Tempe, AZ will go wall-to-wall wireless

Call it a municipal status symbol in the digital age: a city blanketed by a wireless Internet network, accessible at competitive prices throughout the town's homes, cafes, offices and parks.

Tempe, the Phoenix suburb that is home to Arizona State University, is due to have wireless Internet available for all of its 160,000 residents in February, becoming the first city of its size in the United States to have Wi-Fi throughout.

Tempe officials hope that by making high-speed Internet as accessible as water or electricity across its 40 square miles, it will attract more technology and biotech companies — and the young, upwardly mobile employees they bring.

An increasing number of the nation's cities are looking at using Internet access as an economic development tool. Few cities have gotten as far as installing systems, "but most cities are realizing that it may be something that they want to do," said Cheryl Leanza, legislative counsel for the National League of Cities.


http://www.al.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-0/113432846812980.xml&storylist=national

Link from unwiremycity.com:

http://www.unwiremycity.com/archives/2005/08/how_much_do_we.html

Link to San Francisco "TechConnect" Project site:

http://www.sfgov.org/site/tech_connect_page.asp?id=33899

...to prohibit municipalities from owning or operating such networks, requiring instead that the networks be owned and operated by private corporations, or failing that, not be operated at all.

without some guy in Boston making a profit.

It's a city all its own and always has been. That kind of stuff irks me. I'm happy about the wireless, though! Way to go!