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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.

7 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Phones by pagercam2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is not only important for web surfing and the like but brings up the possibility of cheap non celluar phone access. This could spawn a whole new industry, this just needs to get repeated in a few cities so that it becomes trendy and will then be adopted country wide (be the first one in your neighborhood).

  2. What if someone steals a connection? by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Funny

    If they NAT it to all their friends, would they be the Pittburgh Pirates?

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    You are not the customer.

  3. On the Train Tracks by skroz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If your goal is to have access while on the train, wouldn't it be cheaper to outfit the TRAIN with access points and have a single data connection from the train to some home base? They already have some form of communication with the station anyway. It would be MUCH cheaper to retrofit that line on each passenger train and equip each passenger train with WAPs.

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    -- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
  4. Along train tracks... by dstone · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    I agree. Think of the 1337 h0b05. 0wn1n6 all the train commuters' wireless notebooks & PDAs. Good stuff.

  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. Very clever indeed by Sanity · · Score: 5, Funny
    Pittsburgh is creating the network to show off its technological savvy and attract new businesses to move there, Gdovic said.
    Amazing, they can actually set up a Wifi network which anyone can access - most people do that by mistake...
  7. Re:Free 'for now' but... by Ageless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How is getting something for a period of time for nothing anything like getting half a wheel?
    If it were anywhere near your analogy it would be, "Here is a working wheel. You can use it for now but eventually you will have to pay or stop using it." In the mean time you save time and effort. It's free.

    Any time you get something that benefits you for nothing, even if it's just for a second you are getting it for free. Maybe you can't access the network everywhere in the city, but if you can access it anywhere you have gained something for nothing. That is free.

    I just don't see how anyone can do anything but say, "Thanks. That's cool." about this.