Philadelphia Hopes to Lead the Charge to Wireless Future
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A Philadelphia model, if successful, could spark a movement to make broadband access affordable in every municipality.
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By Robert Weisman, The Boston Globe  Jun. 9--Boston's plan to blanket the city with wireless Internet  connections is set to pick up speed this month as companies jockey to play a  role and a pilot WiFi project gets underway in a square-mile area of the Grove  Hall neighborhood.
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Three companies are set to use the backdrop of the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to debut a device that can use WiMAX technology to make calls.
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NEW YORK - Coming soon could be a wireless broadband world in which consumers get to pick any smartphone or other device and load any software on it - not have to take what the wireless carrier wants to sell.
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(InfoWorld) - The sun came out for EarthLink's Philadelphia Wi-Fi network on Thursday even as prospects forÂ its San Francisco projectÂ remain shrouded in fog. Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit group formed by the city of Philadelphia, has approved the 15-square-mile Wi-Fi test network EarthLink built, opening the door for the operator to finish building out a 135-square-mile network covering the city. The approval comes just a month afterÂ EarthLink announced it would scale back its city Wi-Fi initiative, focusing on existing and large cities for the rest of the year. The company has seven or eight cities under contract now and is negotiating with five more, Vice President of Product Strategy and Marketing Cole Reinwand said last week. It decided to stagger its Wi-Fi expansion to conserve resources, he said. Residents can already use the 15-square-mile network in Philadelphia. The full network is expected to be complete in the third quarter. EarthLink is financing, building, and managing the network and will share revenue with Wireless Philadelphia, which will offer cut-rate access for low-income people. For six months, customers of a 1MbpsÂ service will pay an introductory rate of $6.95 per month, which bumps up to $19.95 thereafter. A faster 3Mbps service is available for $9.95 for the first six months and $21.95 after that. City parks will have free access, and low-income residents can sign up for service at $9.95 per month, before promotions. Customers can also pay for service on an hourly, daily or three-day basis. The Philadelphia Wi-Fi network is notable because when announced, it set off a storm of controversy that resulted in a Pennsylvania law requiring municipalities to receive approval from incumbent telecommunications operators before building Wi-Fi networks. The law was created after incumbents complained that by financing Wi-Fi networks, cities were building networks that would compete with their businesses. The San Francisco project, which has drawn attention partly because of Google's planned involvement as provider of a free citywide service, has run into fierce opposition from activists as well as some local elected officials. The proposed contract is scheduled for a vote by the city and county's board of supervisors in July.
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Will launch a fixed wireless service in a 'major city' next year
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The city of Philadelphia and Verizon Communications Inc. struck an agreement Tuesday that would allow the city to provide wireless Internet access as a municipal service even though Gov. Ed Rendell signed legislation giving Verizon the power to scuttle the project.
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After Earthlink and Google scrapped plans to offer wireless in the city, many weren't so sure. But a start-up is promising to finish the job.
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While many are just adjusting to the fast wireless technology behind WiMax, the head of Sprint Nextel's Xohm is planning new ways to charge for the service and how to meet the needs of huge numbers of Internet users.
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PHILADELPHIA: For about US$10mil (RM38mil), city officials here believe they can turn all 345 sq km of Philadelphia into the world&#39;s largest wireless Internet hotspot (www.
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More details of Sprint's WiMax initiative at CES, including pledges by several partners and Sprint that the effort is on track.
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A year ago, it seemed like just about every major U.S. city was drawing up ambitious plans to build wireless Internet networks so more people, both rich and poor, could have online access wherever they wanted. Now, economics is blurring the Utopian vision as city leaders and the companies proposing to build the Wi-Fi networks haggle over whether the projects make financial sense.
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Great innovations in wireless technologies have arrived in recent years, and their effect has yet to be realized. But those innovations may be hindered by thinking that an even better innovation is just around the corner.
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Cities and towns are jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon. But a municipal model of connectivity may be tricky to pull off.
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Nation's largest wireless carrier says it's leading the race to cover the United States with a third-generation network.
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Philadelphia will be able to go  ahead with plans to set up a city-wide wireless, high-speed  Internet network, but other Pennsylvania cities might not get  that chance under a new state law.
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The two vendors are reportedly in talks to combine their wireless infrastructure units.