[IP] Philadelphia building world's largest hotspot

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Date: September 1, 2004 10:24:17 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@warpspeed.com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Philadelphia building world's largest hotspot
Reply-To: dewayne@warpspeed.com

Philadelphia building world's largest hotspot

The city of Philadelphia is developing an ambitious plan to build the  
world's largest wireless Internet hotspot. It would cost about $10  
million and cover all of the city's 135 square miles. The plan calls  
for placing hundreds, if not thousands, of APs around the city atop  
lampposts and rooftops. The plan would be especially helpful in poor  
neighborhoods, where high-speed Internet access is now rare. The fee  
structure has not yet been determined, but the city would likely offer  
the service for free or at costs much lower than the $35 to $60 per  
month charged by commercial providers.

Philadelphia is following in the footsteps of other urban centers, even  
though the scale is much larger. Last year, for example, Cleveland  
added 4,000 wireless transmitters in the University Circle, Midtown,  
and lakefront districts. The service is free. New York City officials  
are negotiating to sell wireless carriers space on 18,000 lampposts for  
as much as $21.6 million annually. Los Angeles plans a similar  
city-wide cloud.   Of course, wireless broadband as a cheap public  
utility will require far greater public access to the airwaves than is  
currently available, particularly unlicensed spectrum at low  
frequencies.

Link to A.P. story:  
<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&u=/ap/20040901/ 
ap_on_hi_te/wireless_cities&printer=1>


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