David Gardner at TechWeb has this interesting write-up of a unique community Wi-Fi initiative in Cincinnati called Lily Pad. Lily Pad is a partnership among the City of Cincinnati, Time Warner Cable, and the Lily Pad non-profit organization to bring free Wi-Fi to the Ohio city.
The initiative has already resulted in the establishment of more than 20 “pads” or “pods” across the city, with each pod hosting multiple hotspots. Another 55 pods are planned.
What makes Lily Pad unique is that, first, the entire initiative is funded by contributors and run by volunteers, so no municipal funds are going into the project. More interestingly, incumbent cable operator Time Warner is engineering Lily Pad and is a big sponsor of the effort.
It’s a smart move on Time Warner’s part because it’s good PR and some company sooner or later would be called upon to build Wi-Fi in Cincinnati; Time Warner now won’t have to fight a competitor or argue over the merits of muni-backed broadband. Or, maybe Time Warner Cable is simply ahead of the game in terms of the cable industry’s CableRoam idea.
Cynthia Brumfield at 11:28 PM|Comments(0)
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