Philadelphia, the biggest WiFi hotspot in the world

The City of Brotherly Love is currently considering a $10 million proposal that would blanket the 135 square mile metropolis in thousands of WiFi transmitters. While it would be congruous to the fundamental principles of the Internet to offer this service for free, which they are considering, we still feel obligated to ask the hard questions: wouldn't this money be better suited, as usual, being dumped into schools and social programs? And, ever heard of WiMax? And, when can we move in?

[Thanks, Alan]

[sixtoe @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

I read recently that population levels in Philly are the lowest they've been since something like 1910. The city needs to do everything they can to attract new businesses and residents. Sure $10 million would be great for the city's abysmal public school system. But wouldn't it be better to bring in more people, who you can then tax, to raise the revenue for better schools and social programs?

[jb @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

Are the internet providers not going to loose millions when they go & give it to the residents for free?
$30 per household * residents = lots of money per month.
or is the city picking up the bill?

[Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

No comment about the story, but the Rocky/Wifi image is a very nice little bit of design.

[Hank Fenster @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

Every time someone wants to spend tax money on something that isn't schools, the question comes up: "wouldn't this money be better spent on education?" Well, no. Simply shoveling more money at public schools isn't the answer, as Kansas City proved (for those who don't know, a judge forced the spending of vast sums in KC, with the results being no significant improvement in results). It's time to try vouchers. And I think spending ten million on public WiFi access would probably be a good thing. There's one way to find out.

[JP @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

I was down in Philly today and used the WiFi hotspot they have in LOVE Park. I will definitely take advantage of this if it ends up happening. But, I am just wondering who is going to pay for this. They are closing firehouses because of lack of funding, but are giving everyone internet access? I question whether this is a PR move....... Oh, and Mayor Street carries a handheld computer to communicate because the FBI has bugged his office in the past

[michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

Having lived in Philadelphia a year I can say it is a city with many hidden treasures. It's centre city is very nice, its cost of living is good and it is a diverse and interesting city. It looses many young profesionals however on the lack of a cool factor. When your that close to NYC and D.C. there is stiff competition. I think this WIFI plan is an important move to change the image of the city and to serve it's citizens. It will allow citizens to take advantage of an increasingly large number of internet services and will be important for the underserved of the city who have limited access to high speed internet. It may even make philly cool enough for people to come check out its many treasures.

[Robert Syputa @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

for cities and county governments hoping to attract new businesses and help existing ones grow. Many have already paid to string fiber optic or pay for broad pipe backbone access to the Internet. In that case the access is 'free' from the standpoint of incurring new access charges for the wireless network to the Internet connection.

WiMAX or current pre-WiMAX Certified systems can be an alternative or made to be part of the wireless network. But it's also valid to consider the low cost of WiFi and that the "Wireless Broadband Revolution" is likely to occur a lot like the PC and networking revolutions that have come before it: new stuff with increased capabilities will displace older equipment/methods over time. Rather than wait for WiMAX to appear and move down the price curve, some municipalities or county wide systems can take advantage of their installed base of fiber optic and other lines today.

Is this the best use of funds? Considering that a single large library can cost up to hundreds of millions (Seattle's new public library cost something like $350 million), an expenditure of $10 mil. for city wide Internet access seems pretty reasonable. At that differential the city could have purchased 1 million PC's off the shelf at Fry's or other electronics discounter and given them away to every man, women and child in the greater metropolitan area! But that solution wouldn't have made the architects, engineers and labor unions very happy! ; ^)

[Jon @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

As a resident of philadelphia I'm of course excited about the thought of dumping 50$ a month on broadband, however I can't ingnore the alternative uses. As said, they recently closed a couple of firehouses, and, despite what has been said, public ed could use some money.

[Nana Tandoh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:01AM]

This is a great idea and hope other cities will follow this great example. This opens up the possiblity of spreading VOIP technology citywide thus providing cheap and affordable telephone service, which is long long overdue.