Posted on 03/24/2008 8:07:50 AM PDT by Bubba_Leroy
PHILADELPHIA — It was hailed as Internet for the masses when Philadelphia officials announced plans in 2005 to erect the largest municipal Wi-Fi grid in the country, stretching wireless access over 135 square miles with the hope of bringing free or low-cost service to all residents, especially the poor.
Municipal officials in Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and 10 other major cities, as well as dozens of smaller towns, quickly said they would match Philadelphia’s plans.
But the excited momentum has sputtered to a standstill, tripped up by unrealistic ambitions and technological glitches. The conclusion that such ventures would not be profitable led to sudden withdrawals by service providers like EarthLink, the Internet company that had effectively cornered the market on the efforts by the larger cities.
Now, community organizations worry about their prospects for helping poor neighborhoods get online.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“If we don’t have Internet, that means I’ve got to take the bus to the public library after dark, and around here, that’s not always real safe,” Cesar said, seated in front of his family’s new computer in a gritty section of Hunting Park in North Philadelphia. His family is among the 1,000 or so low-income households that now have free or discounted Wi-Fi access through the city’s project, and many of them worry about losing access that they cannot otherwise afford.
How much do you want to bet that they have found some way to pay for cable TV?
You can get low cost dial up Internet from several commercial ISPs for under $10 a month. If you can afford any sort of computer, you can afford to buy Internet service.
Porn for the Poor!
I just thought it needed repeating.
I teach information policy at the graduate level. Students often come in to class thinking 'we' should provide such services to the poor, without thinking just who 'we' is and where 'we' get the money to pay for all this. I feel it's my job to disabuse them of the notion that the government is the answer to every freakin' problem that comes down the pike.
Funny how service works out—I’m with two companies (Time Warner for high-speed Internet + cable + home phone and Verizon for cellphone) that friends and acquaintances have had huge problems with. Yet my Road Runner high-speed is almost bulletproof and blindingly fast, and I’ve actually had very good customer service with Verizon Wireless.
The downside is that I’m paying an arm, a leg, and half a spleen for both.
}:-)4
I'm with ATT for both, home & mobile access. A little slower on the DSL, but I get to keep my entire spleen. ;)
My son's best friend, for example, comes to our home so they can play games on-line together. His father doesn't want the Internet in their home even though the rest of the family does.
Well, probably admitting my own stupidity here, but...for digital cable (no premium channels, but all the tiered stuff), high-speed Internet, and home phone with unlimited long distance, I’m paying about $165 a month. For two cellphones with 1400 minutes, unlimited “In” calling, phone insurance, and a crapton of text messages, Verizon hits me for about $120.
Next place we move, I’m ditching the landline. We lived for two years without one in Richmond and didn’t miss it one bit. BTW, Time Warner’s service here in NC is MUCH better than Comcrap’s was up in Virginia. Every time I travel to a Comcast city and see those stupid “it’s Comcastic!” commercials, my gag reflex kicks in.
}:-)4
radiohead, I just want to thank you for your good work. Keep it up!
There is clearly a disconnect as to where the government gets its money!!
Typical leftist...
“The entire for-profit model is the reason for the collapse in all these projects,” said Sascha Meinrath, technology analyst at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington.
I signed my Mom up for Philly Wireless right after Christmas - got her a nice pc with all the trimmings. I'll tell you why it failed in Philly - because it sux! completely. Once you've signed up and they get the $$$, you can forget about getting any support -which I believe is not in the US (which is a funny thing in itself).
The hardware and software needed better tech support and tech support for the users was extremely poor.
Just think about how Philly selects companies when putting out a project to bid. Now once those companies get their (read my) money, they have no real desire to produce.
In the real word, when a business spends real money, there is a lot of vetting that goes on to prove that the investment is wise. ROI...
I dumped the cable years ago...just got one of those DTV converter boxes for my 27” TV on Friday at Best Buy (using a government coupon) TV is still all crap, but at least it is crystal clear...even using rabbit ears.
I have Verizon for my phone, and have Broadband Wireless with my laptop. Still comes out to $120 a month...but I can use my laptop nearly anywhere at lower speeds. If I need higher speeds at home, I can log into some of the open connections in the neighbhorhood.
Our City of Burbank has free wireless just in the Downtown area....I tried it out once and didnt think it was too fast or reliable. They make you click a notice that you are not a business...not sure how they audit that....
Thus the old adum:
You get what you pay for.
That's as far as I read. Screw the Left. Our so-called "poor" have computers. As Will Rodgers once said, Americans are the first people to ride to the poorhouse in an automobile.
Perhaps I am just a mean and uncaring redneck, but I resent high speed wireless Internet access joining the long list of government entitlements that I have to work and pay for someone else to have.
true, but ya' know, it really wasn't such a good deal. Ended up going to Verizon and everything is perfect. Now if she only could figure out how to respond to emails...
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