Dade City drops dreams to go wireless

DADE CITY — The dream of free wireless Internet for visitors to the downtown district is on hold.

The city's Redevelopment Advisory Committee decided on Tuesday night not to pursue quotes from WiFi vendors, citing costs as the main deterrent.

In May, a representative from VODA LLC — a spinoff company from the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, which has tweaked its marine-based WiFi technology for commercial use — pitched the service to the redevelopment committee and Downtown Dade City Main Street members.

VODA would charge $250 per "node" to set up a WiFi network downtown. The project would have required six to 10 nodes.

The nodes work like the wireless router many residents have at home. As with those household Internet setups, Dade City business owners would still have to find a provider and pay a monthly fee for service.

"These nodes were a redundancy," said Karen Traenkner, the city's Community Redevelopment Agency director.

Many of the businesses who would benefit from the citywide WiFi already offer free wireless Internet to customers at their own expense, she said.

And some simply don't need it.

"No one is going to go into Lori Anne's and whip out a laptop," Traenkner said, referring to a downtown gifts and home accessories store.

But Dade City Commissioner Curtis Beebe, who has advised the redevelopment committee on the matter in the past, said the commission might explore offering free WiFi in the future, especially if it can secure federal grants for the project.

"It is a big push in the current presidential administration to get broadband pushed out to more people," Beebe said.

Several Dade City business leaders are invited to a meeting today for select Hernando and Pasco County officials.

They will discuss forming a regional consortium that will work to get the area's share of an estimated $450 million in stimulus funds available to Florida to bring broadband access to rural areas.

Helen Anne Travis can be reached at htravis@sptimes.com or (813) 435-7312.