Downtown gets free 1GB Wi-Fi; 'smart parking' next

Brad Harper
Montgomery Advertiser

Montgomery has launched free 1-gigabyte Wi-Fi through the central part of downtown, and bigger changes are on the way. Plans include street cameras, an upgraded fiber network, 22,000 new LED lights and “smart parking” through an app, all part of a wider effort to create a “Smart City Living Lab” in the heart of the city.

"Smart cities are the ones that will survive in the next few years, and we will be a survivor," Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said. "And we’re going to march forth and be the example, throughout Alabama."

The free internet service quietly launched along Commerce Street and Dexter Avenue earlier this month, paid for by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. Connecting takes you to a splash page that features local attractions. It's now being expanded to offer wider coverage.

Free 1GB WiFi and other tech improvements along the Commerce Street / Dexter Avenue corridor in downtown Montgomery, Ala., are announced on Wednesday January 16, 2019.

Meanwhile, Alabama Power has been laying a new fiberoptic network across downtown, from the MGMix internet exchange near the state Capitol building to the Riverfront. Its next project is to convert 22,000 street lights to LEDs. A city spokesman said that project will cost taxpayers less than $50,000 initially, and that it’s expected to save the city over $650,000 in the next five years.

The next stage of work includes the installation of street cameras and “other public safety initiatives,” the city said, as well as a move to app-based "smart parking." The latter will let people find available spots or pay for parking on their mobile device. That’s coming “very soon,” powered by the new fiber network, a city spokesman said.

The idea is turn that stretch of downtown into an area rich with technology infrastructure that can be used to grow businesses while also building on public data that the city uses to shape its services. It’s backed by a partnership that includes Alabama Power, the city, the county and the chamber.

Charisse Stokes, Executive Director of TechMGM, speaks during the announcement of free 1GB WiFi and other tech improvements along the Commerce Street / Dexter Avenue corridor in downtown Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday January 16, 2019.

“Having something like downtown Wi-Fi, having well-lit streets, having safety cameras, different avenues like that make someone more apt to want to visit that area (or) reside in that area,” TechMGM Executive Director Charisse Stokes said. “But also, if you’re a business it makes you want to set up shop there or expand. We’re not making a technology investment for just one category or individual.”

They announced the plans at a Wednesday news conference from the Alley development along Commerce Street, an area that’s grown as a tourist hub over the past decade. It’s surrounded by a mix of local professional service firms, restaurants and tech-focused startups like MGMWERX, which launched last year as an innovation center serving Air University.

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Most of the fiber has already been laid across downtown. Alabama Power Southern Division Vice President Leslie Sanders pointed to construction work along the street near the news conference. Now, she said they're focused on planning for how to make the most of it.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange announces free 1GB WiFi and other tech improvements along the Commerce Street / Dexter Avenue corridor in downtown Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday January 16, 2019.

"It’s one thing to put up a camera. It’s one thing to put fiber in the street," Sanders said. "It’s connecting it when the magic happens. That’s what this alliance will start working on."

Local systems engineer and longtime startup evangelist Boyd Stephens told the Montgomery Advertiser last year that a “living lab” concept could be Montgomery’s niche in the regional tech scene.

“You’ve got the infrastructure to support it,” Stephens said. “Where else can you come experiment on your app, or your web portal, or your device? And you can do so inexpensively because we’re Montgomery. Now we’re mitigating risk.

“That’s our hook into that cycle of Atlanta, Chattanooga, Huntsville and Birmingham. You’ve got a Facebook data center and a Google data center right there. What can we as Montgomery offer that regional talent? Well, they could come build and experiment.”

Sanders said Wednesday there are private companies and government entities in central Alabama that want to test problems and solutions locally instead of going somewhere else to do it. "We can be that place," she said.