Word: accessibly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...largest for long. Municipal wi-fi will be coming soon to a city near you, from tiny towns like Adel, Ga., to sprawling locales like Boston and San Francisco. Municipalities are promoting competition to drive down broadband prices and bring high-speed access to rural areas stuck with dial-up. Big telcos such as Verizon and AT&T, having first tried to fend off wi-fi in state legislatures, have also joined the battle to own and operate these systems. More than 300 communities nationwide plan to have wireless ventures in the next year, according to MuniWireless.com a portal...
...also judgment year. Although cities are embracing wi-fi to make government more efficient and to stay competitive, the financing appears shaky, and it's uncertain whether the plans will be cost-effective. Big questions remain: What will consumers pay for citywide access? Will advertising sustain free models? And will users really be attracted to a network that lacks speed, security and privacy? The risks are considerable--up to $25 million in capital costs per system plus operating funds. "Half the cities run into funding barriers," says Peter Orne, Wireless Internet Institute's editorial director. "We're still waiting...
...three years, U.S. towns will pony up nearly $700 million to build municipal networks, predicts MuniWireless.com As a public utility, wi-fi has undeniable benefits. City workers can use low-cost VOIP (voice-over-Internet protocol), and police and firefighters have a high-speed bandwidth for on-the-go access to data like criminal records and building plans or live shots from security cameras...
Going head to head with the telcos is EarthLink, a big player in dial-up but a company that was falling behind in broadband because of the high prices cable companies charged for access to the network. EarthLink (projected 2006 revenues: $1.3 billion) is banking on muni wi-fi to grow sales, closing deals with seven cities in public-private partnerships. EarthLink owns and operates the network while the city contributes money or light poles to nest radios for connectivity. The company will cut costs by selling access to wholesale providers like DirecTV. Philadelphia created a government-supported nonprofit...
Then how about free? It worked for Yahoo! and Google. Companies like MetroFi, which is committed to 13 cities, including Portland, Ore., are betting that complimentary, ad-supported access will attract enough users to turn a profit. San Francisco made a splash when EarthLink partnered with Internet ad king Google for gratis services, but they're still debating what will be free, and this model is far from proven. "Relying solely on ads is a misplaced dream to fund a multimillion-dollar network," says Craig Settles, author of Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless. MobilePro Corp. pulled...