This is a great idea! There have been many times I've wanted this service in a rest area. Thanks for the photo.
I believe that one of the biggest problems with muni WiFi is a lack of understanding the customer. Blanketing a city with WiFi can be a good idea. But why do it unless there is a compelling case for it? Will anyone use it? Will it justify the cost? Or will it be just another way to spend lots of taxpayer money? I like the idea of it's use for Public Service, Police, Fire, etc (but would it be better just to put EVDO in the vehicles). Where I live, here in Pasadena, I have cheap DSL at home, EVDO on the move. Most homes have access to two telcos (yes, two local telcos on our telephone poles!) and a cable company. So there are at least 3 different physical methods for anyone here to get inexpensive Internet. Why should we have muni WiFi? With all the "noise" on the crowded 2.4GHz spectrum (especially in the multi-floor business areas of town), I doubt that the performance would be satisfactory at much distance. BTW, I have driven around town in the retail/business areas with a spectrum analyzer and it's very noisy! I really like volunteer activities like http://www.socalfreenet.org, get people involved with their community. My preference is to let the entrepreneurs build these networks (or volunteers), they'll spend a great amount of energy understanding their customer. Building smaller city wireless networks seems to make sense to me. Wireless, in parks, rest areas, community centers and other places that foster community. Frank Keeney Blog: http://www.unwiredadventures.com Work: http://www.wlanparts.com Photos: http://snurl.com/unwirephotos > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Close > Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:05 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [SOCALWUG] Public wifi that works > > I'm traveling at the moment and took this picture today along I-80 in > Iowa. I used the service and was immediately given > up-to-the-moment road > status based on my location. The Internet connection also > worked great. > There was no charge or request for identification. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SOCALWUG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SOCALWUG SOCALWUG website: http://www.socalwug.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
