City Council unanimously approves Philly WiFi

Following unanimous approval by city council, the only remaining impediment between the City of Brotherly Love and ubiquitous wireless Internet access is a signature from Mayor John Street that, given his stance on the project, seems to be just a formality. Once Street gives the go-ahead, Earthlink will begin deploying its 15-square-mile test network in parts of North and South Philly, after which point the company will have the option of backing out should they be unhappy with the results of the trial. Assuming that all goes well, the city's entire 135-square-miles should be covered by glorious, data-rich signal sometime in the third quarter of 2007, which is when Earthlink and other ISPs will begin offering $20-a-month access with 50% discounts for low-income households. Besides creating a more attractive destination for businesses and tourists, the citywide network may also help convince U.S. Olympic Committee officials to choose Philadelphia as the country's representative to battle it out with other international cities seeking to host the 2016 Games.

[Via The Wireless Report]

[not lazy @ May 12th 2006 9:52AM]

i don't really think wi-fi will get philly the 2016 games(or rep position). Chicago's moyor went to china today to see what they are doing for 2008. I would like to see CHicago get it. But naturally because I am from Chicago.

[Matt @ May 12th 2006 10:25AM]

The third quarter of $2007? So, somewhere between $1,000 and $1500? :-D

[fucter @ May 12th 2006 11:06AM]

I love it, northeast philly middle class pay for everything, and north philly gets everything. Yeah, thats real fair. Well, like everything else in Philly it will be shitty and suck, and my taxes will go up, and they wont maintain it.

[strider_mt2k @ May 12th 2006 11:27AM]

Ladies and gentlemen, point your dishes!!

[Colin @ May 12th 2006 11:30AM]

you could always move to the ghetto to use your expensive wireless laptop

[Dolomite @ May 12th 2006 11:43AM]

Why in God's name would they put this in North Philly first? How about an area where people will actually have a use for this? The real draw is to be able to get net access outside of your home... anyone brave (dumb) enough to bring out a laptop or PDA in the middle of the ghetto is going to learn their lesson real quick.

[Maurice @ May 12th 2006 11:53AM]

EarthLink's paying for the equipment and a franchise fee TO the city to use lightpoles to mount the radios.
You won't need an "expensive wireless laptop" if you use a cheap WiFi USB adapter on a $399 Dell desktop.
You don't roll-out a pilot network in the busiest area; that's like installing beta software on a production machine.

[jesusfreak @ May 12th 2006 12:13PM]

"anyone brave (dumb) enough to bring out a laptop or PDA in the middle of the ghetto is going to learn their lesson real quick."

the point of this is to bridge the growing gap of the 'digital divide', and to bring wi-fi not just to the streets, but also to the homes...when the wi-fi is in effect you should be able to get a signal inside the home and use the interenet when you are at home

[Paco @ May 12th 2006 12:32PM]

Great, now Rocky can send "Dragooo Dragooooo" via e mail

[captainjaroslav @ May 12th 2006 1:53PM]

Yeah, #3 is right. Poor people get all the breaks. They're so lucky! It's amazing that rich people (who always refer to themselves as "middle class") are even able to get by these days.

[David @ May 12th 2006 3:44PM]

They said North and South Philadelphia. There are a lot of young professionals in South Philadelphia who will use this service. I know a lot of North Philadelphia is poor, but that doesn't mean the people living there don't have computers. If the price is $10 a month, I think it will be a success.

[phillywire @ May 12th 2006 5:42PM]

depends exactly what they mean by north philly too... if they mean fairmount and northern liberties then i think itll get some use there assuming the service is actually decent vis a vis dsl/cable and penetrates some old brick houses. i swear in some houses you cant get a cell signal until you open the door.

[Mogera @ May 12th 2006 5:45PM]

10 bucks a month wireless access is ok I guess for the poor, but damn it, it should be free any damn way! 20 bucks for everybody else in philly without an indication of just how fast it will be(capped to "way" below DSL speeds no doubt) means this service is gonna blow, and yes its gonna raise taxes and will quickly be out of date by the time the project is up and running...

[mike @ May 12th 2006 7:09PM]

im from NE philly and im still on the fence about this project... i am educated in computers so i know something about something when it comes to Wireless Networks... overall i think its a good idea, as for how effective it will be, and how well maintained is another question... its good to know though that Philadelphia is trying to do something with our city... we are way underrated and need a new facelift... being stuck between NYC and DC isnt easy you know...

[Aaron @ May 13th 2006 5:27AM]

That's the most amazing thing ever, if they did that in my city, I would be more than happy to pay the $20/month fee, that's wicked!

[blog101 @ May 14th 2006 4:07PM]

You sure do have a lot of visitors from Philadelphia.
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