Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Wednesday 29 August 2007, 4:31 PM
The wheels come off muni Wi-Fi
Municipal Wi-Fi. What a great idea, eh? The problem is, someone's got to pay for it, which means it needs to make money. And if it doesn't... then it goes the way of Chicago's planned muni Wi-Fi network, now scrapped because it wouldn't have drawn enough punters to be worth the expense.
Interesting, that. Cities like London are rolling out muni Wi-Fi predominantly as connectivity for municipal workers, like traffic wardens - if citizens get free access then that's a bonus. But beyond that model, I can see the problem. Even if enough people lug their laptops around with them on a daily basis, connectivity is often supplied through mobile networks or by their local coffeeshop.
Is it too late for muni Wi-Fi? Was it a great idea that just missed its chance?
PreviousComments on this post
Muni WiFi has been scuppered by big business interests and their successful lobbying of European and national governments.
The Prague decision is probably the death knell for any innovative use of WiFi in the UK public realm (at least funded or supported by local authorities).
However the development of community wide WiFi networks (run and supported by the people themselves) is beginning to emerge.
If we are serious about closing the digital divide and accepting that in the 21st Century access to information should be as much a right at universal post, running water and electricity then we need to realise that following the mobile telco route will never achieve this.
