Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions about Rockland WiFi

Responses to questions that are frequently asked by Rockland County residents regarding the Rockland County WiFi initiative are included here. Contents may be updated from time to time to reflect your questions and status of this initiative.

What is the Rockland Wireless initiative?

In March, 2007, Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef in the State of the County Address formally announced the creation of Rockland County Wireless Initiative, with a goal of connecting all of Rockland County by providing residents, schools and businesses with cost-effective, high-speed access to the internet.

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Why is the County of Rockland considering the Rockland Wireless initiative?

Rockland Wireless is an initiative to create a county-wide wireless network that expands the availability of broadband communications to Rockland County’s citizens, government agencies, and businesses.

A leading edge telecommunications infrastructure, such as a high-speed wireless network, is essential to the County’s goals of improved economic development and ability to attract high quality jobs. This wireless network supports these goals by:

Demonstrating Rockland’s commitment to advanced communications infrastructure, which is essential knowledge-based industries and jobs.
Improving Rockland’s telecommuting infrastructure, which reduces pressure on Rockland ’s physical plant and transportation systems.

Additional public benefits of this network include:

Improved community access to government services, and lowering the cost to the government to deliver these services.
Reduced cost for high-speed connections for government agencies.
Providing low-cost online access for all residents.
Enhance educational opportunities for distant learning
Expanding public safety communications possibilities.

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Are other major cities and counties working on similar wireless initiatives?

Yes, many cities and counties across the US and in other parts of the world have initiated wireless initiatives. Cities such as Chicago, Boston, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, Sacramento, Pasadena, Anaheim, and Atlanta have been developing wireless initiatives. Counties such as Suffolk and Nassau Counties in NY, Miami-Dade in Florida and Glouster/Camden Counties in NJ have been developing wireless initiatives. International cities such as Paris, Taipei and Moscow also have wireless initiatives underway.

Rockland will benefit greatly from the "lessons learned" by these other cities and counties as they've been moving forward on their wireless initiatives.

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What types of initiatives have been launched or proposed in other cities/counties?

Many of the major cities and counties have launched Wireless initiatives which called for the private sector to fund, build, own, and operate the citywide/countywide wireless network. Some of cities have negotiated an advertising- based level of discounted access to the network in certain areas of the city/county or for low income groups up to certain speeds (e.g. 300 kbps).

A smaller number of cities have engaged in building and operating their own networks. However, there are several business models in between those two scenarios.

Thus far, there have been varying degrees of success based upon the negotiated business model, what assets the cities/counties have to contribute, technical issues faced such as customer premise equipment (CPE) needed for indoor reception, etc.

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Who will oversee the Rockland Wireless Initiative?

Under the direction of the County Executive, the County’s GIS Director of the Planning Department will serve as the Project Manager of the Rockland wireless initiative.

An Advisory Group that is comprised of various City departments, education, business and community organizations, with the assistance of a wireless consultant, will complete a feasibility study and make appropriate recommendations to County Executive.

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How will the County include the public in this effort?

The County desires to obtain the best possible input prior to issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP). Advisory Focus Areas were identified to ensure a broad range of information, issues, and factors are considered. The Advisory Focus Areas are as follows:

Business / Economic Development
Community Groups
Education /Higher Ed and K-12
Healthcare
Regional Municipal Coordination
Internal County Departments

A Townhall meeting will also be conducted. The meeting date, time and location will be posted in the Updates, Notices and News section when available. The public is also encouraged to provide input through the Rockland County wireless survey by clicking the survey button on this website.

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How will the County select partners to assist with building and operating the network?

Depending on the outcome of the feasibility study, the County intends to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to facilitate the creation of a countywide wireless network through some form of a private-public partnership. The County at this time has not made any decisions regarding what types of proposed business models or requirements will be include in the upcoming RFP.

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Will there be some level of free wireless service provided in the City?

It is too soon to be able to say what the cost of using the proposed Wireless network will be. The County desires a high-quality and reliable service that is available to everyone who wants to use it regardless of what part of the County they live in or what their income might be.

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Will I be able to get wireless service inside a building?

Municipal wireless systems are usually designed to cover outdoor areas with a strong signal. Depending on the construction of your building, you may or may not get a sufficiently strong signal to connect your computer to the Municipal wireless system. When a strong or consistent signal is not available, some type of equipment to link with an outdoor signal and rebroadcast it inside your building is needed to receive the service. This equipment is sometimes called customer premises equipment, or CPE.

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How does wireless Internet address the Digital Divide?

Today’s world requires that everyone has access to information which increasingly requires access to broadband. For various reasons, access to these services is limited for some people. In particular, low income families, seniors, the disabled, and limited English speakers may be less likely to have access to the internet. The County wireless initiative anticipates looking at helping to bridge the digital divide by providing cost effective access to all and by fostering creative solutions to provide more than just Internet access.

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How will the wireless network improve County services?

The County anticipates utilizing the countywide wireless network to improve how efficiently and effectively it provides services to its residents. Mobile internet services network could allow county staff who work in the field – firefighters, health and building inspectors, social and community health workers, parks and street maintenance and others – the ability to access and update information at an emergency, job or client site.

Residents could use the service to report issues with parks and streets and send photos directly over the network to appropriate County departments. Some Cities and Counties are also using wireless networks to monitor air quality, provide backup emergency communications, conduct video surveillance in high crime areas, etc.

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Do the mobile phone companies currently provide wireless internet access?

Yes, mobile phone companies currently provide wireless Internet access through their personal communication system (PCS) infrastructure. These systems use proprietary signal schemes to move the information over the PCS infrastructure. The Rockland initiative is focusing on facilitating the creation of a public-private partnership to provide high speed and cost effective wireless Internet access through Wi-Fi and/or WiMax standards across the county. Almost all laptops and an increasing number of personal devices, such as pocket PCs, are configured with Wi-Fi compliant technology. There are also many dual-mode devices being created which can operate either on a PCS or Wi-Fi based network.