>> Not sure how the cable and wireless companies view this as of now. We could expect some backlash from them. However we will wait and see

Mayor White>> The signal should penetrate all buildings on the perimeter. Top to bottom
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Here is a quick sampling of questions we received from Wednesday evening's online chat with Mayor White. Over 650 people logged on over a 40 minute period. That number exceeded our expectations yet pleased us. Seems a lot of residents are interested in the WiFi initiative.


-Curtis
1) Question for the Mayor. Who is funding the equipment and who is installing? City workers

-Hershel
1) Question for the Mayor. Why should the city allow a privae firm to have a monopoly? We should operate WY fi like a public water system or sewer system. It should be free to schools, Universities, hospitals as well as city services

-Dan

1) Question for the Mayor. How does the City plan to address security issues such as content filtering? Will I have to worry about what other people might be viewing while I’m at the park with my children

-houstonmacbro
1) Question for the Mayor. How much will this eventually cost residents

-charlie
1) Question for the Mayor. AT&T and Time Warner Cable have said publicly they probably won’t bid on this project; do the current bidders really have the capability/infrastructure to accommodate a 600-square mile network

-Jason
1) Question for the Mayor. What guidelines will be set in place to moderate this network, and who will decide upon those guidelines?

-Bruce
1) Question for the Mayor. Will it reach as far out as Katy ?

-Jordan
1) Question for the Mayor. First let me say thank you to you... and Michael for giving Houstonians this opportunity to interact with you. My question is... Where will the money for this Wi-Fi network come from? Government funding... tax dollars. If local tax dollars are being used, how will this impact me? Increase in property taxes, etc

-Dr Segura
1) Question for the Mayor. Thank you, Mayor: What private company helped write the RFP; and, in what capacity will that company be allowed to respond to the RFP?, Thank you, Mayor: What private company helped write the RFP; and, in what capacity will that company be allowed to respond to the RFP

-Angie Martinez
1) Question for the Mayor. How soon are we looking to go wireless and is this city wide like inside the beltway 8?

-Jeff
1) Question for the Mayor. Hello Mayor White. How deeply will WiFi signals penetrate buildings? Is it basically the same as a cell phone? Thanks for your time., Hi Mayor White. How much penetration into buildings can we expect with our wifi signal? Is it similiar to cell phone coverage? Thank you

-Blake
1) Question for the Mayor. What will be the total cost to Houston residents

-scharon
1) Question for the Mayor. How Will the city pay for the wi-fi service?

-Flomp
1) Question for the Mayor. Do you view citywide wi-fi as fair competition to current ISPs?

-Mani
1) Question for the Mayor. Will the service proposed be equivalent to DSL from at&t(formerly SBC)?

-Eduardo
1) Question for the Mayor. I think this Wireless network is good for houston it will help alot to people around town

-janel
1) Question for the Mayor. how do the cable and telephone companies feel about this initiative

-Patricia Sturdivant
1) Question for the Mayor. You and your staff probably studied applications for school age students n other cities that have already installed WI-FI systems. What educational implementation projects are you most hopeful we can implement here in Houston

-styler
1) Question for the Mayor. Who are the service providers? When will they be determined - what is the process?

New User
1) Question for the Mayor. Good evening Mr. Mayor. Will there be a subscription to use the service. And if so, will there be added benefits to paying subscribers as oppose to free users?

-concerned
1) Question for the Mayor. What is the backup plan for police and fire services if and when the network goes down?, What is the backup plan for police and fire services if and when the network goes down

-JoeGarciaJr
1) Question for the Mayor. What about commercial use of the signal. Will that be restricted

-Tavis
1) Question for the Mayor. Due to the ubiquity and limited security of 802.11b devices, what measures will be taken to balance security and accessibility in Houston

-Angie Martinez
1) Question for the Mayor. How soon can we expect to go wireless

-rob
1) Question for the Mayor. Who are the vendors who submitted for this wireless RFP,

-Alan
1) Question for the Mayor. When would you expect it to be available in North houston, near Spring

-MacQ700
1) Question for the Mayor. Will this be installed in the upper areas such as Oak Ridge