Lots of chatter recently regarding the announcement that Philly may turn itself into the second largest Wi-Fi hotspot in the world, rightly so. It’d be a great decision for Philly if they could pull it off – I’d love to see Portland (not the one in Oregon, the other one) consider the same.
For all the hype, however, the fact is that the primary beneficiaries are people living in Philly or travelling through it. Nice, but hardly earth shattering. If Philly and Amsterdam eventually kick off a Wi-Fi deployment frenzy, I’ll be the happiest camper in the world. I’ve been a huge Wi-Fi proponent since I first got an access point for my apartment in 2001 (even configured it with WEP). Forgive me if I don’t hold my breath, however.
The limitations in range of the existing technology (yes, I’m aware that later versions of the standard are functional well beyond the original 300 foot range) coupled with the scope of demand for wireless services indicates to me, anyway, that a different solution is called for. Maybe’s it’s WiMAX, I don’t know. But if I had to bet, I’d put my money on the folks with the experience – and budgets – to roll out wireless services on a national basis. As good as it’d be to have a whole metropolitan area on Wi-Fi, imagine being able to have broadband anywhere you get a AT&T or Verizon cell signal. Now that is something to write home about. And near as I can tell, it’s coming within a year.
