> Two Articles on Telecom Reconstruction in N.O. - After Katrina > > > > "Some reports on the state of communications infrastructure in New Orleans > from > > the city's CIO." With thanks going to Sean Donelan on Cybertelecom.com : > > > > ------ > > > > After Katrina, the only communication system still working was a wireless mesh > > network > > > > By Tim Greene > > > > http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,109662,00.html > > > > MARCH 17, 2006 (NETWORK WORLD) - When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the > only > > communication system that hadn't broken down was the wireless mesh network > > deployed in the downtown area to support surveillance cameras credited with > > reducing the city's prestorm violent-crime rate. > > > > Today it still performs police duties, but as the lone public communications > > system left in the city, it also carries VoIP traffic that is the lifeline for > > many city businesses, said the city's CIO, Greg Meffert. > > > > The storm wiped out wireline phone service and cellular networks, and those > that > > it didn't destroy outright couldn't be kept up because the city couldn't get > fuel > > to the backup generators needed to keep the networks running, Meffert told an > > audience at a session during Spring VON 2006 this week. > > > > "We still have a third to a half of the city blocked out for telecom and > power," > > Meffert said. > > > > Now the wireless mesh system made by Tropos supports a radio network for > computer > > equipment in police cars as well as a free municipal Wi-Fi service. The city > > never tested the network for its current use, but it had no other choice, the > CIO > > said. > > > > "It's easy to try something new when you don't have to deal with the old > network > > because it's in the lake," he said. > > > > The mesh creates a Wi-Fi cloud over the downtown business district and the > French > > Quarter, with the bandwidth segmented for public safety and public Wi-Fi. > > > > "VoIP over Wi-Fi was the only chance we had for talking because it is > > point-to-point and doesn't rely on sequenced switches like the ones that > failed," > > Meffert said. > > > > He said the situation is likely to continue indefinitely because the > traditional > > wireline phone companies say they will not rebuild in the city for a long > time. > > "We're letting this Wi-Fi technology become indigenous infrastructure to help > > bring the city back," Meffert said. > > > > He said businesses have no alternatives, so law firms are actually doing > business > > over VoIP out of coffee shops, "as long as it's in the cloud." > > > > Four months ago, the city population was 50,000, and now it's 250,000. "The > > wireless network is part of what's making them able to come back," he said. > > --------- > > > > [And a perspective from a recent visitor:] > > > > Message in a Spray Can > > By Jennifer Granick | Mar, 01, 2006 > > > > http://www.wired.com/news/columns/1,70307-0.html > > > > Last weekend I went to New Orleans to visit my college roommate and celebrate > the > > first few days of the Mardi Gras Carnival season. She attended Tulane Law > School > > and moved back to New Orleans three months before Hurricane Katrina hit. > > > > In those days immediately following the hurricane, I couldn't reach her. The > > telephone lines and the cell-phone towers went down in the first few hours of > the > > storm and stayed down for days. Her office in the Central Business District > was > > also hit, so the e-mail address I had for her was offline. I had the number > for > > her parent's farm in Iowa, so I was able to find out from them that she and > her > > family had safely evacuated to Illinois. Within a week, she got a new cell > phone > > with a Chicago area code, and a new personal e-mail address. Thanks to modern > > technology, we were talking again. > > > > Without traditional means of communication, other residents who stayed closer > to > > home resorted to spray paint. Uptown, a block from the flood line, one person > had > > painted the plea "Call Betty" and a phone number. Later, the tagger came back > and > > modified the message to read "All Better." > > > > On a house in the Ninth Ward, I saw "Ella Mae?" sprayed on the façade, with an > > arrow pointing to her name in a different color paint and the exclamation > "OK!" > > Other homes were marked with addresses and phone numbers from other parts of > the > > country. > > > > Rescue workers had also relied on spray paint. An eerie legacy of the > aftermath > > of the storm is that every house in the flooded areas, and some in the few > areas > > that did not flood, are marked with an X, the date rescue workers visited the > > location, the agency visiting and what they found. Most of the houses have a > > zero. But some say "1 DOA" or "3 dead" or "possible body." Rescue workers > didn't > > have handheld wireless devices to transmit what they found to a networked > > database of information about what was happening on the ground. > > > > The city continues to have problems with phones, regular postal service and > > electricity. The Federal Communications Commission started a program to offer > > free phones to eligible residents who lost or never had connectivity. The > local > > post office just reopened, amid complaints that people were only now receiving > > letters mailed in December. Much of the Ninth Ward still doesn't have > electricity. > > > > In the Ninth, residents were defiantly reoccupying their homes. Every few > blocks > > we saw people carting out soaked sheetrock, ruined personal belongings and > > unusable televisions. Still without phone service or electricity, some had > posted > > laminated signs on their lawns reading "We are Back" or "We Are Coming Back." > One > > family had spray-painted the rear window of their pickup truck to read "We R > > Back. R U?" > > > > The movement to reoccupy the Ninth Ward comes at a time when elected officials > > are deciding whether and how to compensate people for damage to their homes. > > Officials have proposed forced buyouts, rebuilding moratoriums and other > > controversial programs. > > > > Now more than ever, people in New Orleans need to communicate with each other > if > > they want to save their neighborhoods. The mayoral election is now scheduled > for > > April, and displaced residents are allowed to vote -- if they can figure out > how. > > In short, decisions being made now are going to affect the well-being of > almost > > every resident of the city. > > > > Hurricane-related outages are no longer the biggest obstacle to communication. > > Now it's geographic dispersal, mixed with poverty. Less than half of area > > residents have moved back, even though many of them want to do so. Almost 29 > > percent of New Orleans residents live below the poverty line, and the poor > were > > concentrated in the lower Ninth. Forty percent of New Orleans residents are > > illiterate. Most people cannot afford cell phones (the free phone project, to > the > > extent that residents knew about and took advantage of it, is scheduled to end > > this week), never mind access to computers and e-mail. > > > > In the lower Ninth, I spoke with some well-meaning college students doing > > community organizing. They were trying to help residents of the area who > wanted > > to keep their land, rebuild their neighborhood and move back onto their > property. > > I asked the activists how they were communicating with people, but they didn't > > have much of an answer. Getting phones or e-mail to people scattered across > the > > country is difficult and expensive, even if you can locate them. Organizing > > remote individuals into a politically effective community seems impossible. > > > > It should come as no surprise that economic development has left our poorest > > citizens behind, but the extent of the problem still has the power to shock. > The > > greatest communications system ever created failed the city of New Orleans in > the > > days after the storm, and in many ways remains useless to the former denizens > of > > the Ninth Ward. > > > > I spend my days thinking about how to preserve freedom on the internet, but my > > trip to New Orleans was a visceral reminder that technology can only do so > much. > > At some point, we have to get away from the computer and work hand in hand > with > > our neighbors. >
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