Loading ...Why Wi-Fi Networks Are Floundering
Faced with weak user demand, AT&T and other telecoms are stepping up pressure on cities to foot more of the bill for muni Wi-Fi projects
The static crackling around municipal wireless networks is getting worse.
San Francisco Wi-Fi, perhaps the highest-profile project among the hundreds announced over the past few years, is in limbo. Milwaukee is delaying its plan to offer citywide wireless Internet access. The network build-out in Philadelphia, the trailblazer among major cities embracing wireless as a vital new form of municipal infrastructure, is progressing slower than expected.
These potholes in the nation’s wireless rollout of civic ambition—criticized by many as an improper use of tax dollars—are hardly the exception. For the road is getting bumpier for cities and the companies they have partnered with in a bid to blanket their streets with high-speed Internet access at little or no cost to users.
Full Story Via Businessweek.com
Filed under: Business and Finance, Wireless
