Free WiFi Trend Continues

Palal writes "San Francisco is about to embark on a Free (or low cost) WiFi campaign with the mayor holding the reins, of course, in hopes of offering more low-income residents easier access to the Internet. Since San Francisco, unlike Philadelphia (previously covered on Slashdot for a similar project), is only 49 square miles, will this work here and can this be accomplished in a year as promised or is this just another political plot to get the Mayor re-elected?"

Comments

MY MISTAKE

[coflow]

I stand corrected, my apologies. What I have read in the past is that based on the median HOME PRICE in SF, a homeowner would have to earn ~160 per year. I realize this was a mistake on my part, and for those of you who seem infinitely offended, I offer my heartiest apologies. I didn't realize I would ruin your day.

Re:who is this really for?

[athakur999]

Or how about free electricity, free water and sewer, etc. I don't really understand why Slashdot groupthink is that the government should supply free broadband when all of the aforementioned services are pretty much basic necessities in the modern world and have a much bigger impact on quality of life, yet no one is suggesting they be made free. I think lower income families would appreciate that alot more.

Re:Three kinds of Free now.

[jamboarder]

Sadly, they are talking about pre-billed, manditory WiFi, in which residents of a city are forced by the state to fund a WiFi connection with their taxes, whether they have better alternatives available or not.

You mean like we're forced to pay for tax breaks, rights-of-way and other legal and illegal incentives for business to provide the same thing? Why not just cut the middle man out and avoid all the other kind of bitching we should be doing, but don't, when the oh-so-sacred business stands between us and government.

blah...

Re:Liberal Translation Alert!

[AdmiralWeirdbeard]

well, lets try this: right-wing nutjob = someone who gives knee-jerk reaction against the mere mention of spending tax-dollars on something for the common good.

We could, I'm sure, get some pretty good examples out of the standard right-wing namecalling playbook, but instead, I think a good quote from our esteemed vice-president. go fuck yourself