This week’s Smart City roundup features Smart City fined by the FCC for blocking Wi-Fi hotspots at convention centers, how one company is fighting the drought in California and a light pole that connects people.

FCC fines Smart City $750K for blocking Wi-Fi hotspots at convention centers

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has found evidence that Smart City Holdings, LLC has been blocking Wi-Fi hotspot access in convention centers in five cities. Smart City provides telecommunication and Internet services to convention centers, hotels and meeting centers for a fee. Those who want to connect to Smart City’s services would need to pay $80 for a one-day access. The fee is quite high, thus many choose not to connect to Smart City’s services but insteaduse the Wi-Fi hotspot offered by the network they are subscribed to. Unfortunately, Smart City doesn’t like that and decided to block Wi-Fi hotspots, which forced attendees to connect and subscribe to their absurdly priced service.

“It is unacceptable for any company to charge consumers exorbitant fees to access the Internet while at the same time blocking them from using their own personal Wi-Fi hotspots to access the Internet,” said Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. “All companies who seek to use technologies that block FCC-approved Wi-Fi connections are on notice that such practices are patently unlawful.”

Smart City was fined a civil penalty of $750,000 for its Wi-Fi blocking shenanigans.

Aclara fights drought with smart technologies

Drought in the Western part of the U.S. has reached critical mass, and the government is calling for a 25 percent reduction in water usage. That may be easier said than done, so Aclara Technologies, LLC, provider of smart infrastructure technology for water, gas and electric utilities, is aiding utilities in California to manage water usage and detect leaks.

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is one of the largest utilities in California to install Aclara’s STAR network that reads meters hourly. The data collected from the city’s 180,000 meters by Aclara’s two-way fixed network powers the utility’s system for letting customers track usage online. Aclara also generates a report that allows the utility to identify customers who may have leaks inside their homes.

If you have been flagged as consuming too much, the utility sends you a weekly postcard that notifies you that you may have a possible leak. The system monitors the reports and which accounts have come off the list and possibly have taken care of the leak or reduced consumption.

There is also an interest in installing Aclara’s STAR ZoneScan system, which allows utilities to pinpoint underground leaks that could further deplete water supply. The system has been deployed in a number of East Coast communities, such as Sylacauga, Ala., which uses the system to find underground leaks that occur on hundreds of miles of galvanized service lines and cast-iron pipes.

Light pole that connects people

Schréder Group will be showcasing its Shuffle LED light pole at the International Motor Show on September 17–27, 2015, in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Shuffle LED light pole is unlike your typical streetlight, as it integrates a range of multimedia and communication facilities that can utilize outdoor Solid-State Lighting (SSL) networks to keep people connected. Aside from lighting up the streets, the Shuffle LED light pole also features a light ring, which is intended for emergency signaling, video cameras with night vision, audio systems and speakers that can be used not only to blast music, but also broadcast public service announcements, and a Wi-Fi access point that offers public broadband Internet connections.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen smart lighting solutions leveraged for smart city infrastructure. In Dubai, Smart Palms are being deployed that deliver lighting, a place to rest, connection to the Internet, advertisement and even a way to call for help.

Photo by ToGa Wanderings