As we’ve known for a while, citywide Wi-Fi is dead. But not to fear — “the dream” behind citywide Wi-Fi lives on! Alexis Grant reports for the Chronicle:
The city of Houston’s wireless network deal with EarthLink is not officially in the gutter, but city officials already are making plans to take over at least one of the components of the project.
They are planning to use part of the $5 million penalty fee that EarthLink paid in September to finance a “digital inclusion” program intended to help students and the elderly in low-income neighborhoods access the Internet.
“One of the goals of the WiFi plan was to bridge the digital divide, and because of the city’s good contract, we have substantial money to invest in that,” Mayor Bill White said Tuesday.
EarthLink paid the $5 million penalty for missing a deadline to begin building the project earlier this year.
Under plans being drawn up by the city, $3.5 million of that penalty fee would go toward creating free, WiFi hotspots in 10 neighborhoods and helping residents there acquire equipment and training to use the Internet, said Richard Lewis, the city’s director of information technology.
Those neighborhoods have not been chosen, he said, but the first should see access nodes by March. He said he hoped corporations will come forward with money or equipment to supplement city funds.
Here we thought that Lee Brown’s SimDesk boondoggle had already “bridged the digital divide” (since he promised it would).
But it seems that a “divide” was never very well defined, and somewhat resistant to bridging!
Still, if it can be bridged, we imagine that Mayor White, with his steely resolve, is just the man to do it. For he has a dream!
Seemingly important details — like how the city will pay for these “free” Wi-Fi hotspot “bridges” after they are built with part of the $5 million, or even what the operating expenses might be — are not addressed by the Chronicle.
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