The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that downtown Spokane now boasts a 100 block wifi "hot zone" for use by the public and city services alike:
Public users can connect to the network for two hours a day at no charge, and subscription plans are in the works for extended public use, said Chad Skidmore, president of OneEighty Networks, the company that provided the networking for the project.
The city helped build the network for its own use. Meter maids will write and print parking tickets electronically, using handheld devices. Police will use computers to write tickets.
Officers will also use wireless devices to run license plate checks, cutting out the step of calling in numbers to a dispatcher.
Note that "the project cost between $50,000 and $75,000" and makes use of new wifi technology which only uses ten antennas to blanket the downtown area. Sounds like a useful technology for college campuses.
You could also live in downtown Davidson
My town, Davidson, North Carolina also offers free wireless broadband downtown. In fact, I had dinner last night with the town's IT manager, and he says the service will be expanding soon. I suggested that there was a very convenient telephone pole for a new WAP just a few yards from my back porch :)
Seriously, communities might want to consider whether it makes more sense to just install free wireless for everyone and pay for it out of the tax base--much the same way public roads and parks are provided--or for everyone to continue to pay the phone company $40+ per month for DSL service.
--Dave
WiFi Chaos
The Washington Post published a story back in April about the chaos that often ensues in urban and even high-density suburban areas when everyone has their own private WiFi network. Some neighborhoods have banded together to regulate channels, but it would seem more sensible to have only one network. Doing so would economize on physical and bandwidth resources.