Columbia Heights Wireless

The Columbia Heights Wireless Project aims to provide wireless access to the Internet to HacDC's neighbors in Columbia Heights. This project, in three phases, will help test different technologies and methods for providing this access as well as building local neighborhood IT infrastructure.

Phase One: Rewire St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen's Church is used by many community organizations, each of which are responsible for obtaining their own Internet and Telephone service.

There are potential costs savings for the church and its tenants to upgrade the IT infrastructure of the facility, allowing the church and tenants to share common Internet access and Telephone service.

After assessing the needs of the church, its tenants and occasional guests from out of town, HacDC will draft a plan to re-wire the telecommunications and networking infrastructure of the church. Prior to consultation with the tenants (this consultation meeting is scheduled for June 13) this phase has the following goals:

• Replace the IT wiring infrastructure of the church.
  • Remove all "dead cables" from the exterior and interior of the church
  • Run house cable to church office and basement and other key areas of the church, reducing need for cabling on the outside of the building and/or expansive cable runs within the building
  • Replace the demarc with more modern equipment (should be done by Verizon)
  • Install wired outlets in offices and other places they may be necessary
  • Run wire to ares where wireless access points may be deployed
• Provide building wide Internet access
  • Replace multiple DSL lines with one solid, very high speed internet connection
  • Install building router to handle and segregate internet connection
  • Provide church and its tenants with private subnet
  • Provide wired network access to tenants who require it
  • Provide infrastructure for building-wide wireless network
• Build church wireless network
  • Provide private wireless networks to tenants who require it
  • Provide public wireless network for church and tenant guests, etc.
• Integrate church security system into building wide network
  • Replace existing church security and entry system (see also Physical_Access_Control_Project)
  • Provide method for tenants to view persons outside the building and allow building access

Phase Two: Provide Wireless to the Housing Project Surrounding the Church

Once the hurdles of providing wireless to a given area (the church) are handled, the goal is to extending the public church network to the housing project which surrounds the church. The goals of this project are relatively less complex:

• Provide public wireless accessible in all rooms of the development around the church
• Work with community members on best methods for building and supporting a public wireless network
• Deploy specialized equipment on the roof of the church and possibly on the development property
• Work out technical challenges present in extending the public network beyond church immediate line-of-sight

Phase Three: Provide Wireless to Neighborhood Buildings

• Provide public wireless available throughout Columbia Heights
• Attract public and government support to make such a public wireless network viable and sustainable