Downtown Wireless Internet Proof of Concept Update.

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1 DATE: September 19, 2018 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: Honorable Mayor Jerry Smith City Council Molly Talkington, Interim City Manager Marc Thorson, Information Technology Director Downtown Wireless Internet Proof of Concept Update. This item provides Council and the public with an update on the Downtown Wireless Internet (WIFI) proof of concept project that was approved via Resolution on August 13, City staff, working with Digital Lobby, VACK Inc., and Northern Illinois University (NIU) engineering, procured and installed a WIFI system in the Downtown Business District between 1 st Street and 4 th Street along Lincoln Highway and in the Van Buer Plaza parking lot. This system consisted of 11 access points mounted to light poles and four mounted on buildings. As part of this proof of concept, Digital Lobby created a custom authentication (login) page prominently displaying the City of DeKalb and Corn Fest. Users are asked to login using Facebook, or by providing an address and zip code. Once a user has logged in, the device is set to remember the user as a returning user but will provide a Welcome Back authentication page on subsequent returns without asking to re-authenticate. Once a user logs in, he/she is brought to the sponsor page. As part of this agreement, Northern Illinois University (NIU) was provided the primary sponsor slot at no cost in lieu of partnering with the City on this project. On this page, users are prompted to continue to free WIFI through a link at the bottom of the page. After the sponsor page, a web browser would open on the device that provides access to the Go Local page. This provides details on local businesses that participated in the proof of concept. The WIFI performance was very good. During low congestion periods, we had seen speed test results as high as 200 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload speeds. During congested times the average speed was Mbps download and Mbps upload speeds. VACK and Digital Lobby continue to modify settings to improve those speeds, and as the infrastructure changes, these speeds will grow further.

2 WIFI is only part of what this project offers, and that cannot be emphasized enough. The key components are business engagement and data. This proof of concept just scratches the surface of what the community can gain. Syndeo has donated the Internet connection for this process and several members of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce opted to be a part of the project by being listed in the Go Local lobby page. The listing was only one small piece of the marketing services Digital Lobby can offer to help local businesses gain visibility and targeted marketing information. Digital Lobby will work with interested local businesses to help expand the offering. The City has been provided with data on the usage of the WIFI during Corn Fest. This aggregated and anonymized data can be useful for a variety of good for the community. Drilling down into the data provides a host of insights that can be used for decision making. The data includes: 268 Unique Logins 414 Total Logins Successfully Connected 287 New Visits First-time Network Logins 127 Return Visits Accessed Network Before Logins Friday 103 Saturday 220 Sunday 91 Total 414 Top Zip Codes DeKalb 229 Sycamore 38 Waterman 12 Minooka 9 McHenry 9 Cortland 6 WIFI users that chose to login using Facebook provides more insight: Men Ages Women 38% % 47% % 11% % 4% % 0% 55 and Up 5% Men Women 51% 49% Page 2

3 In addition to the top locations of origin for people, the reports indicate attendees that connected are scattered throughout the Northern Illinois areas, and from as far away as Kentucky, Virginia, and Washington State. This is good information to be aware of when determining the reach of attendance and advertisement. The final data components include the anonymous passersby. This calculates the number of unique devices that are within range of connecting to the network. This number includes every device within range, which includes traffic passing by and rerouted around Corn Fest. No other information is collected outside of the unique address of each device. Date # of Devices Estimated # of People (60%) August 24 86,030 51,000 August ,216 72,000 August 26 46,995 28,000 Staff is working on ways to drill further into this data in order to isolate only foot traffic within the festival to provide more information to the Corn Fest organization and the City. Page 3

4 2018 CORNFEST ACTIVATION REPORT

5 LOGIN PAGE Authentication Page The Authentication page was custom branded for DeKalb and Corn Fest and logos were added for network sponsor NIU and bandwidth sponsor Syndeo

6 SPONSOR PAGE Sponsor Page Sponsor page was given to NIU (at no charge) for the period of the POC. NIU designed the sponsor message that was displayed.

7 CORN FEST LOBBY PAGE Lobby Page We used the Festival/Show Lobby page for Friday, Saturday and Sunday for Corn Fest. This Lobby had a different feature set than the standard Municipal Lobby and is focused are information of the current event that is taking place, Lobby Features: Custom Event look and feel Announcements Event Schedule Event Map Social Media integrations Sponsor logo scroll

8 GOLOCAL NETWORK GoLocal Page Digital Lobby worked with the City of DeKalb and the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce to create a 60 day pilot program to give Digital Lobby to 13 selected businesses (as chosen by Matt Duffy) free of charge. An went out less than 24 hours before the start of the show and we were still able to obtain 4 signups by the start of the festival and a total of 6 in the 48 business hours that have passed. GoLocal participants so far include: Northern Illinois University Egyptian Theatre OC Creative Foster Buick Conklin & Lundgren Banner Up Signs Illinois Community Credit Union

9 Analytics Overview Corn Fest Users User Demographic LOGINS Passers By Total Friday 103 Saturday 220 Sunday 91 3 Day Total 414 0% 38% 47% 11% 4% 0% & up 0% 40% 32% 8% 5% 5% Date #of Devices Est People August 24 86,030 51,000 August ,216 72,000 August 26 46,995 28,000 51% 49%

10 Analytics Zip Codelist Zip City State Count Dekalb IL Sycamore IL Waterman IL Minooka IL Mchenry IL Cortland IL Schaumburg IL Rochelle IL Chicago IL Bartlett IL Shabbona IL Dixon IL Belvidere IL Aurora IL Wheaton IL Arlington Heights IL Rockford IL Geneva IL Bolingbrook IL Elburn IL Hampshire IL Hinsdale IL Downers Grove IL Rockford IL De Pere WI Midlothian IL Bradley IL Kirkland IL Alexandria KY 1 Zip City State Count North Aurora IL Villa Park IL Valleyford WA Chicago IL Des Plaines IL Clare IL Addison IL Fox River Grove IL Plainfield IL Barrington IL Genoa IL Poplar Grove IL Eureka IL Yorkville IL Charlottesville VA Mount Prospect IL Rock Falls IL Bridgeview IL Earlville IL Schererville IN Elk Grove Village IL Saint Peters MO Saint Louis MO Herscher IL Oakton VA Byron IL Appleton WI Saint Charles IL Hoffman Estates IL Oswego IL Crete IL 1