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At Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., the listed attractions are more likely to be Space Mountain and It's a Small World, not Wi-Fi, DSL and wholesale fiber capacity. But embedded under the fairy-tale atmosphere of Disney World is Smart City Telecom, a facilities-based ILEC and out-of-region CLEC that utilizes a mixture of technologies that includes multiple flavors of DSL (SHDSL, ADSL and RADSL), Wi-Fi, 38 6Hz LMDS (local multipoint distribution service), Web hosting and colocation services.

Founded in 1984, Smart City is one of the remaining original CLECs, initially founded as a subsidiary of the Houston Astros baseball organization. With three SONET rings and a good deal of fiber in the ground, the Celebration, Fla., ILEC not only serves surrounding communities (Lake Buena Vista and Celebration), but provides the underlying fiber and coax infrastructure for Walt Disney World with access nodes into the surrounding hotels. And in a bit of irony, the ILEC actually sells wholesale optical and coax capacity to its primary competitor--Comcast Communications, the local cable MSO.

In downtown Orlando, the ILEC operates a CLEC division that incorporates a number of technologies to serve the Orange County Convention Center and surrounding business community. To serve this CLEC territory, it utilizes DSL and 38 GHz LMDS wireless, which it purchased from the EXpedient/Cavu Network. On top of that, the company, through the purchase of local ISP Volaris (now part of its CLEC business), not only provides access to DSL, ISDN and T1 service, but also Web hosting and colocation from an 8000-square-foot data center.

Perhaps one of its more compelling features is its integration of Wi-Fi with its wired broadband DSL service. Through its Home-N-Roam, service, Smart City offers residential and business customers SHDSL (symmetric high-density DSL) and Wi-Fi 802.11 wireless LAN connections.

Powering the DSL network are Paradyne's GranDSLAM 8200 Hotwire DSLAMs and two-wire modem/routers. With support for multiple DSL technologies, including ADSL, SHDSL as well as SDSL (symmetrical DSL) and IDSL (ISDN-based DSL), the solution incorporates an ATM switch fabric to support multiple ATM-based QoS classes (CBR, UBR, rt-VBR and nrt-VBR). In addition, GranDSLAM incorporates multiple uplink choices from T1/E1 to OC-3 as well as GigE interfaces.

On the Wi-Fi side, Smart City is utilizing Cisco's Aironet wireless LAN access points. Currently, the Wi-Fi Hot Spot service has been rolled out in five area locations, and as demand increases Smart City plans to expand that offering. As a Wi-Fi/IEEE 802.11a and b-based network product, the Aironet 1200 series operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM (industrial scientific medical) and 5 GHz U-NII (Unlicensed National Infrustructure Information) wireless bands. The 802.11a radio can support data rates of up to 54 Mbps and eight non-overlapping channels, while the 802.11b radio can support up to 11 Mbps.

At the home, DSL service can be configured via multiple home networking options: a wired Home PNA (Phone Network Alliance) network system, Ethernet or a wireless option where the DSL router takes on the role of a Wi-Fi unit in a home or business.

Multi-flavored

Customers have multiple options, from low-speed service to 1.5 Mbps for SOHO applications. For those customers who opt for the Wi-Fi/DSL Home-N-Roam service, Smart City creates a wireless network in the home or business with the DSL router/modem acting as the Wi-Fi unit. At the selected Wi-Fi Hot Spot locations, Smart City has deployed a Cisco Aironet wireless access point, where subscribers entering any of those particular hot spots can get Wi-Fi access by placing a ORiNOCO Wi-Fi card into their laptop or PDA.

Smart City President and CEO Marty Rubin argues that by bringing Wi-Fi into the mix (the wireless service has been installed in about five locations to date), subscribers can simply enter in a log-in number to get broadband access while having a meal or a cup of coffee and gain a ubiquitous broadband experience. "We have been told that we are the first phone company that's integrated DSL at home and Wi-Fi in the neighborhood," Rubin said. "We are being as friendly as possible to enable subscribers to access the Internet either at home or down the street."

Beyond its multiple technology elements, what really sets Smart City apart is its customer service. Whereas most telecom installers have a reputation for apathetic customer service Smart City's employees are trained by a customer service program that has been developed by the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. All of the ILEC's employees carry around a 20-point checklist to ensure proper customer satisfaction. Unlike many traditional last-mile broadband providers that push a no-truck-roll mantra Smart City Telecom sees the truck roll as the key asset in the customer experience.

"When we get an order we get to a customer's house on time, and if we have an 8:30 appointment, we show up at 8:25, ring the doorbell, put shoe covers on and install the equipment. At the end of two hours, we make sure it works properly and try to sell them long-distance or another additional service," Rubin says. And that's no fairy tale.

Sean Buckley staff editor

(sbuckley@telecommagazine.com)