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Fixed Wireless Business

Wi-Fi Serving the Air Force?

Members of the ISP-Wireless list discuss how they would provide Wi-Fi service to a military base if they had the opportunity to do so.

[February 4, 2002]

On the ISP-Wireless list in January, AM inquired,

"Does anyone have any experience with deploying unlicensed wireless on a military base? A client of ours is a non-profit association employing blind workers at several locations around town-one of the locations is on an Air Force Base."

A number of respondents suggested that personal connections will make all the difference:

[AX advised] "If you're going wireless, make buddies with the frequency manager of the base, otherwise you're going to have an uphill battle the whole time."

[MB agreed] "Get with the frequency coordinator. Look in the base phone book for the 'Base Communications Unit,' and also find a Communications Unit that has close ties to the Base Communications Unit. If the two commanders are friends, sell your idea to the lower commander and he'll take it to the base commander. They all have weekly meetings, so it shouldn't take very long."

Others contended that it shouldn't be different from any other setup:

[MS recalled] "I've done a test setup on a military base. Very little interference to be found, and a great market!"

[MB agreed] "I would treat it like any apartment complex. I really don't think you'll have a problem, especially if DSL is not available to the base. Get in there first, and they will love you. Most commanders are concerned about morale: approach it in that fashion."

BM, on the other hand, warned that red tape can quickly rear its ugly head:

"We attempted to put a radio repeater system up for a government contractor on an air base once a few years ago. The commander in charge of facility security produced a multi-page directive about how there could be no communications originating on military property that isn't directly controlled by the government. In addition, the equipment had to have some level of encryption if the personnel using it had any type of security clearance. Also keep in mind that when communications terminates or originates on military property, all communications are subject to monitoring and recording. This would require a whole new world of procedures and equipment for them. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm all for it. The best thing to do is to ask."

—End