September 1, 200421 yr Philly Considers Wireless Internet for All \ PHILADELPHIA - 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. More at link Free Hi-Speed access for all citizens. s***, that rocks
September 1, 200421 yr Wow. That is pretty cool. Only problem I could see is people starting to carry laptops everywhere they go and the bandwidth would get used up like no tomorrow. I doubt it happens, though. If so, Philadelphia would earn the monikor, "The Internet City".
September 1, 200421 yr Author I imagine over time they would have greater resources in some areas (downtown business area) and less in others, low income welfare housing. Imagine selecting your neighborhood based on the throughput. Cities offer water, why not internet access?? It makes sense as an economic stimulas and even $20,000,000 sounds inexpensive. I could see the city charging $50 per year and having it pay for itself.
September 1, 200421 yr I imagine over time they would have greater resources in some areas (downtown business area) and less in others, low income welfare housing. Imagine selecting your neighborhood based on the throughput. Cities offer water, why not internet access?? It makes sense as an economic stimulas and even $20,000,000 sounds inexpensive. I could see the city charging $50 per year and having it pay for itself. Jeez. Picking your location on internet reliability. That's insane. It'd be strange, having Internet reliablility and water quality (among other things) all help factor in the decision. The problem is, not everyone would want internet access or even have a computer, so to have to pay an internet bill without using it would suck. I guess if they made it so that they could tell who's computers were using bandwidth or not... but really all that is is internet access without the installation. Not to mention wireless isn't as reliable as hard ground cable. If there's a storm in your area, you're almost certain to lose connections and have downloads ruined due to the lightning.
September 1, 200421 yr Author Jeez. Picking your location on internet reliability. That's insane. It'd be strange, having Internet reliablility and water quality (among other things) all help factor in the decision. The problem is, not everyone would want internet access or even have a computer, so to have to pay an internet bill without using it would suck. I guess if they made it so that they could tell who's computers were using bandwidth or not... but really all that is is internet access without the installation. Not to mention wireless isn't as reliable as hard ground cable. If there's a storm in your area, you're almost certain to lose connections and have downloads ruined due to the lightning. They are talking about free to the users, but of course tax payers are still paying for it. Thankfully I haven't used my fire department, but do not mind paying for that in my taxes. People are already picking neighborhoods based in part by access. There is a nice gated community being built in a strange part of town for that activity. I asked a friend in the real estate business and he told me the #1 reason is that neighborhood is the only one here that was close enough for DSL and also had microwave communications hooked up to a company in Reynosa for low cost telephone.
September 1, 200421 yr Thankfully I haven't used my fire department, but do not mind paying for that in my taxes. Well now, that's different. A fire department is something you need, it can be a matter of life or death. Internet is... well, just internet. Paying for fire department I have no qualms over, but if I didn't use the internet and had to pay for it in taxes... well that would suck. I would hope they'd implement a "whoever uses for it gets taxed for it" process. But of course, I don't live in Philly, so I shouldn't care at all.
September 1, 200421 yr Author Well now, that's different. A fire department is something you need, it can be a matter of life or death. Internet is... well, just internet. Paying for fire department I have no qualms over, but if I didn't use the internet and had to pay for it in taxes... well that would suck. I would hope they'd implement a "whoever uses for it gets taxed for it" process. But of course, I don't live in Philly, so I shouldn't care at all. I consider this to be a new basic infrastructure like electricity, water, sewer, and natural gas was in the previous century. Do you use your local library? Public School? Parks? This would have a user base bigger than most city parks and make internet access available to a wider number of users. My guess is businesses will be stuck paying and free to citizens.
September 1, 200421 yr Philly Considers Wireless Internet for All \ More at link Free Hi-Speed access for all citizens. s***, that rocks Yes it does i love it
September 2, 200421 yr I consider this to be a new basic infrastructure like electricity, water, sewer, and natural gas was in the previous century. Do you use your local library? Public School? Parks? This would have a user base bigger than most city parks and make internet access available to a wider number of users. My guess is businesses will be stuck paying and free to citizens. I don't. It's just the internet. We need electricity, gas, water, and sewer. We don't need internet. If we in some day in the future need the internet to live, then sure, I'd call it a basic infrastructure, but not yet.
September 2, 200421 yr Apparently none of you have actually BEEN to philly. it smells like foot and ass....
September 2, 200421 yr Apparently none of you have actually BEEN to philly. it smells like foot and ass.... But at least there will be all that internet, right?
September 2, 200421 yr Thats a badass idea. Of course I'm sure the internet providers will be b****ing up a storm. If one city does that, just wait till more and more cities do it. However, the wireless component companies should be doing all they can to get this through. It will definately keep them busy for a while. Wireless internet is way badass. Oh ya, Laptop sales would probably skyrocket as well. I bet a few speculators could make some good money on stocks if they predicted it right and Philly was just the first in a long list of cities to do something like this. However, they better do it right, cause its not too hard to set up this type of network, imo, as long as the proper equipment is used. Just get great equipment and spend money to have good security people in charge of it.
