Wilson has offered free downtown Wi-Fi for a couple of years. Amtrak passengers have been able to check their e-mail and conduct Internet business while waiting for their connections. A number of restaurants and other businesses offer free Wi-Fi within their buildings. I'm using my own home Wi-Fi connection to write this column, and my computer shows four other Wi-Fi networks (my neighbors') within range of my home.
Wilson's low-key and low-cost Wi-Fi network sailed through with little criticism. Many of the local critics confused the Wi-Fi network with the city's fiber-optic network (GreenLight), whose $28 million cost is expected to be paid by Internet, phone and cable TV customers. If the fiber system works according to the business plan, it will be turning a profit in just a few years. The Wi-Fi network, meanwhile, provides a simple but much-appreciated enhancement for downtown workers and visitors at relatively little cost for the city.
Its up-and-running Wi-Fi network puts Wilson ahead of Raleigh and on pace with more progressive (and costly) cities such as Chapel Hill.
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1 comment:
I didn't know anyone confused Greenlight with the downtown city based Wi-Fi?
I guess that would be like the people who seem to have community or public service confused with having to sign up to Greenlight. The two are not synonymous.
Or, those that inadvertently confuse (us) about their own home networks and the downtown city based Wi-fi.
Btw, here is an interesting non-laudatory story about Greenlight.
http://www.johnlocke.org/press_releases/display_story.html?id=438
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