San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has set a goal of providing free wireless Internet service. “We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service,” he said in his annual state of the city address on Thursday. “These technologies will connect our residents to the skills and the jobs of [...]

Municipal broadband networks are a bad idea says the Heartland Institute in its new report, “Municipally Owned Broadband Networks: A Critical Evaluation”. Before you run out and buy it, check out some of the pearls of wisdom showered upon us by the author who argues against municipal broadband deployments: Municipal broadband networks are a bad [...]

The New York Times reports on Neighbornode, an application that allows people who like to share their Wi-Fi connection, to add a community online bulletin board that allows neighbors to post “for sale” items and of course, trade gossip. The New York Times reports on Neighbornode, an application that allows people who like to share [...]

Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn announced the creation of a special panel of telecommunications experts to create a plan to extend wireless Internet access to every Los Angeles resident. Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn announced the creation of a special panel of telecommunications experts to create a plan to extend wireless Internet access to every [...]

SBC Communications announced it would offer access to its network of 3,900 hotspots for $1.99 per month. The catch: you need to have a one-year contract with SBC (but new users get free access till April 2005). But here’s the truly interesting bit: SBC wants to use its hotspots as an extension of the Cingular [...]

Granbury, Texas (pop. 6,000) is deploying a Wi-Fi network that covers 26 square kilometers. The city will use the network for public safety (police, fire and emergency services), building inspection, meter reading and public access. To my knowledge, Granbury will be the first community to launch a mixed use citywide Wi-Fi network.Granbury, Texas (pop. 6,000) [...]

According to Dailywireless, work begins next month on one of the IEEE’s most important, and most politically charged, projects, to devise an “intelligent” air interface (cognitive radio), that can tap into unused television frequencies. This will be the standard (802.22) for fixed wireless systems that use cognitive radio techniques to switch automatically to a clear [...]