Colorado May Allow Cities To Provide Wifi

miguelitof writes "According to the TheDenverChannel.com, Colorado cities may soon be able to provide wireless internet service to their citizens. The state Senate will vote today (April 5th) on Colorado Senate Bill 152, which would allow cities to provide wireless internet access. The only proviso would be that cities would have to get approval from voters to use tax dollars. The cost to provide internet access to a 16 square mile area is about $600k. A city could charge as little as $16 a month and cover expenses."

Comments

Re:The U.S. Postal Service is a good example...

[An Onerous Coward]

How can you say that the United States Post Office is a government monopoly?

I'm inclined to agree that there's little reason to leave the Post Office in the hands of government. On the other hand, I'm skeptical of the claim that privatizing would immediately lead to increased efficiency. More likely, it would simply replace a government monopoly with a private oligopoly.

Only two plans make sense to me: either the USPS is sold in its entirety to a single private organization, or it's divvied up among the current would-be competitors (FedEx and UPS). In the former case, you have three players with sufficient infrastructure to deliver the service they provide; in the latter, you have two. It's just too expensive for new competitors to enter the market.

"That's one thing you really don't ever have to worry about the private sector allowing."

You were being sarcastic there, right?

"There is nothing that pissess off government bureaucrats than the idea that the citizenry can go elsewhere and completely ignore them."

How about the ramblings of right-wingers who seem to think all public services are theft, and that "the market" can do no wrong?

Want Jobs Vote Democrat?

[KrackHouse]

First of all, I'm not a republican and think Bush isn't qualified to be president.

This slashdot article is really about Socialism. Should the government prevent free markets. In Germany the answer is yes. High minimum wages, extreme unemployment benefits, lots of government jobs, etc.
"The number of people out of work increased by 92,000 to 4.97 million, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Federal Labour Office. That pushed Germany's jobless rate to 12%, compared with about 5% in the UK and the US. "

Does anybody here really believe that the lower taxes in the US and UK have nothing to do with that fact that we're more wealthy? That extra 10% unemployed are better off? Poverty is lower in Germany? Nobody, even the most right wing, would argue that capitalism is perfect but preventing competition is a sure way to stifle innovation in the long run. Hitachi's new nano-battery for instance could cut pollution by huge amounts. Why did they invent it? Because it's going to make them incredibly rich. The whole earth saving thing is a side effect. Now what if the government had set up gigantic bureacracy to invent that battery? Hitachi never would have tried to create it and unless you think communism was efficient you have to concede that the earth would have suffered while we waited for the bureaucrats to get the job done.

The City Of Dayton Goes Wireless

[pooplips]

The city will pay about $5,000 a year for it... http://www.whiotv.com/news/4336419/detail.html