Philly Considers Wireless Internet for All

[CheapyD]

Philly Considers Wireless Internet for All
By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA - For about $10 million, city officials believe they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the world's largest wireless Internet hot spot.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&e=1&u=/ap/wireless_cities

[Ledhed]

Wow. That would make LANs so much easier.

[Dare]

thats awsome, right where i live. i would love to pay around $20 a month instead of the $45 it is now

[epobirs]

I'm wary of such services emanating from a government entity. It works alright in small towns which operate more like an extended tribe but in a major urban center this leads to a single point of failure system with mediocrity for all.

[dtcarson]

Yep.
Not to mention, now it's 'not fair' against the people who don't have computers, or don't have wireless network access. And of course the security issues with wireless networking.
I wish 'they' [the computer manufacturers, the retailers] would start pushing powerline networking instead of wireless.
" And the city would likely offer the service either for free,"
The city offers nothing for free.

Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University, which is spearheading the project and paying for a chunk of it.

"We like to say it should be like the air you breathe — free and available everywhere," Gonick said. "We look at this like PBS or NPR. It should be a public resource."

So if they're paying for it, it's not free. Are they going to continue paying for it?

[epobirs]

That is the problem with big government types. They truly believe there is a bureaucrat somewhere in Washington, D.C. who is in charge of keeping the air machines up and running. In the office down the hall is no doubt the official in charge of gravity. Some NIH busybodies want them to crank it up a bit to help with the 'obesity crisis.'

[Moxio]

Wow, awesome in so many ways!

[Grave_Addiction]

That is the problem with big government types. They truly believe there is a bureaucrat somewhere in Washington, D.C. who is in charge of keeping the air machines up and running. In the office down the hall is no doubt the official in charge of gravity. Some NIH busybodies want them to crank it up a bit to help with the 'obesity crisis.'

Ya know, I never really looked at it that way, but you make a lot of sense.

[Kain Vincent]

Like Dare, I also live in Philadelphia. That's an awesome deal if it can be pulled off. And who doesn't like cheaper prices? 8)

[dtcarson]

TANSTAAFL. You'll pay, somewhere. As will everyone who doesn't need or want wireless access.
I do believe that government should provide some basic infrastructure, to be funded for 'the common good' by the people, but I don't consider "'free' wireless access" to be necessary basic infrastructure.

[YoshiFan1]

I wish it was for the Philly suburbs as well, but it is still cool

[daphatty]

I can see the firewall nightmare's now. Imagine trying to keep THAT network secure. :roll: Neat idea for handhelds and such but horrible for regular PCs.

[int80h]

I wish 'they' [the computer manufacturers, the retailers] would start pushing powerline networking instead of wireless.

1. Widescale powerline networking would require IEEE approval of some sort.

2. IEEE has a lot of ham radio operators as members.

3. powerline networking causes interference for ham radio reception.

In other words, don't hold your breath for powerline networking.

[nickmad]

man that is soo good. now i can dump my verizon dsl.

[dtcarson]

I wish 'they' [the computer manufacturers, the retailers] would start pushing powerline networking instead of wireless.

1. Widescale powerline networking would require IEEE approval of some sort.

2. IEEE has a lot of ham radio operators as members.

3. powerline networking causes interference for ham radio reception.

In other words, don't hold your breath for powerline networking.

There are more people interested in ham radio than in networked computers? Not asking as a smartass, I don't know anything about ham radio other than that you can get a vanity license plate with your ham id/license number/whatever on it.

And nickmad makes a good point: this will have an impact on the private internet providers [who have probably been competing to offer quality product at a reasonable price.] Now they'll have fewer customers, less revenue coming in, have to either jack up prices, reduce offerings, and/or lay people off. All the while *somewhere* tax dollars are being taken to pay for this 'free' offering, so it's conceivable that taxes will either go up, or people will be taxed when they have no opportunity to benefit from it [like the people in the suburbs, someone mentioned.] Unintended consequences.

[vherub]

lets see:

a long overdue thankyou to the people of philly for not moving to all those better places out there

a thankyou to the borderline people who live just in the range but wont have to pay

a largescale test site to other places thinking the same thing

and, of course, it will make it far easier for people to leap onto webforums to decry the latest comment from rush about donovan

[Mustang O-Line 75]

Oh wait, what's that?

Philadelphia, you're too late

Hermosa Beach has already approved plans for free city-wide wireless internet.

The reason they did it was because they said it was cheaper than the T1 they had at city hall.

I know i can find a link somewhere. I posted it before...

EDIT: Here it is: http://www.dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1213
Pretty cool

[Indiana]

This is kind of funny because if they do not charge for the service then the people of Philladelphia will have to pay for it out of their taxes. I'm sure this will end up costing more than $10 million look how much the big dig is costing in Boston. No government project finishs on time and within budget.

[Indiana]

The beach town you are talking about is tiny... what a joke. That is not the same as Philly. It's 135 squate miles! 112 times larger!

[Mustang O-Line 75]

yeah, true, but it's still the first in the nation!

*waves the flag of hermosa beach*
*oh wait, we don't have one...*

[Levizk]

Somehow I have a feeling we Pittsburghers will end up shouldering some of this Philadelphia "free" wireless access. I can't wait till Rendell is no longer govenor.

[dtcarson]

Oh, absolutely.
Or maybe people across the state.
I wouldn't be surprised if, either now or later, some congressman from PA sticks a line item in some random federal bill asking for money to 'continue' the project or whatever, so then *I'd* be paying for Philly's 'free' access.