Wireless Cities

Kevin Werbach: "At first glance, wireless connectivity seems out of place in a list of municipal services. Think again. A growing number of city governments believe that city-wide wireless Internet access should be provided, at least in part, as a public utility. Upon further examination, the spate of municipal wireless plans offer both less and more than meets the eye. They just might, however, become the missing link that makes possible an alternative infrastructure for the mobile Internet. ¶ The city governments are generally proposing to deploy some version of Wi-Fi throughout their entire municipal area. Wi-Fi meshes have been deployed on corporate and university campuses, and in the downtown shopping areas of cities such as Palo Alto. A few relatively small communities, such as Chaska, Minnesota and Cerritos, California, announced citywide Wi-Fi projects earlier this year. None of these, however, generated the attention of the recent spate of announcements. ..." TheFeature link