Transmitter Network Gets Initial Approval
A communications firm won tentative approval Monday to install a network of cellular transmitters citywide to allow computer users to send electronic mail and access the Internet without traditional phone lines, officials said.
The City Council agreed to allow Los Gatos-based Metricom Inc. to install shoe box-size transmitters, equipped with small antennas, on about 70 light poles.
Metricom subscribers in the city will be able to go online with portable computers not hooked into traditional phone lines or cell phones.
About 5% of subscriber fees and a charge for using the poles will net the city about $25,000 a year. Subscribers pay about $30 a month for the service, officials said.
In exchange for use of the poles, Metricom also will provide the city with 30 free laptop modems and unlimited use of its services, said Vince Whelan, the city’s director of communications.
The transmitters are expected to receive final approval from the council at the beginning of the new year and could be installed as early as February, Whelan said.
Westminster, Santa Ana and Orange have similar agreements with Metricom.
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