Free Wi-Fi for San Francisco
p2pnet.net News:- Universal, affordable wireless broadband access for everyone in San Francisco? That’s the plan, says the Associated Press.
“Officials are looking for ways to make all 49 square miles (127 square kilometers) of this California city a free – or at least cheap – wireless Internet zone,” says the story, continuing that San Francisco is, “Taking a step toward bridging the ‘digital divide’ between the tech-savvy and those who can’t afford computers.”
It’s soliciting ideas for an ambitious system that would put free Wi-Fi in the hands of people whether they are working in a high-rise office tower, riding on a cable car or living in a low-income housing project, says AP.
“The invitation, extended to nonprofit groups and businesses that could eventually bid on the project, puts San Francisco among a handful of major U.S. cities tackling the technological and political challenges of offering Internet service to its residents on such a wide scale.”
AP adds that last year, the city erected antennas to make one of its most popular tourist destinations, Union Square, a free hot spot, and three others are set to go up later this year.
Responses to the city’s request for information are due in six weeks.
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See:-
Associated Press – San Francisco moves forward on citywide wireless Internet plan, August 17, 2005
August 18th, 2005 at 12:26 am
I think the AP has mis-stated the issue. It’s not for the people who cannot afford computers, it’s for the people who cannot afford a relatively expensive bill for monthly broadband. We already have many channels of refurbishing and reusing computers that were once used in corporations, private businesses, academia, and the public sector that are now considered too anemic to continued to be used productively in those domains, but would be more than satisfactory as an “Internet Appliance” to allow connectivity for simpler tasks such as e-mail, chat, web browsing, ftp, secure transactions for shopping, electronic payment, access to government services, etc.
No Silicon Valley hot-shot software engineer wants to be caught dead with a 333MHz Desktop with 128K of RAM in his cube or be seen toting around a Thinkpad 600, yet less fortunate people seem very eager to have these machines. The businesses get a tax write off and the people who would like a computer, but are spending their limited resources on silly extravagances like food, shelter, clothing, and medical care can have one and participate in the digital domain.
The main issue is that the ‘traditional’ broadband providers (telco and cable company) are hopping mad about the whole thing and trying to saddle it with all sorts of restrictions, limitations, and other crap that will actually raise the cost of the deployed network to implement all of the degradations and access restrictions they are demanding.
No one is really surprised at their behavior.
August 18th, 2005 at 1:38 am
San Francisco is, âTaking a step toward bridging the âdigital divideâ between the tech-savvy and those who can’t afford computers.â
how do you bridge any gap with wi-fi if people cant afford computers. maybe they should give free computers out first……
them crazy san fran’s…
August 18th, 2005 at 3:52 am
Those who can’t afford computers will be taught telepathy to connect to the vast wi-fi networks.
August 18th, 2005 at 5:29 am
or they can use their pda’s that they cant afford
August 18th, 2005 at 5:59 am
Are we talking Wi-Fi melds here?
heh
August 19th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
The fact that people live in shanty towns with sewage filled ditches running through them would not bother many of these corporate cartels a bit if it were to result in a few new vacation houses and a couple of new Lear jets for them. I personally have no problem with people making enough money to be able to afford these items, but people who strive to have these items should have to earn them. They should not be able to force other people to pay excessive rates and put up with unreasonable restrictions in order to line their own pockets. As far as I am concerned anything that is built on public land should be owned by the public. Coopertives are the only way to go when it comes to providing public utilities.