It will be in Philly.  Could this be an indicator of what is to come?

We can only hope so. I’ve always felt that basic internet access should be universal and cost little or nothing.

This probably won’t be free. You will need to pay to get on. The infrastructure has to be maintained at the very least, not to mention the bandwidth. It would be a real tragedy for this to be free for use and the bill paid for by the city. Why waste the city money on a utility basically for well-off pricks like us when it could go towards low-income housing or even just basic services like garbage collection? Most people who have WiFi cards are wealthy enough to afford cable and a $50 router.

Yup, I agree 100%...that, and if its free…well, lets say it won’t be good for the net…wifi + free = hackers delight.

Erik

” There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch ”

I guess I’m the odd man out on this one. I’d like to see basic connectivity treated the same way we do our roads and highways. Perhaps a better anology would be our libraries. Information is power and if we disenfranchise those least able to pay society as a whole suffers.

From the opening link:

Over the past year, Cleveland has added some 4,000 wireless transmitters in its University Circle, Midtown and Lakefront districts. The service is free, and available to anyone who passes through the areas.

“We like to say it should be like the air you breathe—free and available everywhere,” said Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University, which is spearheading the project and paying for a chunk of it.

“We look at this like PBS or NPR. It should be a public resource.”

I am sorta indifferent on this one.  I can see the arguements for both sides.  I’m sure in the futrue once the systems are running smooth and everyone is hooked they will more than likely charge some nominal fee.  Revenue is too important for most cities, and this one would not be small change.  Either way, it will bring lower pricing to the broadband arena.  That is a win/win for everyone except my ISP. :D