Argenta Internet Model Points The Way to Increased Access

Thanks to a couple of visionary entrepreneurs and three advertising contracts, 50 blocks of downtown North Little Rock are now covered by an invisible web of free wireless Internet access.

Scott Miller, owner of Argenta Holdings LLC, and Brian Converse of Kharma Consulting Inc. have zeroed in on the Internet business model, which seems to be next on the list of innovative tweaking.

Given that almost 30 percent of Arkansans have never used the Internet, according to a recent study by the nonprofit Connect Arkansas, free may be the only word that will close the digital divide.

"There is a dollar barrier for some people. And if you took that away, then that barrier's gone and then certain people would be able to get involved in [the Internet]," said C. Sam Walls, chief executive officer of Arkansas Capital Corp. Group and president of Connect Arkansas.

When Converse originally pitched the idea of free wireless to Main Street Argenta, the nonprofit development organization for downtown North Little Rock chose not to swing.

Miller, however, gladly stepped up to the plate.

"I saw it as a tool, or a selling point if you will, for the neighborhood as well, to basically connect the neighborhood electronically," Miller said.

Argenta Wireless, Converse and Miller's joint venture, invested about $5,000 in an "open mesh wireless network."

Open mesh network technology allows one wireless router – the gateway, Miller called it – that is connected to a DSL or cable line to transmit a signal to the closest "node," which operates like an antenna. The node – a small white box about the size of a pack of cigarettes – then transmits the signal to the next closest node and so on.

Each node has enough memory to create and store a map of the most efficient route back to the gateway.

"And then the software is smart enough, believe it or not, if you lose a node, it's already got stored in its memory the best alternate path, and it automatically picks up and alternates and routes around your bad nodes," Miller said.

Because the nodes transmit between 100 feet and 150 feet, not every homeowner, and especially apartment tenant, needs to own a node.

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