New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | November 12, 2004

Mayors all over the country go wild for WiFi.

Comments

|11.12.04 @ 3:45PM|#

Either Hermosa Beach, CA provides free WiFi to it's residents. My boss seems to love it and he's paying for it. I guess it works for smaller cities than huge metropolises. All I know is I wanna grab a spot right on the other side of the border and free ride. :)

|11.12.04 @ 4:31PM|#

Ah, San Francisco. We can't afford to keep the streets clean, but we can give telecom service away for free, in competition with companies we tax up the wazoo if they dare locate here.

One problem I foresee: how long before spammers load up their software onto laptops, then sit in a public square sending out millions of spams? How can they be kicked off the system? Will it get to the point that the entire city net is blacklisted because of such abuse?

Warren|11.12.04 @ 4:47PM|#

Linking to your own article? Isn't that a breech of protocol Tim?

At any rate, it is a very good article. I think the most important point is the detrimental effect government involvement has on private development.

|11.14.04 @ 4:42PM|#

As a technical matter, 2.4 Ghz electro-magnetic waves made with WiFi devices, constrained by the modest EIRP allowed by the FCC, 0.1 Watt, will not propogate well in an urban area. This fact can be verified by direct observation, you don't need a $350,000 study to figure that out.

The FCC has uncapped the allowable EIRP used in point-to-point WiFi applications from 0.1 Watt to 1 Watt. That won't help here though. The SF application has to be mult-point to multi-point, or point to multi-point with another media connecting the point-to-multipoint access points.

If SF wants to make their WiFi extravaganza work, they will have to do so by ignoring the FCC constraints on WiFi power emmission and/or consort with the corporate Facsist to overcome the technical difficulties. In so doing, the entire Bay area's WiFi spectra will be under the control of the illiberal, group-think denizens that haunt the halls and cubicles of city government buildings.