September 2, 200421 yr Author I don't. It's just the internet. We need electricity, gas, water, and sewer. We don't need internet. If we in some day in the future need the internet to live, then sure, I'd call it a basic infrastructure, but not yet. Actually we do need the internet today. Our banking system for one relies hevily on it. So if you mean society, I disagree. Individuals do not need the internet, but then again they do not need electricity and that was the argument against stringing electricity to rural areas a hundred years ago. It was dangerous work that could not have been completed with today's safety regulations for anywhere near the same cost. The internet will be a neccessity in our lifetime. We will need it for work, for communication, to receive some services, etc. As an economic stimulus, it could energize sections of the city and bring people back from the suburbs. It's little things like services that help to grow cities. I'm using that as a generic example, not specific to Philly. Twenty years agothe first cities with cable TV saw an increase in population while those without saw declines. If you were deciding between Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg today, free high speed access could be the final selling point, just like cable tv was twenty years ago.
September 2, 200421 yr Actually we do need the internet today. Our banking system for one relies hevily on it. So if you mean society, I disagree. Individuals do not need the internet, but then again they do not need electricity and that was the argument against stringing electricity to rural areas a hundred years ago. It was dangerous work that could not have been completed with today's safety regulations for anywhere near the same cost. The internet will be a neccessity in our lifetime. We will need it for work, for communication, to receive some services, etc. As an economic stimulus, it could energize sections of the city and bring people back from the suburbs. It's little things like services that help to grow cities. I'm using that as a generic example, not specific to Philly. Twenty years agothe first cities with cable TV saw an increase in population while those without saw declines. If you were deciding between Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg today, free high speed access could be the final selling point, just like cable tv was twenty years ago. You cant compare electricity and internet, in my opinion. There's no information you can get that you can't get without it. It may be faster, but there's a dearth of other ways to get it. Need to talk to someone? Phone call. Need to talk to your boss? Phone or fax. Need the weather? Weather Channel. Need the news? News channels. Need some food? Delivery. Got a project to sent to a co-worker or boss? Fax it. The internet may be faster for these things, but by no means do you need the internet. Electricity, you need. You need it for the news. You need it to cook. You need it for the essentials. No one builds fires and cooks over that anymore. Some day in the future maybe no one will use the TV or Phone for information, but that's still a bit far away to make the internet a home essential. Wait for the day when News Networks start streaming their news live over the internet instead of on TV, and when you talk to people over the internet instead of telephone, and both the TV and telephone will die out. The internet isn't ready yet. Technology also needs to advance more. Computers with many gigahertz processors and probably a minimum of 500 GB of space will be necessary to do the multitasking that you would if the Phone and TV died out. You would also need very high powered internet connections, like many megabytes per second. All these technologies will probably be available to us in 10 years. I think I rambled a bit on about nothing...
September 2, 200421 yr Apparently none of you have actually BEEN to philly. it smells like foot and ass.... Maybe they will offer websites about how to remove the "foot and ass smell" from clothing, upholstery, etc.....
September 2, 200421 yr Author You cant compare electricity and internet, in my opinion. There's no information you can get that you can't get without it. It may be faster, but there's a dearth of other ways to get it. Need to talk to someone? Phone call. Need to talk to your boss? Phone or fax. Need the weather? Weather Channel. Need the news? News channels. Need some food? Delivery. Got a project to sent to a co-worker or boss? Fax it. The internet may be faster for these things, but by no means do you need the internet. Electricity, you need. You need it for the news. You need it to cook. You need it for the essentials. No one builds fires and cooks over that anymore. Some day in the future maybe no one will use the TV or Phone for information, but that's still a bit far away to make the internet a home essential. Wait for the day when News Networks start streaming their news live over the internet instead of on TV, and when you talk to people over the internet instead of telephone, and both the TV and telephone will die out. The internet isn't ready yet. Technology also needs to advance more. Computers with many gigahertz processors and probably a minimum of 500 GB of space will be necessary to do the multitasking that you would if the Phone and TV died out. You would also need very high powered internet connections, like many megabytes per second. All these technologies will probably be available to us in 10 years. I think I rambled a bit on about nothing... When electricity was in the same stage of deployment as high speed access is today, people did cook with coal, wood. They lit their homes with gas and candles. Stringing electricity to what was then rural areas, what would now be Schaumburg and Downers Grove, was considered a waste because you did not need electricity to live. In a dozen years most Americans will consider internet access in the same regard. Just like you've grown up with electricity, our kids are growing up with the internet and will not be able to fathom a world without it.
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