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Free Wi-Fi Program in Los Angeles Fails to Provide Free Wi-Fi (latimes.com)
The Los Angeles Time found no internet connectivity in 24 public locations, despite a three-year, $500,000 grant to provide them with free Wi-Fi service. Investigations both last year and again in March found that none of the 18+ locations checked were able to successfully connect to the internet, prompting a PUC investigation that confirmed only two of the hotspots were working. The grant was part of a $315 million state-wide program using surcharges on utility bills to promote high-quality communication services, though in Los Angeles most of the money for "underserved" areas was being directed to outreach and education. The Wi-Fi company's executive director said maintaining their networks had proved to be difficult, though one economist argued it would've been more productive to give net-access subsidies directly to the poor, a program the FCC recently voted to expand.
Funny, NY's free gigabit WiFi is working just fine.
Here in Eastern Europe, telecoms simply failed to recognize the potential of the Internet and did almost nothing to secure a monopoly. So EVEN THE POOREST people have Internet access. $10/month is pretty usual broadband deal in Bulgaria and you can find one as low as $5/month if you look harder. Minimal salary here is ~$240/month (for comparison).
Tired of this "you have a right" to pretty much anything...for FREE crap. I never asked NO ONE for ANYTHING since I was 18. Everything I have is because unlike a lot of idiots, I wasn't out smoking dope, partying, drinking, having 4 children by 3 different "baby mama's". I worked my but off, got out of college & have been gainfully employed for over 30 years. Of course in my 20's, I got into credit card debt, but, I did without a new car all the time, vacations, big screen this and new cellphone that and paid it all off in 2 years. I have a lot of money in the bank, retirement set up, NO debt, an 815 credit score. Why should I have to pay for some other idiots non responsible life? All a lot of them do is just sit around all day, smoking dope, having babies and NEVER WORKING A DAY IN THEIR LIFE, and, then they blame ME for their problems. GET OFF YOUR LAZY A** and WORK for a living. "But...but...I'm only "qualified" to work a minimum wage job at the age of 30, we need a "living" wage". And that's MY FAULT why? That 15 bucks an hour crap ain't gonna work anyway, because those jobs will mostly GO AWAY. The ONLY ones that benefit from that increase in minimum wage ARE UNIONS. Why? Because their contracts on wages, ARE TIED to a percentage of the minimum wage. Whenever it goes up, their salaries automatically go up! Stupid fools!