The evolving Our Kaka‘ako neighborhood in urban Honolulu is going to have some superfast free Wi-Fi.
Kamehameha Schools, which is adding new retail and residential buildings on nine blocks in Kakaako under a master plan called Our Kaka‘ako, announced Tuesday that it is building a free wireless network for public use throughout the area.
"It is free, it is fast and it is available to anyone who wants to use it," said Erin Kinney, a Kamehameha Schools development manager.
Kamehameha Schools said the network will be the biggest, fastest free system in the state.
The network is being built by Hawaii Dialogix Telecom.
Some coverage in the area became active Saturday, though it will take two weeks to finish the "Our Kaka‘ako" wireless network.
Stephen Hon, co-president of Hawaii Dialogix, said some mainland cities including Washington and Austin, Texas, have free networks covering large urban areas, though nothing like it exists in Hawaii.
Free Wi-Fi in Hawaii is a staple mainly at coffee shops and a smattering of hotels, restaurants and retail stores.
Challenges for the Our Kaka‘ako network included having it serve several thousand users at once and ensuring adequate capacity in certain spots during area events that include Honolulu Night Market and Eat the Street.
Hon also said the network will be enhanced as Kamehameha Schools develops more of the area with retail and residences replacing many warehouses filled largely with industrial users.
The landowner’s master plan calls for developing up to 2,750 homes, mostly in seven towers, and 300,000 square feet of commercial space on nine blocks covering 29 acres between Ala Moana Boulevard and South, Halekauwila and Kamani streets.
Kamehameha Schools declined to disclose the cost to establish the network, which will have security features. The trust is adding the service in part to increase the appeal of the area — which is still largely an industrial neighborhood with little greenery — for consumers and commercial tenants.
"We will be able to strengthen our community in so many positive ways through greater connectivity," Kinney said. "It will be seamless. You’re not going to get cut off when you walk block to block in the master plan."
The wireless network is designed for use on the ground, so most people living in buildings that rise in the area won’t be able to connect to the free system.
Data-transfer speeds will be up to five times faster for downloads and 50 times faster for uploads compared with most home and coffee shop networks, Kamehameha Schools and Dialogix said.
In a demonstration in a Cooke Street warehouse, the Our Kaka‘ako Wi-Fi connection performed a speed test registering a 138-megabit-per-second download speed and a 103 Mbps upload speed compared with a paid 4G LTE wireless service registering a 5 Mbps upload speed and a 12 Mbps download speed.
However, data speeds on the Our Kaka‘ako network will vary depending on how close a user is to one of more than 20 access points housing equipment delivering the Wi-Fi signal.
