Why Big Cities Are Having Problems With Public Broadband Wireless Internet
A few years ago, big cities like Chicago and Philadelphia announced proudly that they were going to turn the entire city into one giant "hotspot" so that all of the population could have free broadband wireless internet. These announcements sounded too good to be true - and, alas, that's exactly what it has turned out to be, so far. This article will focus on Philadelphia's problems in particular, because that city also faces a growing class gap and one of the highest murder rates of any city in the country.
Whatever Gave Them The Idea
In Philadelphia, the class divide is widening rapidly. This means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Philadelphia has a very high standard of living, a 7% sales tax and wage tax and often a bankrupt city budget. Many people cannot live on minimum wage, or even two a job a dollar over the minimum wage. In this way, many people are eliminated from getting higher paying jobs because they can't afford job training, college or even learning how to read.
Broadband wireless internet for every Philadelphian seemed to be the answer. This could give the poor the information access they need as well as encouraging others to move to the city. This was also hoped to help businesses large and small. Since broadband wireless internet was becoming less and less expensive, it seemed financially possible to fund broadband wireless internet rather than costly job training programs that many poor Philadelphians might not be able to travel to.
What Happened
First off, Philadelphia Mayor Street awarded the contract to EarthLink, even though industry leaders like Verizon were willing to give the project a go. Things went downhill fast ever since. In test market after test market, everyone who volunteered for publicly funded broadband wireless internet service reported how unhappy they were with the service. Often, the service would only work one day a week, or only a few minutes a day.
Broadband wireless internet reception technology just is not at the point of being able to handle a consistently strong signal to a huge area like an entire city (or even a third of a city) because buildings, power lines and even walls interfere with reception. However, individual WiFi accounts work very well, since the average WiFi user is on the go and can physically take phones or laptops to hotspots. Until WiFi reception technology improves, there will never be municipally funded WiFi.
