Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.

6 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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.

  4. 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.)

  5. 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
  6. 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