Well, it looks like New Orleans will be the first US city to launch a largescale public wireless network. This is welcome news, and a smart move - with telecommunications infrastructure damaged by Katrina, hopefully this will help the city get back on its feet.
From the
AP:
Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday the system would benefit residents and small businesses who still can't get their Internet service restored over the city's washed out telephone network, while showing the nation "that we are building New Orleans back."
The system started operation Tuesday in the central business district and French Quarter. It's to be available throughout the city in about a year. <snip>
The service will remain free for residents and businesses after the state of emergency ends.
The system is not going to be incredibly fast, but this strikes me as a good thing in some ways - it is fast enough to be useful to average citizens, providing that crucial link to internet information resources, but slow enough to avoid some of the blocking strategies of private interests that have stalled public wireless in other cities:
Phone and cable TV companies [around the country] have fiercely opposed attempts at creating new taxpayer-owned utilities. The companies contend competition from government-run Internet service stymies their incentive to invest in upgrading their networks and services. <snip>
But David Grabert, a spokesman for Cox Communications, a major cable TV and high-speed Internet provider in the New Orleans area, said the Atlanta-based company welcomes the competition.
"This is a relatively slow-speed service, and we don't look at it, at this point, as major competition for our high-speed service," Grabert said. "We're ready to compete with all comers." <snip>
At 512 kbps, the New Orleans network is about seven times the speed of dial-up service, but slower than high-speed services provided by telephone and cable TV companies. Users will have to sign up with the city for an account.
Let's hope other cities follow suit.