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There are currently 3 ISPs in Lawrence:

-AT&T
-Not going to cover AT&T tiers, it's been covered in other threads

-Knology (formerly Sunflower), which has 4 major tiers
-Gold $72.95 (50mbps/unkn up)
-Paladium $57.95 (variable/variable)
-Silver $47.95 (18mbps/2mbps)
-Bronze $32.95 (3mbps/1mbps)
http://kansas.knology.com/internet/

-Lawrence FreeNet
$37.98 (byo modem) for (10mbps/10mbps)
$47.98 (modem inc) for (10mbps/10mbps)
http://www.lawrencefreenet.org/index.php

Source: I'm a resident

So Lawrence, KS has city wide Wi-Fi, it's provided by a company called Lawrence Freenet. http://www.lawrencefreenet.org/index.php I wish more cities would provide access like they do.

The city I live in pulled it off. There's over 70k people in Lawrence, and the Lawrence Freenet service is pretty good. I've been able to download torrents at 100K/sec. Oh, and Lawrence Freenet uses the same PePWave boxes that Earthlink used in Philadelphia, so you can't blame the client side hardware...

Community Wireless Communications is working on its second city-wide wifi project, the first being a major success in Lawrence, Kansas.

"Community and city-wide wifi projects everywhere are failing." I'm sorry, but those of us who have succeeded don't like being lumped in with the rest.

I live in Lawrence, Kansas, and just about anywhere I go within the 28.7 square miles of city, I can get a wireless signal from our local wireless ISP, Lawrence Freenet. The service is dramatically cheaper than the local cable company, and speeds are equivalent to DSL. There are routers on lightposts that you can communicate with either directly from your computer (if the signal is strong enough) or you can use a wireless bridge (which they rent and sell) to ensure a good connection. To top it off, you aren't fixed to one location with their service, you can take a laptop with you anywhere in the city, and if you see an access point, you can sign on. How much money did the city spend on this service? Zero. Nothing. This was completely financed by people who believed in it, and that is why it has been successful. With over 1300 current customers after only two years of existence, they are certainly doing things right.

Oh, and I'm posting this from a laptop connected to a Lawrence Freenet access point.

Maybe if people tried learning from successes rather than failures there would be more organizations that would get this right.

And once again, one of the most successful municipal wifi projects in the midwest goes largely unnoticed. Service covers thousands of people in residential neighborhoods and commercial areas. Speed is just about as fast as a cable modem. And I can take my laptop anywhere there is coverage, authenticate, and have Internet access. Faster than SBC DSL, and I don't have to pay the evil local cable company.

28 square miles of municipal wireless internet access serving 100,000 customers with almost 600 radio mesh nodes. Sure there's a few glitches here and there, but it works well, and is getting more subscribers every day.

For a failure, Sprint tried long range microwave broadband several years ago. They were going to add it to their ION service offering, but when ION got killed, so did the microwave broadband project. Sprint isn't known for their quality of support either. Having them go back into this business is a scary prospect.

Who says municipal wifi failed? A couple big cities that do not make up a huge percentage of land area or population of the US failed at it, and that makes the news. What doesn't make the news are the successes of nonprofit municipal partnerships such as Lawrence Freenet. I'm a happy subscriber to my municipal wifi service, and I have excellent coverage everywhere in a city of 100,000 people. Municipal wifi has not failed, but many have failed to manage it.

I don't live there any more, I live far, far away in a smaller city in Kansas. We have our own problems, just like any other city, but with the cooperative efforts of our city commission and a non-profit organization, we figured out how to make a successful, inexpensive, functional, municipal wireless ISP using a mesh network that covers the entire city.

Why can't anyone else?

Already done where I live. City of 75,000 people, plus a university with 30,000 students. 600 mesh node radios across the city. They are growing by the day and the local cable company isn't exactly thrilled.

...in Lawrence, Kansas. Thanks to Lawrence Freenet, a 501c3 nonprofit, community organization, we have a wireless network covering almost the entirety of Douglas County. Downtown is one giant hotspot, local businesses have access points, and there are repeaters located on street lights, water towers, you name it. Not to mention their prices beat the local cable company, performance beats the DSL providers, and they are the ONLY provider of broadband for rural residents.

If your family can't afford the fees, they will provide the service for free and even provide you with a computer if your family can't afford that either. No ads, no secret agendas. Just a nonprofit partnership with the city to help people get connected.

No, I don't work for them, so this isn't a shameless plug. But, I was there at the beginning when we were hacking WRT54Gs to stick on street lights, making three mile long shots to test connection quality for rural customers, and getting the word out that this would be a good thing. A year and a half later, there are over 1,000 subscribers. Tell me again that municipal wi-fi is in trouble.

There have been some successes. Lawrence Freenet has been running for a couple years now. The service is reliable and costs less than the local cutthroat cable company. The staff is friendly and works for LFN because they love the idea of a community wireless project. Its been great to watch them grow from the office in the founder's garage and the only vehicle his beat up Winnebago into an organization with an office, high-end equipment, quality staff, and some nice new vans. But they still have the Winnebago. :) As screwed up as the state of Kansas is, we got this right. Community wireless internet that works. There is a consulting company founded by the same guy that dreamed up Lawrence Freenet called Community Wireless Communications that helps set up municipal wifi networks. They are a good resource for cities that want to enjoy the same success Lawrence has with community wireless.

...in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence Freenet is operational and giving the local mega-media broadband company a run for their money.