Friday, October 07, 2005

More about Wi-Fi in Wilkes-Barre

By the way it's pronounced 'berry" not bar.

From the TL:

Philadelphia’s getting all of the attention, but Mayor Tom Leighton wants to beat it to the wireless punch. The city might create a nonprofit corporation, Wire Free Wilkes-Barre, to guide the project much as Philadelphia has done, according to the plan.

The aggressive timeline is in part due to a state law signed by Gov. Ed Rendell in November, Murphy said. After Street announced Philadelphia’s plans in 2004, local Internet providers objected to what they called unfair municipal competition.
The state responded with a law requiring governments to offer local providers the chance to build their own Wi-Fi networks before municipal plans are developed.
That requirement is avoided if a network is in place before the end of the year, Murphy said.


Unfair competition? The companies that want to provide this service are telco's and internet providers. For the most part they have monopolies.

2 comments:

Doctor Rick said...

Speaking of monopoly, my place in Philly cost 60/mo for Comcast cable tv and cable modem.

That is, until the first 6 months expires then its 90/mo for both. MY other options? Verizon DSL w. no cable tv for 35. Thats about it!

Gort said...

Monopolies stink. My cable goes up several times a year. There has to be a way to introduce competition other than a dish. I just went with the cable connection for my internet and it is great except for the price.