CBSZone, great idea, having some execution difficulty

The billboard based network ballyhooed by CBS needs some implementation help.  I was in the Big Town yesterday and decided to try getting access through my blackberry from a Wi-Fi node next to a billboard that I could clearly see. 3 bars on the blackberry wifi meter, but no joy.   For some reason, my blackberry coughed up a W010 failure to associate message.  The node in question is on the southwest corner of 40th and 7th avenue, at a cell site/billboard on top of a 3 story building. 

For those not in the business, the business end of this connection is the white box with the three antennae above the all-seeing CBS eye.  The two long antennae are the stock dipoles that come with a Tropos 3200 node.  That's what your wifi device connects to.  The third white little can in between the two long ones I thought might have been an EV-DO antenna that is commented upon in Glenn's wifinetnews post here.  However, a person connected with the project has quashed that notion adamantly, and upon closer inspection of the picture, it's just the top of the mounting mast sticking up over the Tropos node.  Notice the cell site antennae below the CBS sign.  Usually, there's fiber to these cell sites, and that might be what the site is using for backhaul.  I'm not really buying John's explanation of the connection issues.  I haven't ever had to do the kinds of on/off gyrations he's describing to get connected, whether it was a blackberry, XP, or Vista laptop, and if you have to screw around that much with your adapter just to get connected, then nobody's going to use it.  I was about 110 feet away from that device ( east and west side of the street, midblock between 40th and 41st, estimating that the device is mounted 50 feet high and I was about 100 feet north of it), and of course, I'm assuming that that was the device my Blackberry was trying to connect to.  It may not have been, I didn't break out the netstumbler and directional antenna, yada, yada, yada.  Somebody else should be getting paid to run around and make sure the stuff works. 

A report in amNewYork  by Marlene Naanes says this network is supposed to be used to send emergency messages to the digital signs in case of emergency, but it seems like it has a ways to go before it's reliable enough to put life safety messages on it.  And hey, isn't the MTA supposed to do RFPs for this kind of stuff?  If you have the advertising contract for MTA property, are you allowed to extend that territory without going to bid?

Comments

[Klaus Ernst]

Hi Craig,
problems with CBSMobileZone? Welcome to the club.
I stood on 42&7 SW corner getting a 'good' signal on the iPAQ but it never connected. Same on 42&8. Try one of those subway entrance thingies next time. But not 57&7 by Carnegie Hall another dud. See my map.
Have a nice weekend
Klaus
P.S. did you try a FON spot somewhere? Kind of fun. But I'm an alien. I'm sure Earthlink would not allow me to share. Go for the free 15 min deal. K

[Craig Plunkett]

Hi Klaus,
Thanks for commenting, I think that if CBS remains committed, they and the implementation contractor can make it work, but rolling out a reliable wi-fi network that provides decent, convenient outdoor coverage over a large, radio noisy area, is much more difficult and expensive than advertisers and blogoblowhards realize. Everybody wants something for nothing, and it just don't work that way.

[Klaus Ernst]

Hi Craig,
success! 7th av and 42 sw corner
cbsmobilezone without a glitch - using AsusEee
625down 97 up
have a nice weekend
Klaus