Interesting. I don’t know if it’s correct, but I remember reading somewhere not too long ago that Minneapolis is considered to have the most wi-fi coverage of any area in the country.
I think the French are onto the right idea. There are a whole bunch of technologies now that should be viewed as free public amenities, to be fully and freely funded by the Government because it makes good business sense to do so.
Electricity, gas, telecommunications, water and the Internet are four that leap immediately to mind.
Nobody should make a profit from any of these amenities: they should be viewed as sunk costs, the price that Civilization pays for progress. They should be nationalized and provided at-cost, for the good of the Nation.
Any country bold enough to do that would leap way, way ahead of other countries that insisted on siphoning off “profit” from what should be bare-bones commodity-priced Utilities for the public good.
Minneapolis ran a pilot, of a square mile. They had it up and running last sept using belair equipment. Not sure if they have started to expand yet. Chicago canceled it's plans to wi-fi the city, it was too costly and people weren't using it. My network on the other hand is very profitable. :-) But I'm not telling where it is, however it is amongst the largest in the east. The problem is that these 'free' networks aren't free of course, someone has to pay for the upkeep and initial cost of it as well as provide the service wrap. The best way to mitigate that cost is by charging the users.