I came across this story on how the gov’t of NYC has begun gearing up to consider municipal WiFi. Here’s my two cents...
The city rep is cited (but not quoted) as saying that broadband penetration in NYC is low because it is “too expensive”. The proper interpretation of any such statistic is that many New Yorkers do not consider broadband to be a priority for their $$.
It also begs the question, how does the average income in NYC compare with other parts of the country? It is fair to say that if one can afford to live in NYC, one can afford some level of broadband. It’s not a question of affordability, it’s a question of citizens deciding how to spend their money.
It is disingenuous to present municipal WiFi as being cheaper than commercial alternatives. It is not cheaper, it is simply a shift of the cost from consenting consumers to unconsenting taxpayers.
If the argument is that the city needs to serve the needs of its poorest citizens, then let’s address it as such. In that case, consider having the libraries and parks offer WiFi. Put it in their budgets. Make it municipal in the sense of true public spaces. I’m not sure that Citigroup, Time Warner or Trump need any charity bandwidth.
Let’s go a step further. How about CUNY covering their campuses? Give NYU an incentive to cover Union Sqaure and Washington Square parks! Ditto for Columbia up in Harlem. How about right of way on all the utility poles in the area? Public spaces...
Another question to be addressed in the future -- is the WiFi market even interesting? I think it is far from determined what the most successful means of mobile data access will be...
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