Northern Michigan University WiMax network to expand

Northern Michigan University's WiMax network will be expanded to include the entire community of Negaunee, Michigan. The approximately 300 NMU students, faculty and staff living in the area will be able to access the internet on university-issued laptops at no cost to them.

According to David Maki, chief technology officer at NMU, the "substantial" educational discount offered by Motorola on its equipment made a lot of sense.

"A dormitory has around 300 people and in Negaunee there are around 300 people [we serve]. But it was cheaper to [provide] the whole city of Negaunee than it is to [provide] one dorm on campus with Wi-Fi," he said.

The community expects to be online by the end of February.

"It allows students and faculty here to make the choice to live and work in Negaunee and do so with all the services they would get at the university," said Maki.