Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Madison Rolling Out City-Wide Wi-Fi

Posted by Zonk on from the charter-will-not-like-this dept.

It doesn't come easy wrote to mention the announcement that Madison, Wisconsin will soon be home to the newest Municipal Wi-Fi network. From the article: "'I made a commitment in 2004 to bring Wi-Fi to Madison,' said Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in a statement. 'This is an important new service for Madison residents and businesses.' The Madison network will be rolled out at no cost to the city and the providers have secured initial funding from service agreements from ISPs. The initial phase of the Madison network will cover users in the downtown region of the city with plans to later cover the entire city." I love my town. Zombies and Wi-Fi. What more could you want?

5 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Done right for once, I think. by Ironsides · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Madison network will be rolled out at no cost to the city and the providers have secured initial funding from service agreements from ISPs.

    Hmmm... No tax dollars being used, sounds good to me. How are they getting funding? A subscription fee or what?

    --
    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    1. Re:Done right for once, I think. by MacDork · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Any ideas on if they are capping download speeds, blocking ports, or max download per month?

      Any ideas on what they plan on logging and censoring 'for the children?'

    2. Re:Done right for once, I think. by cpeterso · · Score: 3, Insightful


      Nobody really knows. The city government and the company they contracted are being very tight-lipped about the whole deal.


      Transparent government always inspires confidence.

      --
      cpeterso
  2. Incentive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There needs to be a reason for a small town to become ethnically diverse. A lot of non-whites live in larger cities because there are lots of jobs and lots of non-whites with whom they can relate. What you're suggesting is more drastic than bussing folks around for a mix of races at schools.

  3. this will be interesting by ScottSCY · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm very interested to see how this plays out and how effective it will be. I've spent a lot of time in madison (my girlfriend lives there), and it's one of the most spread out cities I've seen. They apparently have a law there (or city ordinance?) that no building can be taller than the capitol. It seems like having a city be so spread out would present some problems to deploying wifi on a large scale. Another thing is the UW campus takes up a large part of the downtown, and a large percentage of the people who hang around downtown are students. So, don't most already have wireless through the university? Is there really a need for city-wide wireless? Just a few thoughts.