New York shuns muni-WiFi

Lynnette Luna — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:26:11 -0400

New York City is shunning the idea of muni-WiFi and instead is looking to provide Internet access to residents with affordable fiber-optic cable connections to homes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other members of the city's 15-member Broadband Advisory Committee are entertaining broadband ideas, and it's clear WiFi is not an option.

"We're not going to go the direction of a Minneapolis or Philadelphia in New York," Kunal Malhotra, a spokesman for New York City Council member Gale Brewer, told Computerworld. "We don't think municipal WiFi will succeed."

One option New York may pursue is expanding on a technology fund that already includes $4 million from Verizon, which is building a fiber-optic network in the city with the stipulation that it has to set aside money for providing Internet access to underserved areas. The fund could be expanded with $4 million each from the city's two cable providers, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision.

For more:
- check out Computerworld

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EarthLink officially pulls plug on muni-WiFi business. EarthLink story
EarthLink yanks muni WiFi network in Philly. Muni-WiFi story