Sprint is providing Kansas City residents an opportunity to experience the smart city concept at its best. Through a collaboration with Cisco, the carrier today launched its Sprint Wi-Fi network which will be available for Kansas City residents as well as Sprint’s own customers. The Wi-Fi network will be available along the 2.2-mile Kansas City Streetcar line which will run through downtown and will connect River Market, Kansas City Power & Light District and Crossroads which are among the city’s most prominent districts.
Even though Sprint will bring in more facilities and services in the future, the Sprint Wi-Fi network on Kansas City Streetcar line is presently offering public Wi-Fi services which residents and visitors will be able to access through their connected devices. Additionally, existing Sprint customers will be able to choose from alternate high-speed connectivity options while travelling through or staying alongside the Streetcar line. The carrier has also set up 25 new digital kiosks on the Streetcar line which are connected to its Wi-Fi network and will offer residents and visitors access to city services, transportation services, cultural events and exhibitions taking place in the city. These kiosks will also alert residents and visitors during emergency situations. Sprint has also made use of Sensity’s NetSense platform to automatically adjust street lights and thereby reduce light pollution and energy wastage.
“Today marks a significant day in the advancement of IoT services in the service provider industry. Cisco is pleased to work with Sprint on the advancement of a Cisco Smart+Connected Community framework as the company connects the digital kiosks, outdoor street lighting, the streetcar line, and other technologies to be utilized in Kansas City to its Wi-Fi network. Together we are demonstrating endless possibilities of new experiences in downtown Kansas City for years to come,” said Suraj Shetty, VP and General Manager of mobility solutions at Cisco. To ensure that the Streetcar line gets to benefit from a range of advanced Internet of Things sensors and technologies, Sprint has implemented intelligent data management solutions and a network of wireless sensors along with a communications network.
As per Rootmetrics, Sprint is currently tied for the number one spot in network reliability, call and text performance in Kansas City. The new smart city project is a way to demonstrate its capabilities in offering the best network, capacity and speed to its customers and also its willingness to work with brand new and advanced IoT devices and sensors in its home city. After Kansas City, Sprint is also aiming to become the first U.S.-based Smart Connected+ Network in many other cities in Europe like Barcelona, Copenhagen, and Hamburg, but the carrier has not announced any timelines for such plans to be implemented. As per reports, Verizon is also planning to create new smart cities based on IoT technologies and has completed a few deals with the likes of Cisco, GE and IBM to implement its ideas in the coming days.