By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, February 20 at 6:18 AM
From USA Today:
Chicago is launching an effort to offer wireless broadband, city officials said Friday, jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon as similar initiatives proceed in Philadelphia, San Francisco and smaller cities.
Chicago has hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots in places like coffee shops, bookstores and libraries, where anyone can walk in, sit down and connect to the Web. Hoping to extend that wireless blanket to all 228 square miles, the city plans to ask technology companies this spring to submit proposals for the project.
It seems a perfect time for a similar St. Louis initiative...
6 Comments:
OH GREAT. Now tourists who came to enjoy Milennium Park can sit down and use their laptop almost anywhere they go!
Meanwhile, the Chicago Public Schools are still the kind of school district where kids can get taught by different subs for an entire class for an entire school year. They still have deep, deep problems, and are shortchanging the city's poor and homeless children for yet another year. Gee, thanks Daley!
9:27 AM, February 20, 2006
I think that the push to make free Wi-Fi available across American cities is a victory for the poor. The biggest obstacle to getting minorities and the poor online and taking full advantage of the Internet is not the one-time cost of a computer, but the monthly cost of a broadband connection.
There are plenty of places you can buy a PC or a used Mac for under $300. There are lots of organizations that give computers away to those in need. But millions of Americans can't afford the $30/month to get DSL or cable Internet.
SBC, Charter, Time Warner, RoadRunner and the rest hate the idea, but fast Internet access should be free to all, primarily because it has become more important for accessing information than even the free television that we access with rabbit ear antennas.
This is one bandwagon I'd like to see St. Louis jump on ASAP.
10:12 AM, February 20, 2006
I'm pretty sure St. Louis has had free wireless access in the downtown area for some time now. I believe it is mainly in Kiener Plaza, but extends out a bit from there.
6:42 PM, February 20, 2006
I hadn't thought about it that way at all. Very good point, Antonio.
8:02 PM, February 20, 2006
Anony, there is free wi-fi around Kiener Plaza, along much of Wash Avenue, in City Hall, and in every St. Louis Bread Company, and I would venture to say that more than 80% of the people that use the free Internet in all of those places could (and probably do) pay for it at home.
Now, let's talk about the other 90% of the city, where families, the working poor, high school and many two-year college students live.
The Internet is the public utility of the new century. It was originally built with public money and should be free to all.
Will companies always offer an Internet that is faster and worth paying for? Certainly and I probably would be one of those that happily paid for it every month. But basic access should be freely available to everyone, regardless of income. Wi-fi is the cheapest technology to do that.
9:27 PM, February 20, 2006
ANTONIO!
I have already sent multiple letters to Slay and Giesman about this issue. They replied with 'we are looking into it'.
Everyone send in more letters and pressure the city!
7:02 AM, February 21, 2006
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