Feature Article

Free eNews Subscription>>
October 11, 2013

Is Municipal Free Wi-Fi a Misplaced Effort?

The trend of cities providing free Wi-Fi continues to grow. Currently, 57 cities in the United States have some form of “muni Wi-Fi.” Some of the more recognizable cities include: Boston, Mass.; Houston, Texas; Denver, Colo.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Minneapolis, Minn.; Madison, Wis.; Akron, Ohio; Albany, N.Y.; and Spokane, Wash. 

Los Angeles, Calif., began researching in August what it would take to make this happen for the city. Should it become a reality, muni Wi-Fi in L.A. will, potentially, provide more jobs for the underprivileged, draw more companies to the city, and contribute to the city being known as a tech-friendly place. For many of the smaller cities on the list of 57, muni Wi-Fi could bring huge dividends, should a large company relocate.

Michael Springer, of Media & Tech, says he feels that “a single-minded focus on municipal Wi-Fi is misplaced. To maximize investments in digital infrastructure, local governments should look beyond cosmetic solutions such as municipal Wi-Fi, install a fiber-optic network, and implement a public-private model to finance the construction.” 


Image via Shutterstock

His feelings are that the benefits of municipal Wi-Fi are limited. Many Americans already have Internet, and the majority of the people who have Internet have high-speed Internet, at that.

This causes a problem, because many of the cities that are providing muni Wi-Fi are only offering a download speed of 1 Mbps, compared to the average household speed of 8.6 Mbps. For comparison’s sake, the majority of cellular providers offer a speed of between one and five Mbps on a 3G network, and between five and 17 Mbps on the new LTE networks. Even the local Starbucks gave its customers a 1.5 Mbps connection, until the recent partnership with Google, which brought the speed up to 15 Mbps.

Springer and others question whether citywide free Wi-Fi is even worth having in the cities that are offering it at a slow speed. Many of the cities only offer free Wi-Fi in certain parts of the city. Cities that are providing free Wi-Fi and the ones that are planning on offering it for free should take a closer look at increasing the speed of its broadband as much as the service. It was shown in a study from 2011 that doubling the broadband speed for an economy increased the Gross Domestic Product by 0.3 percent. Springer also said that businesses are more enticed to locate to a city based on the Internet speed, rather than the presence of Wi-Fi. A broadband speed of at least 25-50 Mbps was needed to attract a new business to a city.

Fiber optic systems are what is needed to secure the highest speeds of broadband. Chattanooga, Tenn., began offering fiber optic services in 2012, and it helped generate the city $400 million in new business investments and 6,000 new jobs. By 2014, the city hopes to make $93.6 from the 50,000 subscribers of the fiber optics system.




Edited by Alisen Downey


FOLLOW MobilityTechzone

Subscribe to MobilityTechzone eNews

MobilityTechzone eNews delivers the latest news impacting technology in the Wireless industry each week. Sign up to receive FREE breaking news today!
FREE eNewsletter