Sign up now to subscribe!
Archives: June '06
= Online Content
= Print Only
= Online Content
= Print Only
The Modern Political Machine - Some things have changed, some have not Staten Island for Democrats? - Registration says yes, but Marchi race raises doubts McFarland Volunteers Seek Jobs, Security Connor-Diamondstone Court Case Comes to a Close Diamondstone Making It Rough for Martin Connor Race For Dollars in 74th Assembly Battle Connor Seeks to Knock Primary Challenger from Ballot Quinn’s Budget Reforms Called Good First Step Farrell’s Future Uncertain Search for Campaign Finance Board Director Underway Pasta with Helen Marshall The Congressional Race No One Wanted
The Rangel Wannabees Marty Connor’s Long, Hot Summer State of the Unions Wooing and Winning in the AG’s Race Stop Knocking the Opportunists Letters to the Editor A Modest Proposal to Avoid the Albany Infighting Pataki Blowing Smoke on Cigarette Tax In the Chair Troubled Youth no Trouble for Sara Gonzalez The Hairpiece For Those Who Top the City Council Rug, Quinn’s Locks Make the Cut The Notepad: Marcia Kramer Imagemakers Full Court Press from Knickerbockers Elsewhere The Problems and Promise of Citywide Wireless Where Are They Now? — Carol Bellamy In the Trenches A Lawnmower Ride to Borough Hall Crystal Ball On the Agenda Hall-Way Eating: Reach for Ruben’s A Missed Opportunity to Expand by Paula Gavin Poverty is the Problem, Not Public Schools by Amy Stuart Wells Focus on Students and Teachers Before Charters by City Council Member Robert Jackson Performance, Not Politics, Should Dictate Charter Expansion by Peter Murphy
After years of waiting, wireless will arrive via Wi-Fi Salon/Nokia partnership in 18 city parks by the end of August. But the search continues for serious plans for a citywide wireless program as a cheaper and easier way to spread internet access.
On the other side of the country, San Francisco is attempting to create a citywide network using today’s leading wireless technology, called Wi-Fi for short. The plan, still being negotiated, aims to cover all of downtown San Francisco, an area twice the size of Manhattan.
Citywide wireless development started in San Francisco by turning area parks into online hotspots, in part as trials for wider implementation.
In 2005, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom took the next step and requested proposals from private companies for developing a full citywide network. He also wants corporate partnerships to distribute free Wi-Fi equipped laptops to poorer communities.
“We haven’t said explicitly if and how we are going to monetize the system.” — Google spokesperson Megan Quinn
“Affordable, wireless internet access for all San Franciscans is essential if we are to connect and compete in the new knowledge-based economy,” Newsom said at the time.
Newsom said this would bring high-speed internet access to poorer communities lacking the infrastructure or money for anything other than dial-up.
Google, which also sponsors free Wi-Fi access in Manhattan’s Bryant Park, will offer free service to the entire area. Earthlink’s subscription-based service will run on the same network at about three times the speed.
Neither of these will be as fast as cable or DSL service, but both will be many times faster than dial-up connections.
The Google/Earthlink bid offers to have the network “designed, deployed, operated, maintained, and upgraded at no cost to the city.”
Google says it views wireless internet as a way of giving something back to San Francisco, not far from its corporate headquarters.
“We haven’t said explicitly if and how we are going to monetize the system,” said Google spokesperson Megan Quinn.
Many of Google’s other services make money by monitoring user browsing to supply targeted advertisements. Some people are concerned that this method in an open wireless network could threaten the user’s privacy and information security.
Beyond security, there are also issues of accessibility. San Francisco has asked for 95 percent wireless coverage outdoors and 90 percent coverage indoors. However, the Google/Earthlink bid states that current Wi-Fi technologies cannot provide such high indoor coverage to windowless rooms or rooms above the second story of most buildings.
Limited penetration could prove to be a major obstacle in bringing free wireless to the poor and working families who lack it now, since in New York these families often live in large, older buildings made of heavy materials that can block out wireless signals.
Despite such concerns, San Francisco continues to move ahead towards citywide wireless. In New York, no firm plans exist to move wireless beyond the park hotspots.
“The New York City government has really dropped the ball on addressing issues like inclusion, the digital divide, and affordable Internet access,” said NYC Wireless Executive Director Dana Spiegel. “The only thing that has happened is that the New York City Housing Development Corporation has been directed to run a study.”