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Pittsburgh Launches Large, Free, Public WiFi Network

Posted by timothy on from the why-not-knoxville dept.

Snkscore writes: "Pittsburgh launched an outdoor public Wi-Fi network on Monday. The story here from cnet talks about their plan to cover 4sq miles of downtown Pittsburgh with 10Mb internet access and charge a $20/month access fee (cheap!!). I think this is the coolest thing. Next, I think they should setup access points along the train tracks." Update: 05/21 18:59 GMT by T : Garbled URL fixed now -- sorry 'bout that.

14 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Re:free for $20? by rickshank · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's free for a few months, to get people to open up to the idea.

    ~rickshank

  2. fixed link by jspey · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't know what's up with the link in the blurb, but here's a working link to the article: http://news.com.com/2100-1033-918439.html?tag=fd_t op

    Mr. Spey

    --
    Cover your butt. Bernard is watching.
  3. Re:$20/m == free? by Mr+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative
    The network, which became available for public use on Monday, is free to use for now. Organizers envision charging $20 a month for access once the network, covering a 4-square-mile area of downtown Pittsburgh, is built, according to Executive Director Ron Gdovic.
    Well, since the click through didn't work, I guess we can only hit you a little bit for not reading the article first.
    --
    Never confuse volume with power.
  4. Missing link by 56ker · · Score: 4, Informative

    For all those looking for the missing link (and that includes any anthropologists) check here.

    --


    Video Game cheats, hints a
  5. not new in pittsburgh by techstep · · Score: 5, Informative
    I guess the newest thing about this is the proposed contiguous range. But public wireless service in Pittsburgh isn't a new idea. Telerama has been offering free wireless service for the better part of a year, but mostly at coffeeshops and a few restaurants. While this is a far cry from the four square miles of coverage 3 Rivers Connect offers, it's hard to beat "free", especially outside of the downtown area.

    One of the big problems with wireless connectivity around Pittsburgh is the local topology. There are lots of hills and valleys and comparatively little flat land. This has made cellular service rather unreliable in a lot of cases, and makes wireless service difficult outside of short ranges (at least, outside the relatively flat downtown area). It'll be a while before both providers offer service beyond small ranges, but it's a promising start all the same.

  6. Train tracks idea won't work by Chmarr · · Score: 2, Informative

    Next, I think they should setup access points along the train tracks.

    Nice idea, but it wouldn't work. The 'cell' size of WiFi is very small. At standard (or even slow) train speeds, you'd be in and out of the cell before your laptop can handshake with the access point.

  7. NYC Wireless Project by subbie · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is happening in NYC as well, only there are non-for-profit groups such as NYCwireless working to provide FREE access in public spaces throughout the NYC metropolitan area. If you're in NYC, check out this Community Network Node Database (also available for other major US cities.)

  8. Re:What a great way... by Zelet · · Score: 2, Informative

    Read the article... it was a typo... it is supposed to be 10 Mb (small b)/sec.

    Sorry to squash your (and my) dreams of having that fat of a pipe to play in.

    --
    ...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
  9. Re:What a great way... by Mongr · · Score: 2, Informative

    The original post is right...he just has the abbreviation wrong. T1 is 1.5Mb, and the proposed connection is 10Mb. Still 7X

    --
    -=Mongr=-
  10. Seattle Wireless by marshac · · Score: 2, Informative

    We have had a 802.11b network across most of seattle and the east side for a long time now. Seattle Wireless has a nice webpage up complete with a coverage map at

    http://www.seattlewireless.com

    The pringle can network that they have constructed is quite impressive ;)

  11. Re:Along train tracks... by hfollmann · · Score: 3, Informative

    Forget it! 801.11 does not have something like handover if you change cells. This is only available in IN (cellular) Telephone networks.

    --
    hfoo
  12. Good if you're in downtown Pittsburgh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I was all set to snatch my friend's laptop (wireless attachment in tow) and run outside (I'm within spitting distance of downtown Pittsburgh) but I read Grok Technology's news release about it here Basically if you want to use it, you need to be in one of two "parks" downtown between 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Bummer.

  13. San Francisco Bay Area by stephanruby · · Score: 2, Informative
    If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out www.bawug.org, they have an ad-hoc Linux wireless network.
    Personally, I love the fact that the bawug network depends on the work and resources of individuals, and not the government.
    Since Metronome/Ricochet failed, I don't expect our local government to do any better.

    Stephan

  14. Similar efforts in SF, Denver by yppiz · · Score: 3, Informative
    There are similar commercial (www.surfandsip.com) and grass-roots (www.bawug.org) efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    For instance, here's a list of intentionally open wireless access points around SF

    --Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu