August 4th, 2005
Philadelphia's wireless war
Recently I interviewed [video] , Dianah Neff, the CIO of Philadelphia who is at the center of her city’s push to bring Wi-Fi to the masses over the objections of the local phone and cable companies. States are passing laws to restrict government telecom projects just as fast as cities and towns gear up for municipal Wi-Fi. The federal government even has dueling bills. Neff explains how Philadelphia’s ambitious project got the green light, her goals, the economics of muni Wi-Fi and some of the politics that plagued her team’s efforts.
See also:
Chris Nolan looks at the showdown over municipal wireless [eWeek]
The citywide Wi-Fi reality check [ZDNN]
Should cities be ISPs? [ZDNN]
Are MuniNets the great equalizer [Om Malik]
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
