CHESTERTOWN — It’s not a secret downtown Chestertown’s internet connection needs improvement. Infrastructure difficulties and other factors are at play, according to discussions at former council meetings.
The Wi-Fi is so unreliable, the council spent $15,000 on professionals to boost signal for vendors during the 2023 Tea Party Festival.
This year, same issue. Verizon brought in a tower and Festfi was brought in for Wi-Fi. A grant for $16,000 was used to pay for it, according to Mainstreet Chestertown.
For this reason among others, an IT (Information Technology) study group was assembled by the town council last year with the aim of creating a more “digitally connected Chestertown.”
On May 9, member Mary Alice Ball brought up their plan for a demonstration, like a trial run, to test the town’s capabilities.
Ball said the demonstration would be “for improved access to the underserved community by creating a wireless mesh municipality network.”
A mesh network, because, as member, Dick Swanson put it, the mesh routers are a more efficient way to distribute the wireless signal.
He provided an example easy enough for the public to grasp.
“Think of it as this,” Swanson said, “if you have just one router in your home, there are dead spots. A mesh router means, essentially many routers are talking to each other.”
Swanson’s opinion is this creates a better connection, a more efficient network with no dead spots or weak signals. The handful of members present agreed.
However in order for the routers to do their thing, power is needed.
One good option, they think is the 50 foot tower on top of H.H. Garnet Elementary School, provided it was created for wireless and not cell phone connectivity.
They don’t want a contract with a cell phone company just for a demonstration Swanson noted.
In order to use that tower, Ball told the group she’s reached out to William Poore, Kent County Public Schools supervisor of technology and Mike Brown professor in the Information Systems Department at University of Maryland Baltimore County.
They are trying to figure out, not only the capability of the tower, but how much power can be generated and who has the memorandum of understanding for its use.
Based on her sources, Ball thinks using the tower shouldn’t be too difficult.
If the tower is for wireless, and if the demonstration is effective, member Nina Fleegle pointed out this doesn’t mean that certain people in the downtown area will get free Wi-Fi whereas others will have to pay.
The purpose — the group pointed out — is simply to show the capability of the town to attain a stronger signal.
They can get an idea of who will be using it, how long is the range and what the demographics are.
Ball also thinks the trial run might get the attention of internet service providers who might want to increase service in the area; potentially leading to competitive rates in town.
Currently, the group has $25,000 of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Acts) funds at their disposal, but there’s a deadline, Fleegle reminded them.
They have until the end of the year to designate the money and have it spent by 2026.
“Really we have six months left,” Fleegle added.
Chestertown isn’t alone in trying to get more effective Wi-Fi. There are other Maryland towns and counties to use for models.
Westminster for example, Swanson said, could be an excellent model.
Moving forward, they’ll be focused on gathering information about the tower, nominating new It study members for each ward, and finding a project manager.
The IT study group’s mission sums up what councilman Tom Herz said in a council meeting last year: “A team of passionate and knowledgeable residents needs to be assembled to report back to the council...The broader scope here,” Herz had said, “is to go to the underserved area and find out what their needs are.”
By using the tower they’re hoping that will be a good step to fixing a longstanding issue.
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