September 1, 2004

Philadelphia to be totally wire(d)less

Posted by ryan at 04:17 PM in computers , internet , philadelphia . | 7 Comments

CNN Reports:

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- For about $10 million, city officials believe they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the world's largest wireless Internet hot spot.

The ambitious plan, now in the works, would involve placing hundreds, or maybe thousands of small transmitters around the city -- probably atop lampposts. Each would be capable of communicating with the wireless networking cards that now come standard with many computers.

 

Comments

That's pretty awesome. I hope other cities start following suit. I would seriously consider wifi access as part of my criteria for what city I'd move to and what part of the city, especially if I wasn't planning on staying long enough to get a home broadband connection.

Posted by: agent1073 at September 1, 2004 5:13 PM

Wow. 10 Mill.? That's a lot of jack to spend on something like this. Do you think it's worth it?

Posted by: JT at September 2, 2004 12:00 AM

Definately. Think of it this way: $10M / 1.5M people = $6.67 per person to bring wireless broadband to every person in this city.

Posted by: ryan at September 2, 2004 12:05 AM

But how many of those 1.5 million does this benefit?

Posted by: JT at September 2, 2004 12:21 AM

Me.

Posted by: ryan at September 2, 2004 12:22 AM

Hahaha. Good answer. :)

Posted by: JT at September 2, 2004 12:26 AM

Slashdot: "The world's largest wireless network is not the proposed network in Philadelphia. It's in Walla Wall, Washington. Built by the Columbia Rural Electric Association, the network covers an area larger than the state Rhode Island. The network is already operational in the rural Washington State farming community of Walla Walla."

Posted by: agent1073 at September 8, 2004 9:38 PM