I am throwing this out here for comment. I was approached by an individual who gave me the idea of looking into a citywide internet access. What this would involve would be a type of router mounted in strategic locations (we already have towers now for our police, fire, and city utilities). This would allow us to offer wi-fi internet to folks, possibly by billing it to their utility bill. I understand it would be a very inexpensive charge for users, and could also be used by our public safety personnell. Of course the idea would be that it have great coverage.. Apparently there are cities doing this now, and it's a great money generator.
Recently in Internet Access Category
I found this on another site and found it to be quite interesting.
Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP's all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These 'other' sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet.
Link to further details and uTube video below:
http://ipower.ning.com/netneutrality2
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Well, this Friday is the day of Apple's long-awaited iPhone release. There are supposed to be huge lines at the Apple Retail Store in Nashville and the AT&T Wireless Stores. Just curious if anybody here is planning to buy one??
I'm afraid that we won't be able to use iPhones in Portland due to our limited cell phone/wi-fi coverage. Wish we could, however, it looks neat. What a piece of engineering!
For a guided tour of the iPhone, you can go here. http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/guidedtour.html The video is about 20 minutes long, but it's fascinating to watch.
It's virtually impossible for people who live in the country to get broadband Internet access. This is really going to hurt Portland. A company president, for example, might want to live in the country and open a new manufacturing facility in Portland. However, when he finds he can't get broadband at home, he may not locate his factory in Portland. The folks at the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) made this statement, "In the 1950s, many communities in Tennessee got left behind when the Interstates passed them by. Many more communities are going to be left behind today if they let the Information Superhighway pass them by."
