As Mitch pointed out, a new effort is underway to bring Wi-Fi to the 1,500 square-mile Silicon Valley region. While the effort sounds promising, and ideal for the nation’s cradle of information technology innovation, questions are already being raised about the feasibility of Wi-Fi over such a large area. The Mercury News has this article today that covers the almost-immediate skepticism regarding this project.
Yet huge questions remain about how much such a network would cost and who would pay for it, what agency would maintain it and what kind of security would shield users from the prying eyes of hackers. It is also unclear whether such a network would keep running during a major catastrophe.
While muni-broadband advocates have embraced Wi-Fi has a preferred technology for ensuring citizen access to broadband, real questions have been raised about whether Wi-Fi, an inherently limited technology, can be used over wide areas such as cities or counties. As the Mercury article points out
Many other metropolitan areas in the United States have launched wireless Internet initiatives over the past year, including Philadelphia and San Francisco. Yet few municipal networks in major cities are actually up and running. Experts say no U.S. region has ever tried to build a network that would cover a region as large and populous as Silicon Valley.
Cynthia Brumfield at 10:53 AM|Comments(0)
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