Where to Find Wi-Fi in Canada
Wi-Fi internet connectivity is becoming a common feature among Canadian cities. PCworld.ca brings you a list of what cities across the country are doing (or not doing) to increase their connectivity.
From PC World CA, November 01, 2006
Rock Hill (SC) To Deploy Citywide Wi-Fi Network
"Our goal is to provide a city-owned and operated wireless network that will allow the city to provide a higher level of service to our customers and citizens," said Doug Echols, mayor of the City of Rock Hill. "The network will enable us to extend the knowledge, informational resources and databases available in city offices to the public safety, utility and other municipal workers in the field."
From Government Technlogy, November 01, 2006
MetroFi's Ad-Based Model in Foster City (CA)
MetroFi's business model relies on showing a strip of carefully tailored advertising across the top of users' web browsers. "The cost structure is such that you can get an acceptable return on capital, using an advertising model," says CEO Chuck Haas.
From The Guardian, October 30, 2006
Financial Inclusion and Digital Inclusion
Microcredit, microfinance, "financial inclusion" and the "un-banked" - An article in The New Yorker compares Mohamed Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Price, with Pierre Omidyar, creator of eBay who wants to commercialize microcredit. To what extent will remote banking for the poor be enabled by wireless broadband and inclusive technologies?
From The New Yorker, October 30, 2006
Somerville, Boston Area Picking Up Speed
Locally, Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Malden and several other small and mid-sized cities are implementing various approaches to Wi-Fi
From Somerville Journal, October 27, 2006
Hartford Launches Free Wi-Fi Program
Hartford announced Friday that it is launching a $1 million pilot program to test a free municipal wireless network in two city neighborhoods. __The idea is to give lower-income families access to information on education, health care and jobs.
From WCBS-TV New York, October 27, 2006
Three providers competing to provide Wi-Fi in Milpitas
Earthlink Inc. plans to have a citywide, fee-based Wi-Fi system in place by the end of this year. Mountain View-based MetroFi Inc. has signed a contract with the city of Milpitas to provide a free, advertisement-backed Wi-Fi service by 2007. Then there is MetroConnect, the coalition of IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and others to create one gigantic, Silicon Valley-wide Wi-Fi hot zone that would include Milpitas.
From Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, October 23, 2006
New Orleans to Unplug Wi-Fi Network
The City of New Orleans will give up its hard-fought battle for a free city-provided wireless Internet network once EarthLink Inc. finishes building out its initial wireless system, according to the city and EarthLink Inc.
From Times-Picayune, October 19, 2006
Where MetroFI Gets Its Funding
CEO Chuck Haas even told us yesterday that the company quietly raised a series B round of $6 million in funding from the Sevin Rosen Fund and August Capital in June to bring the company's total funding to $15 million (the website still says $9 million series A).
From GigaOm, October 18, 2006
AT&T Builds Wi-Fi Network for Riverside (CA)
Initially companies like AT&T and Verizon resisted deploying the technology, said Roger Entner vice president of wireless telecom at Ovum. "If you can't beat them, join them," he said. "AT&T realizes if they don't provide the service, companies like Google or EarthLink will."
From Information Week, October 18, 2006
